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Shiites torture sunnis into false confession Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,17267965%5E663,00.html http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,17267965%5E663,00.html Torture bunker busted 17nov05 IRAQ'S new security forces have been accused of routinely abusing and torturing detainees the same way Saddam Hussein's brutal regime did. The claims by Iraqi Government officials, human rights groups and victims follow the discovery of more than 170 tortured and starving prisoners in a locked Interior Ministry bunker beneath Baghdad. Many had been severely beaten. Some had been paralysed. Others had skin peeled off their bodies. The horrific discovery by US troops, who stumbled on it while searching for a missing boy, threatens to undermine the new democracy the US is trying to build in Iraq. "This sort of behaviour completely undermines everything the Iraqi Government stands for and everything the coalition came here for," said Lt-Col Frederick Wellman, a spokesman for the division of the multinational force in Iraq that is responsible for training Iraq's police. "It is unacceptable in any form." Allegations of torture have long swirled around Iraq's Interior Ministry forces, but the Government has explained the charges as either isolated cases or as the work of insurgents disguised as police. Most of those being detained by government forces are Sunnis. The Interior Ministry is run by Shiites, who were on the receiving end of torture by Sunnis under Saddam. They are loyal to the political parties now leading the democratically elected government. The discovery of the detainees in the bunker and the testimonies of victims suggest the abuse may be widespread and deeply rooted in the police forces. A 43-year-old restaurant owner, who asked not to be named because he fears retaliation, recounted his six months in detention at two Interior Ministry centres – the commando headquarters housed in a former Republican Guard palace and the main ministry building. He said his interrogators administered electric shocks all over his body. They set fire to plastic bags and dripped the molten plastic on his flesh, he said, and stuck needles into his testicles. Mostly, he was given what his interrogators called the "flying fish" treatment, during which he was chained to a ceiling fan with his hands stretched behind his back while his interrogators beat him into confessing to crimes he said he did not commit. Over one month, three of his 80 cellmates died from the torture they received, he said. A nail was hammered into one man's kneecap, he recalled. Under interrogation, the man said, he confessed to shooting 150 Shiite pilgrims at a Baghdad shrine one night. After three months, unable to walk and barely conscious, he was carried in a blanket and dumped on the floor in front of a judge, who ordered him to be taken to hospital. Instead, his jailers took him back to the ministry and left him there another three months until he could walk and his scars had healed. In October, he appeared in court, and the judge ordered him released for lack of evidence, the man said. Instead of freeing him, his jailers took him back to the Interior Ministry and contacted his family, extracting $30,000 for his release. © Herald and Weekly Times

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 brain-washed-insurgents civil-war contractor-stoffel death-squads foreign-insurgents surge undercover-brits-basra US-fueling-fire wounded-soldiers zarqawi 2m iraqi refugees mainly children in syria { October 16 2007 } 50 thousand iraqi insurgents dead or caught { July 26 2005 } 7 deadliest attacks since war to 2005 { January 5 2006 } 70 percent of iraqi children show signs of trauma Alqaeda in iraq accused to be sunni group { January 29 2007 } Alqaeda in iraq working for pay no ideals { November 30 2007 } American matthew waxman captured Americas intifada Army discharges 3 in beating scandal { January 6 2004 } Army failed to anticipate iraqi insurgency { June 29 2008 } Baghdad sniper oddly only targets coalition troops { August 5 2005 } Britain to cut troop level in iraq { September 19 2004 } Chemical weapons used during fallujah assault { November 8 2005 } Cia estimates insurgents now 50000 strong Critism on rumsfeld mounts { September 14 2003 } Daniel pipes says civil war could have strategic advantage { February 28 2006 } Honduras troop in iraq [jpg] Insurgency disrupts power to iraqi citizens { February 21 2005 } Insurgency is no ho chi minh says rumsfeld Insurgency larger and mostly secular iraqis { July 9 2004 } Insurgency violence strikes mainly iraqi civilians { March 3 2006 } Insurgents seek to exploit sectarian rivalries { May 17 2005 } Iraq now prime training ground for militants { June 22 2005 } Iraq oil pipeline blasts squander revenue Iraq rebels want democracy and independence { August 6 2004 } Iraqi woman confesses to jordan attack Iraqis wait for release of promised detainees { January 8 2004 } La times ordered not to use term resistance { November 7 2003 } Madonna calls for troops to come home Not resistance fighters times told reporters Occupation blamed for new iraq terror front { July 18 2005 } Officials say hussein coordinating attacks { October 31 2003 } Rice concedes thousands of tactical errors in iraq Sectarian revenge killings raise civil war fears { May 17 2005 } Sectarian war spreads to pakistan and afghanistan { February 10 2006 } Shiites torture sunnis into false confession Spanish leader pulling troops from iraq { April 18 2004 } Spy agencies warned of iraq resistance { September 9 2003 } US considers elite squads for iraq Us deaths not fully reported { October 30 2003 } US underestimated size of insurgency { January 27 2005 } Usa today founder calls for troops return home { December 23 2004 } Files Listed: 42

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