"Due process in Iraq questioned; Critics say police frequently flout international law" by Jack Healy | New York Times, January 08, 2012
BAGHDAD - The cameras were rolling and the reporters were ready inside the auditorium, so the Iraqi police officer gave the signal: Bring in the prisoners. In they shuffled, 21 men accused of terrorism and murder, hands shackled, eyes tracing the floor. This was no day in court. They were lined up to meet the press.
“Lift up your faces,’’ a police officer ordered, as photographers swarmed.
Over the objections of Western diplomats and human rights workers, Iraq’s security forces are increasingly taking to the airwaves with dramatic demonstrations of how they are cracking down on terrorism, using detainees - mostly Sunni men - as backdrops for speeches and broadcasting confessions on state-run television.
But to many Westerners, the rituals are inflammatory and even illegal, symptoms of a politically tainted justice system that still relies on confessions, many coerced, despite millions in US aid and legal training programs.
Yeah, you see, the only time those confessions are any good is when AmeriKa gets them. And I love the word despite used to describe the AmeriKan version of justice.
The prisoner displays are also sharpening the political and sectarian tensions that plunged Iraq’s government into disarray immediately after the US military withdrawal in December....
I'm so sick of that cover-up crap obfuscating intelligence agency operations.
Ibrahim al-Sumaidaie, a political analyst close to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said broadcasting the confessions shredded due-process rules in Iraq’s Constitution and was reminiscent of how Saddam Hussein manipulated the news media to cow his enemies and expose lots against his government.
Here is who manipulates mine:
The War Party’s Atrocity Porn
Operation Mockingbird
Six Zionist Companies Own 96% of the World's Media
Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed
Gee, now my newspaper and its endless diversions, distractions, distortions, obfuscations, omissions, and its Muslim-hating, agenda-pushing, war-promoting makes sense.
But Iraqi officials have largely brushed off the criticism. In a country where conspiracy theories are the currency of daily life, the confessions and images of shackled prisoners offer convincing evidence that officials are hunting down criminals.
Oh, did I also mention I am sick of the INSULTS from a lying, pos media?
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Yeah, that's them!
"Iraq official alleges abuse by security forces" January 03, 2012
BAGHDAD - Iraq’s parliament speaker warned yesterday that human rights violations are putting the country’s fragile democracy at risk, the latest pronouncement in a rapidly developing sectarian spat that threatens to destabilize Iraq after US troops pulled out.
The televised comments by Osama al-Nujaifi, one of the country’s top Sunni officials, are yet another salvo in a growing political crisis sparked when Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government issued an arrest warrant for the country’s top Sunni politician last month.
Maliki, a Shi’ite, controls the ministries that oversee Iraq’s police and military. Some of Iraq’s minority Sunnis, who fear being marginalized, accuse the prime minister of using the security forces to try to consolidate power.
Then why were they cheering the AmeriKan withdrawal?
Related: Occupation Iraq: Divide and Conquer
Yeah, who are the "terrorists" again?
“The armed forces should not be a tool to repress people and the armed forces should not interfere in political matters,’’ Nujaifi said, citing concerns about “serious violations’’ including the use of excessive force, detainee abuse, and faulty legal procedures.
Well, they were trained by AmeriKa.
“Human rights will not become a reality in a situation where the political process is snarled. . . . Losing these rights will destroy democracy,’’ he said....
Also yesterday, a group that tracks casualties in Iraq said the number of civilians killed in the country’s violence increased slightly in 2011.
In its annual report, Iraq Body Count recorded 4,063 civilians killed last year, up from 4,045 in 2010....
But the war is over.
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Also see: Occupation Iraq: Death Toll Unknown
That drives me a little crazy, folks.
