Friday, October 3, 2008

Occupation Iraq: U.S. Legal Aid

Where are the legal-aid lawyers for the Gitmo prisoners? Or Bagram? Or HERE in America?

How come the U.S. has $$$ for the IRAQI LEGAL SYSTEM and NOTHING for US, Americans? HOW MUCH SHIT are you going to accept on your head, 'murkns?!!!!!

"Legal clinic aims to unclog jammed Iraqi jails; US-funded effort finds detainees are mostly Sunnis" by Tina Susman, Los Angeles Times | October 3, 2008

BAGHDAD - Just five minutes. That's what Iraqi soldiers said they needed when they took Ahmed-Hussein Juma in for questioning in February 2007.

"And now here we are, 1 1/2 years later," Juma said with a hopeless laugh recently as he stood in a holding cage, metal handcuffs on his wrists and a prison number stitched crookedly on his green jumpsuit.

Also see:

Memory Hole: Iraq's Jails

Memory Hole: Torture Rules

Memory Hole: Camp Nama and Task Force 6-26

Occupation Iraq: New Torture Techniques Revealed

Occupation Iraq: Winter Soldiers Speak

But the Americans are HERE to HELP!!!


Dozens of other men sat on benches at Baghdad's Rusafa detention center, all waiting to visit a new US-funded legal aid clinic that American officials hope will help clear the backlog of detainees lost in Iraq's severely overloaded prison system.

Is there not ONE CENT that this government spends on US, Americans?! WTF?!!


In its bid to grant the men fair trials or release, the clinic faces immense obstacles, not the least of which is a case file system that consists of paperwork tied together with bits of string. But even more worrying are the sectarian overtones: Most of the detainees are Sunni Arabs accused of offenses related to terrorism, and many say they are targets of the Shi'ite Muslim-dominated security forces who they say used trumped-up charges to achieve sectarian "cleansing."

Yeah, sure, the "sectarianism."


Memory Hole: The Dream Vacation

Memory Hole: Sistani's Reach

Memory Hole: The Uniters of Islam

Occupation Iraq: Sectarian Saviors

The Real Muqtada al-Sadr

Yeah, readers, I am tired of the lies!

Of course, the "cleansing" is what made the SURGE a SUCCESS!!!!!


As the Bush administration touts security gains, the issue of the detainees raises questions about the Iraqi government's commitment to human rights, and undermines Sunni trust in the Shi'ite-led government.

Yeah, DON'T EVEN LOOK at America because WE HAVE NO COMMITMENT to HUMAN RIGHTS ANYMORE!! WEES TORTURE!!!!!!!!!


"Unsurprisingly, someone who's been deprived of their liberties for months and years without even a hint of due process . . . of course they're going to be angry," said Joseph Logan of Human Rights Watch, who recently spent time in Iraq researching the justice system. "As the Americans found in 2003, the enemies you create are going to be there down the road. I think there is definitely political impact down the road from this."

You think?

One concern for the Iraqi lawyers working at the clinic is whether the Shi'ite-led government will foot the bill when US funding runs dry.

Kareem Swadi Lami, a former police officer and longtime attorney who heads the clinic and oversees its 25 Iraqi lawyers estimates that about half of the approximately 6,500 men in the Rusafa complex have been held at least three years. They are among about 26,000 detainees in Iraqi-run prisons; in addition, nearly 20,000 prisoners are held in US-run facilities in Iraq.

And if you checked my links, you know what is happening inside those torture chambers!

A former police officer, Lami acknowledges he is skeptical of many of the claims of innocence. But as an attorney, Lami says he finds it unconscionable that anyone should end up like Juma or the other detainees who say they have been held months or years without being brought before a judge or formally charged. Iraqi law mandates that detainees be brought before a judge within 72 hours of arrest.

Hey, the Iraqis HAVE ADOPTED the U.S. legal system!!!

"I consider them neglected," said Lami, who has headed the clinic since it opened May 12 with a $900,000 grant to the Iraqi Bar Association. The US military's Law and Order Task Force provides advisers and logistical support. --more--"

What could YOU do with $900,000 dollars, U.S. taxpayers?!!!