[A-List] Iraq: it just gets worse

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

On BBC World yesterday some awful former Pentagon adviser now at the
Lexington Institute was telling viewers that at least the US captors had not
beheaded anyone, thus showing just "what and who we are dealing with". No
moral equivalence, then. Apparently, not so. And shame on the Jordanian
general who sat in the studio agreeing with the former Pentagon adviser and
bending over backwards to express horror at Berg's death whilst ignoring
this unfolding horror.

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US prison like descent 'into wings of hell'
MICHAEL SETTLE, Chief Political Correspondent
May 13 2004

Members of the US Congress saw new images of violence and sexual humiliation
from a US-run Iraqi prison last night in a closed viewing and one likened
them to a descent into "the wings of hell".

They said images showed inmates apparently being forced to commit sodomy,
wounds possibly from dog bites, a number of dead bodies, and examples of
"sadistic torture" and "sexual humiliation".

Some senior Republicans urged that the still pictures and video not be
released publicly, saying they could endanger US forces overseas.

"What we saw is appalling. It is consistent with the photos that you've seen
in the press to date. They go beyond that in many ways in terms of the
various activities that are depicted," said Bill Frist, Senate majority
leader, a Tennessee Republican.

"There were some awful scenes. It felt like you were descending into one of
the wings of hell and sadly it was our own creation," said Senator Richard
Durbin, an Illinois Democrat.

"I still cannot believe that this happened without the knowledge of those at
higher levels," he added.

Ben Nighthorse Campbell, one of several members of Congress who emerged
grim-faced from screenings in the Capitol, said: "I don't know how the hell
these people got into our army."

They said they saw disturbing images that included military dogs snarling at
cowering prisoners and Iraqi women commanded to expose their breasts.

As the Vatican suggested the abuse scandal was "a more serious blow to the
US than September 11", Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, defended
America's military interrogation techniques and rejected claims that they
broke international rules.

He told a Senate committee that defence department lawyers had approved
methods such as sleep deprivation, dietary changes, and permitting prisoners
to be made to assume stress positions.

The private screening came hours after George W Bush ordered the CIA to hunt
down the al Qaeda terror chief who claimed to have beheaded the American
contractor, Nick Berg, in revenge for the abuse of Iraqis. The White House
has already offered a £7m reward for the capture of Abu Masab al Zarqawi,
the 37-year-old Jordanian blamed for atrocities in Iraq, but the hunt for
Osama bin Laden's loyal lieutenant and his men will intensify.

Western leaders reacted with uniform horror and outrage yesterday at the
26-year-old's murder, a video of which was posted on an al Qaeda-linked
website, but the response in the Arab world was mixed.

Tony Blair branded it a truly barbaric act, Kofi Annan, the United Nations
secretary-general, was said to be "horrified", and Amnesty International,
the London-based human rights group, said such acts were unjustifiable and
constituted a serious crime under international law.

As the biggest pan-Arab satellite television channels broadcast an edited
version of the video - censoring the severing of the head - some Muslim
opinion-formers did condemn the execution of Mr Berg.

In the House of Commons, the prisoner abuse scandal continued to place Mr
Blair in some discomfort as he clashed with the Tory leader over who did or
did not see a Red Cross report cataloguing claims of abuse by US and British
troops.

Michael Howard urged the prime minister to get a grip, saying the
allegations had led to "the greatest crisis in Iraq since the war ended and
have added immeasurably to the dangers and difficulties faced by coalition
forces".

However Mr Blair made a pointed attack on controversial pictures published
by the Daily Mirror, purporting to show British soldiers abusing Iraqi
prisoners. He told MPs: "The only evidence that has been presented are
photographs that are almost certainly fake. I believe we should be proud of
the part British troops have played in Iraq."

The Mirror later challenged No 10: "If the prime minister believes these
photographs are fake, then we ask him to produce conclusive evidence."

Last night the Ministry of Defence said the findings of an investigation by
the Royal Military Police into the authenticity of the Mirror's photographs
are expected to be revealed today in the Commons. Sources at the MoD said
the findings would be highly unlikely to dissent from ministers' comments.