Bush ducked, and the shoes, thrown one at a time, sailed past his head during the news conference with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in his palace in the heavily fortified Green Zone.
He must be trained for that.Bush ducked, and the shoes, thrown one at a time, sailed past his head during the news... more
150 prisoners in a room the size of a small classroom. A look inside a system where prisoners can wait months to be charged. 1 shower, 3 toilets. They sleep in shifts due to the small number of beds.
Video can be seen at the link.
An Excerpt:
The situation here is not unique. Mobile phone footage filmed by Iraqi MPs who have visited other jails, seen by the BBC, shows similar conditions.
Rusafa prison
Prisoners can wait months in legal limbo due to a creaking judicial system
"We do have a problem with overcrowding," admits General Abdul Kareem al-Khalaf, the operations commander for the Interior Ministry. "And the increasing number of prisoners is putting a lot of pressure on the system."
He says there are still "some isolated cases" of violations such as torture or beatings in prisons, but insists the culture is changing.
It's the "exceptional situation" in the country that is to blame for the way the inmates are forced to live in the prison, said Rusafa's deputy governor, who didn't want to be named when we interviewed him. But he said the conditions were not "inhumane".
If you had seen the jails in Saddam Hussein's time, "then you would have seen really inhumane conditions".
There is less torture and other abuse now, from reports we have gathered. But Iraqis we have spoken to who have been imprisoned in Saddam's time and since say conditions haven't changed much.
And they could get even worse. As the United States and Britain gradually make their exit from Iraq, they are due to transfer thousands of prisoners into the custody of the Iraqi prison system.150 prisoners in a room the size of a small classroom. A look inside a system where... more
BAGHDAD: More than 10,000 supporters of the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr gathered in Baghdad's Firdos Square on Friday to protest the Iraqi government plan to sign a security agreement with the United States.
With powerful symbolism, demonstrators hanged a black-hooded effigy of President George W. Bush from the column that once supported the statue of Saddam Hussein that was toppled by U.S. troops in April 2003.
Removing the hood to beat the effigy with a shoe, they put a whip in its right hand and in its left a briefcase, on which were written the words, "the security agreement is shame and dishonor."
The government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki this week signed the pact, which would place new limits on the powers of U.S. troops in Iraq but provides for them to stay in the country up to the end of 2011, if the Iraqis so desire. The agreement still needs to be approved by Parliament and the country's three-man Presidency Council.
Maliki has sought to present the agreement as one that significantly extends the authority his government can exercise over U.S. forces. He has criticized the pact's opponents, saying that they have consistently failed to come up with any alternative.
It provides for U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraqi towns by mid-2009, and leave the country entirely by the end of 2011. American troops on duty will operate under American military law, but if they are off duty and outside their bases they could be tried in Iraqi courts if they commit serious crimes.
And most of the American people don't even know what this pact entails or even that it exists...BAGHDAD: More than 10,000 supporters of the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr... more
The US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte has arrived on a surprise visit to Iraq, the US Embassy in Baghdad said.
He will meet senior Iraqi officials to discuss political, security, and economic progress in the country. The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) will also be high on the agenda, as it has run into problems and Negroponte has long held the reputation of being America's diplomatic strong-arm man.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani just back from Washington has said that the US is threatening to seize Iraqi assets and oil money if an arrangement is not worked out on SOFA that is to Washington's liking.
It should be remembered that Negroponte was the point man for American state terrorist activities in Central America when the US was destabilizing Nicaragua, overseeing the bloody suppression of opposition to its rightist allies in El Salvador and militarizing Honduras where he was the US ambassador in the 1980s. The US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte has arrived on a surprise visit to... more
In the spring of 2008, a conference was held on the outskirts of Washington, DC. Entitled Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan, it harkened back to the Winter Soldier testimonies held three decades ago during the Vietnam War. Of the testimonies we filmed, this one, by Iraq War vet Jon Michael Turner, was the most compelling and intense.In the spring of 2008, a conference was held on the outskirts of Washington, DC.... more
Several soldiers who have returned from combat zones talk with the American News Project about what they say is the widespread practice of using "drop weapons" to cover up the killing of innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. We feature five veterans and current members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, plus retired Lieutenant Colonel Gary Solis, a Vietnam War veteran and legal scholar who taught "Law of War" at West Point.Several soldiers who have returned from combat zones talk with the American News... more
After returning from two tours of duty in Iraq, Capt. Luis Montalvan is the highest ranking member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. Despite post-traumatic stress disorder, he is campaigning to expose the Iraq War's grim realities. He has been branded a coward and traitor, but this recipient of the Purple Heart is on a mission to expose what he calls "incompetent" leadership in the highest ranks of the military.After returning from two tours of duty in Iraq, Capt. Luis Montalvan is the highest... more
