Now this is a sight you don't often see of the ever glamorous Mariah Carey. The singer-actress is transformed in her new film role Precious where she plays a make-up free, dowdy social worker, produced by Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry. I will definitely see it!
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Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
A potful of pain
I am struck that now that I have no children living with me and haven't for almost two years, I have returned to habits much like my teen years. I enjoy listening to music in my bedroom, in privacy, free to surf, think, rest, or just play. Surely another factor is playing into this with my 40th high school class reunion coming up in a little less than three months. Recently in touch my classmates I have not communicated with for over 40 years, my mind stretches to wrap around the good changes in some, the unknown in others, and in some who are stagnate.
Two of my daughters are calling this my "rebellion phase" which they think was repressed by marrying and having my first child at a mere 17. No, I had my rebellion phase at least twice; this is another life phase to me. I labored to raise my children by the best standards I could muster up, no drugs, no drinking, no partying except for birthdays. My life has indubitably changed by chronic pain.
My doctor willingingly provides pain pills liberally. They work but at a nasty cost; not going into that here. One night a thought came across my mind: I was not diagnosed with chronic pain until 1985, after I had quit weed about eight months before. Pregnant with my third child, I suddenly found myself in a world of pain while doing hospice work. My young obstetrician told me nothing could be done other than Tylenol because of my pregnancy. I immediately defied her statement in my mind. Going through several painful days of work where I could barely function, my complaints grew louder, and a nurse co-worker spoke up with the name of some very wonderful chiropractors, partners, who she thought might work miracles. I had nothing to lose. I made an appointment nearly immediately. After a careful exam and explaination of what my treatment would be and how it would feel, treatment commenced right then. Going back each day for the next three days was a part of the treatment. My second treatment had caused some disconcerting feelings physically and mentally, but I had splendid pain relief on the fourth day, free drug free from extremely painful sciatica down my right leg. Careful planning of regular chiropractic treatments for the remainder of my pregnancy was made.
After such a marvelous and quick departure of the sciatica, I expected a pain-free course to delivery by Caesarean section. Evil little pains shot up here and there, thereby making me keep my planned appointments even if I had thought of skipping one. After delivery, I would be seeing my chiropractors regularly as my hips narrowed back to their normal position. My beautiful baby also underwent gentle treatments, as a child delivered by C section does not get that natural alignment of the spine whilst traveling through the birth canal. Maintenance treatments further took place with another pregnancy 19 months later. I never had a care about sciatica. Ultimately, my doctors told me their diagnosis was fibromyalgia and thus the chronic pain, curiously symmetrical pains mirroring left and right sides.
A few years later, I was a single mom of two precious toddler daughters, and had insurance but it didn't cover chiropractic (which is a real shame). I sought pain relief then from my primary medical doctor which was duly dispensed after an exam and scribbled prescriptions. One of my last visits with my chiropractors revealed that their opinion was that I had masked my pain for years by my chronic marijuana use, to be revealed only after I sobered up completely in 1984.
In my bedroom now while squinting at the light of my laptop screen, I am once again using marijuana to mask my pain. After relying on years of prescription medications, I reached a point where they either no longer worked well or presented such uncomfortable symptoms I was no longer willing to use them regularly at all. Being child-free made me more apt to buy weed even though I did not yet have a prescription for it. A little spaciness and a lot of pain relief are feasible now; during parenthood it was not.
I'm not thrilled to be a "pothead" now like I was when young. I don't like the culture, the purchases, the expectations that go with it. "Good manners" require a tip to the person acquiring it and anyone else who might have had anything to do with it. My senile husband starts raling and whining for some, and although I have emphasized many times that he cannot do this, he starts inviting people over for a party, at which point I get teed off and lock myself in my bedroom.
So here, I sit in my bedroom, radio playing oldies, not being mad at my parents but another family member, a spouse who no longer has his right mind, who while being married to him I no longer have a marriage of any sort, hazily contemplating another serious love relationship that is so very, extremely important to me, while still attached to this one-- by what? What keeps me here? A number of noble answers roll through my mind, all quite feasible and would be fully acknowledged and encouraged, yet I'm not in a noble mood.
So the answer goes somewhat like this: I have willed to make a sacrifice via marriage vows to honor in sickness and in health, to stay and let God work out all those other details of my love contemplations elsewhere because He sacrified for me first. Wow, such a conservative and traditional stance for a woman who loves being free to liberally interpret God's love and grace. I don't know how long I will be able to live with this answer, maybe truly until its over or maybe I will move on when there is nothing left to hope for, no recognitiion of my presence. Maybe I will just get tired and go away earlier than that. When I know that, I'll be back here with another answer.
I'm back, May 13, 2009: I cannot do this anymore. More to follow--
AMERICAN CHRISTIANS APPROVE OF TORTURE? NOT ME, NOT EVER!!!
The Last Days
http://signsofthelastdays.com/archives/american-christians-approve-of-torture
American Christians Approve Of Torture?
* Written by Admin
* Posted May 3, 2009 at 9:17 pm
A new poll by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life reveals that the more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of prisoners.
What in the world is going on?
According to the survey, 54 percent of Americans who attend church at least once per week said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is “often” or “sometimes” justified, while only 42 percent of Americans who “seldom or never” attend church services agreed with that viewpoint.
Wow.
So is that would Jesus do?
Torture helpless prisoners?
Just think about this question: Is a prisoner more likely or less likely to become a Christian if he gets tortured mercilessly by "Christians"?
What about his family? Are they more likely or less likely to become Christians if they know their husband or their father or their son has been mercilessly tortured by "Christians"?
What ever happened to the concept of doing good to those who persecute you?
Well, the truth is that the church is quickly becoming as corrupt as the nation as a whole is, and that is saying a lot.
Imagine a government that cruelly tortures thousands of prisoners endlessly for years and years and then announces to the world that nobody will ever be held accountable for the torture.
That's torture "American style".
Where else in the world can you be waterboarded an average of 6 times per day?
It has now been revealed that terror suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003and Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times in August 2002.
The following is how Wikipedia defines waterboarding:
Waterboarding is a form of torture that consists of immobilizing the victim on his or her back with the head inclined downwards, and then pouring water over the face and into the breathing passages. By forced suffocation and inhalation of water the subject experiences drowning and is caused to believe they are about to die.
Imagine having to go through that once.
Now imagine having to go through it 183 times in one month.
How could we treat any human being that way?
But now it is being announced that nobody will ever be held accountable for all of this torture.
President Barack Obama recently released four top secret memos from during the Bush administration that discussed the torture of terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay and at other secret detention centers around the globe.
In a statement accompanying the release of the memos, Obama said very clearly that those who had been involved in the torture would NOT be prosecuted. Obama stated that this is a "time for reflection, not retribution."
What in the world?
No prosecution for anyone?
President Obama correctly acknowledged that this was a "dark and painful chapter in our history."
So why is nobody being held accountable?
“Nothing will be gained,” Obama said, “by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past.”
Is he serious?
Is anything gained when we put a rapist in jail?
Is anything gained when we put a serial killer behind bars?
How can he say that nothing would be gained from prosecuting those people who have committed horrific torture crimes?
Apparently Barack Obama thinks that all of this torture is not that big of a deal.
The new attorney-general, Eric Holder, also stated that there will be no prosecution of CIA operatives working within the guidelines set by the Bush administration: "It would be unfair to prosecute dedicated men and women working to protect America for conduct that was sanctioned in advance by the justice department."
Unfair?
Was it unfair to prosecute the Nazis after World War II who were "just following the orders of Hitler"?
You can read the four torture memos that Obama released here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/page/torture-memos
The torture techniques described in these memos include.....
*Forced nudity
*"Walling", which is slamming a prisoner into a wall
*"Cramped confinement" which means "placement of the individual in a confined space"
*Stinging insects placed inside "a confinement box"
*Waterboarding - one of the memos actually admits that "the use of waterboarding constitutes a threat of imminent death"
*Sleep deprivation for several days
*Sleep deprivation while wearing a diaper
*The use of "stress positions" to cause "muscle fatigue"
*"Dietary manipulation"
*Facial and abdominal slapping
One of the most shocking things in these memos is that they recognized that the techniques that they were authorizing were ones that we condemned other countries for using.
However, the reality of American torture goes far beyond what was described in those four memos.
The truth is that it is documented that the torture of American prisoners around the world has been absolutely sadistic and brutal.
The following is list of some of the torture acts that U.S. military personnel committed against "terror suspects" as recorded in the executive summary of the Article 15-6 investigation of the 800th Military Police Brigade by Major General Antonio M. Taguba. A full copy of this report can be found at MSNBC.com.....
*Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees
*Forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions for photographing
*Forcing detainees to remove their clothing and keeping them naked for several days at a time
*Forcing naked male detainees to wear women’s underwear
*Forcing groups of male detainees to masturbate themselves while being photographed and videotaped
*Arranging naked male detainees in a pile and then jumping on them
*Positioning a naked detainee on a MRE Box, with a sandbag on his head, and attaching wires to his fingers, toes, and penis to simulate electric torture
*Writing "I am a Rapest" (sic) on the leg of a detainee alleged to have forcibly raped a 15-year old fellow detainee, and then photographing him naked
*Placing a dog chain or strap around a naked detainee’s neck and having a female Soldier pose for a picture
*A male MP guard having sex with a female detainee
*Using military working dogs (without muzzles) to intimidate and frighten detainees, and in at least one case biting and severely injuring a detainee
*Taking photographs of dead Iraqi detainees
*Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees
*Threatening detainees with a charged 9mm pistol
*Pouring cold water on naked detainees
*Beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair
*Threatening male detainees with rape
*Sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick
Does that sound like sadistic torture to you?
I certainly hope so.
Don't you think that those who participated in such acts should be held accountable?
So do I.
But apparently Obama does not, so all of the torturers are going to escape punishment and will never be brought to trial.
For even more reports of American torture that are almost too horrific to describe, read these articles:
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=30291
ATTENTION: http://arabwomanblues.blogspot.com/2009/05/news-from-iraqs-underworld.html THIS ONE IS SHOWN BELOW.
The word "shame" is not nearly strong enough to describe this state of affairs.
Have the American people sunk so low that they are now perfectly willing to accept that their government brutally tortures people with absolutely no accountability?
Has the church sunk so low that it now applauds the sadistic torture of helpless prisoners?
Growing up I always regarded torture as something that the "bad guys" did.
That was something that the Nazis and the Soviets and the North Koreans did.
Are we now becoming the bad guys?
It is a fair question.
This blog copyright © 2008 The Last Days. All Rights Reserved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://arabwomanblues.blogspot.com/2009/05/news-from-iraqs-underworld.html
Arab Woman Blues. Reflections in a sealed bottle...
Who am I ? The eternal Question . Have not figured it out fully yet . All you need to know about me is that I am a Middle Easterner, an Arab Woman - into my 40's and old enough to know better. I have no homeland per se. I live in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Egypt simultaneously ... All the rest is icing on the cake. /Copyrights reserved, 2006-2009
May 1, 2009
Iraq's Underworld.
I was at a friend's place the other night, and whilst this friend was busy preparing dinner, I was left to zap the TV at my convenience...It is not often that am given this privilege of zapping as I please. I really made up for it, that night and zapped my head away... Engrossed in my nervous hobby, fate or luck had it that I land on Al-Sharqiya - an Iraqi TV channel.
As a rule of thumb, I try avoid watching Iraqi TV altogether. It just depresses the hell out of me. In particular the Iraqi Shiite channels where permanent, chronic, non stop "latmiahs" are aired live. Latmiah is the act of pounding one's breast with one's fist or hand...usually followed by scenes of wailing and ultimately by scenes of heavy self flagellation - a 24/7 Ashura. (Ashura is a Shiite religious day characterized by mass hysteria in the "new" Iraq)
The other Iraqi TV channels, I find them as dodgy as the Shiite ones. You have Al-Baghdadia (where Muntather Zaidi - the shoe thrower used to work). One is never sure who Al- Baghdadia works for. Some say it supports the chief Driller of the Mahdi Army - Muqtada Al-Sadr. Others say it is a patriotic channel. Go figure...
Then you have the all Assyrian channels, the all Kurdish channels, a couple of channels from Al-Anbar where they are always reciting poetry of which I understand nothing. And you also have the official Iraqi puppet channels who praise Maliki non stop and of course the Arabic version of Fox news, funded by the Americans.
The only two channels I watch if I have to, are Al-Babylia and Al-Sharqiya both of which are anti-occupation and secular, praise to God.
As I was saying before opening the above parenthesis -- my friend was in the kitchen chopping away and I could smell some wonderful, mouth watering, scents emanating from there, tipping me into a world that made my palate anxious to taste some good, wholesome stuff for a change...
Meanwhile, Fate decided that I was to watch the program aired by Al-Sharqiya called Al-Aghlabiya Al-Samita -- The Silent Majority.
And here I was stuck with the silent majority.
The program was solely devoted to the gross Human rights violations and abuses in "liberated" Iraq with particular reference to the plight of prisoners/detainees in Iraq's Gulag.
Many called in. Some were ex-prisoners, other relatives of someone who is still in prison or reported dead while in prison.
The stories were harrowing. I felt as if I was watching a horror film. Truly, I still have not fully recovered from what I heard that evening.
People were calling in from ALL of Iraq - Baghdad, Basra, Diwaniya, Suleymania, Erbil...Some were exiled and calling from outside of Iraq and they had escaped a similar ordeal, a similar ordeal as that of the still lingering prisoners. Some were very close relatives of someone still imprisoned in some Iraqi dungeon.
That evening, I had forgotten my writing pad at home, so I just scribbled some of the important information on the blank edges of an old newspaper.
I cannot recall the full exact numbers and locations but I do have the overall stories well stored in my mind as well as few cases that cannot and will never be forgotten. So help me God not to omit or forget anything.
ALL of the stories shared similar characteristics and details - a common thread, if one may call it that.
- What am about to tell you does NOT cover American run prisons/detention camps, nor does it cover official Iraqi prisons. I say official because this program and all the testimonies it bore, made it clear that there are 600 SECRET/SHADOW prisons in Iraq besides the official ones.
- Prisoners, both men and women are arrested on identity/sect basis or because they are relatives of someone who is wanted for "insurgency". The term insurgency is used very loosely by the Iraqi authorities. I shall explain how later.
- Prisoners are usually caught after a "Mukhber Seree", a mouchard in French, I am not sure what the term is in English. Basically someone charged of spying on people for anything he considers as "subversive". So the Mukhber Seree has full authority and 10 times out of 10, he either works for the Police, a Militia or a particular Ministry, or the Mukhabarat - secret service or the official Government.
I say official government because you have to know that today in Iraq there are several mini governments within the government. And that is important to remember, because it transpired from the stories that each prison belongs to a party, a militia, or some government mafia clan member...
Moreover prisoners who make it out alive, and I personally know of two cases who have been released, stay in hiding and keep changing houses, because the Mukhber Al-Seree would not let go of them. So, in fact they are never free.
- All the prisoners have not been formally charged with any "crime" and none has had access to any legal council or trial. An example : someone drew an anti-occupation graffiti on the wall of one neighborhood, all of the men in the age range of 15 to 45of that same neighborhood were arrested the following day and imprisoned.
- All of the stories report widespread use of horrific torture methods. Common torture methods across the country are : electrocution, being hanged by hooks from the ceilings, sleep deprivation, food deprivation, isolation, made to listen to torture from other cells, beatings, crammed space - one example 150 inmates in one cell of 3 by 8 meters, amputating fingers, amputation of limbs following torture, pulling nails and teeth, burning with cigarettes and acid, blinding one eye, drilling extremities...and rape including gang rape of male prisoners was commonly reported. One example given was in the space of one day 45 policemen raped around 100 detainees. Rape includes the forcing of bottles in the anus. This was a common theme that came up in every single story. I will devote a separate paragraph to the secret women's prison.
- The age range of the prisoners is from as young as 13 to as old as 70. As I said the great majority are not charged with anything and have had no access to any formal trial. Huge ransoms are always asked to release the prisoners. I know that to be the case since we experienced the same thing with my relatives. And this was confirmed again in the testimonies that I heard that night.
Families would pay the extortion money and the prisoner would not be released and more money is requested... It is the police prison guards right up to the highest echelons who do the bidding for the money. Just to show how deep the corruption has seeped in the new "liberated" Iraq.
I am trying not to forget anything here and my little pieces of newspaper are scattered in front of me and my head is spinning with bits of stories...
- Many relatives of ex-prisoners, ex-prisoners because these prisoners died under torture, said that they were called by anonymous people telling them that the body of so and so, was found in some street. One prisoner after a brutal torture session managed to give the phone number of his family to his cell mate, this latter engraved it on the sole of his rubber slippers. He called the family two days later to inform them that their son died from torture.
- Usually those who die from torture and if they are not dumped in some street, are given fake death certificates by an official hospital. It seems that there is an agreement between those who run those prisons and some of the hospitals in Iraq to fabricate death certificates stating - cause of death : natural. And the usual reason given is heart attack. But when the families do manage to recuperate the body, they see that it has been deformed beyond recognition because of torture.
- Now for the women's secret prison. This is how it happens and this what takes place. The police, militia or some other party is looking for an "insurgent" - as I said the word "insurgent" is used loosely by the current Iraqi mafia to denote just about anyone they don't like and mainly for sectarian or political reasons or because he was affiliated to the previous regime in particular the army. So if they can't find this person, they usually go for the female member of his family. Usually his wife or sister.
These female relatives are then placed in a secret prison -- a women only prison.
Nidal Shibib, an Iraqi woman human rights activist reported during the course of this program the following -- and I want you to read this carefully.
Torture and gang rape are common daily occurrences in this secret female prison. Not only that, but when "Firaq Tafteesh Amerkiya" - meaning American teams for Prison supervision - go to visit these secret prisons, one of which is the women's, the police in charge of this particular prison invite this American team "to do as they please with the female prisoners." And I quote - "they unbolt the doors of the cells wide open and tell them - take them all for your pleasure." These female prisoners find themselves raped again but this time by the Americans who supervise the Iraqi prisons- supervise them for "good conduct".
Some of the women who are eventually released are killed in "honor" by their families to wash away the shame of rape. Nidal Shibib rightly asked - "the male prisoners who are raped are not killed in honor, why do they kill the women? " (This is another parenthesis, I will not go into right now.)
- The IRANIAN connection : Many of the prisoner's relatives confirm that their relative was/is held in Iranian run prisons IN IRAQ and their torture was done by Iranians or that it was done under Iranian order and command. Some of these detainees happen to be ex-army officers. Many of them have died under torture.
Those who are not detained in Iraq, were arrested in 2003 by Iranian special forces and transferred to KARON prison in IRAN where their fate is still unknown.
Again, another Iraqi human rights activist by the name of Mohamed Al-Sheikhly has a whole dossier of the names of those Iraqis who disappeared in Iranian prisons in IRAN, and he has been active in finding their whereabouts/release, in vain...
On the same subject, I was told recently that President Ahmadinejad, in the 80's, then member of the Iranian revolutionary guards, was in charge of supervising the torture of Iraq soldiers during and in the aftermath of the Iran-Iraq war. (yet another parenthesis. So many sub-chapters in the Iraqi tragedy.)
- Yalla Layla, the food is ready...
- Yes, am coming, just one second
- Ya Layla, the food is getting cold...you have been complaining that am slow cook and that you are so hungry...yalla...
- Yes am coming, hold on one more second please...
- What are you doing for God's sake?
- Here I am.
- See, I cooked your favorite stew with Bamia (Okra) and rice... what's the matter aren't you hungry anymore ? Layla are you okay ?
- Yes I will be fine, give me a few minutes...
- What happened to you all of a sudden ?
- Give me a few minutes, I need to re-emerge from the Underworld...
I re-emerged, but a part of me is still there...in the secret prisons of Iraq.
P.S: Please circulate this post widely. As far and as wide as you can. The truth about Iraq new found "freedom and democracy" must be shown to the whole world.
For more complete information you may contact the Silent Majority.
Alternatively, you may write to: aghlabiya@alsharqiya.com
Posted by Layla Anwar at 1.5.09
http://signsofthelastdays.com/archives/american-christians-approve-of-torture
American Christians Approve Of Torture?
* Written by Admin
* Posted May 3, 2009 at 9:17 pm
A new poll by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life reveals that the more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of prisoners.
What in the world is going on?
According to the survey, 54 percent of Americans who attend church at least once per week said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is “often” or “sometimes” justified, while only 42 percent of Americans who “seldom or never” attend church services agreed with that viewpoint.
Wow.
So is that would Jesus do?
Torture helpless prisoners?
Just think about this question: Is a prisoner more likely or less likely to become a Christian if he gets tortured mercilessly by "Christians"?
What about his family? Are they more likely or less likely to become Christians if they know their husband or their father or their son has been mercilessly tortured by "Christians"?
What ever happened to the concept of doing good to those who persecute you?
Well, the truth is that the church is quickly becoming as corrupt as the nation as a whole is, and that is saying a lot.
Imagine a government that cruelly tortures thousands of prisoners endlessly for years and years and then announces to the world that nobody will ever be held accountable for the torture.
That's torture "American style".
Where else in the world can you be waterboarded an average of 6 times per day?
It has now been revealed that terror suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003and Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times in August 2002.
The following is how Wikipedia defines waterboarding:
Waterboarding is a form of torture that consists of immobilizing the victim on his or her back with the head inclined downwards, and then pouring water over the face and into the breathing passages. By forced suffocation and inhalation of water the subject experiences drowning and is caused to believe they are about to die.
Imagine having to go through that once.
Now imagine having to go through it 183 times in one month.
How could we treat any human being that way?
But now it is being announced that nobody will ever be held accountable for all of this torture.
President Barack Obama recently released four top secret memos from during the Bush administration that discussed the torture of terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay and at other secret detention centers around the globe.
In a statement accompanying the release of the memos, Obama said very clearly that those who had been involved in the torture would NOT be prosecuted. Obama stated that this is a "time for reflection, not retribution."
What in the world?
No prosecution for anyone?
President Obama correctly acknowledged that this was a "dark and painful chapter in our history."
So why is nobody being held accountable?
“Nothing will be gained,” Obama said, “by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past.”
Is he serious?
Is anything gained when we put a rapist in jail?
Is anything gained when we put a serial killer behind bars?
How can he say that nothing would be gained from prosecuting those people who have committed horrific torture crimes?
Apparently Barack Obama thinks that all of this torture is not that big of a deal.
The new attorney-general, Eric Holder, also stated that there will be no prosecution of CIA operatives working within the guidelines set by the Bush administration: "It would be unfair to prosecute dedicated men and women working to protect America for conduct that was sanctioned in advance by the justice department."
Unfair?
Was it unfair to prosecute the Nazis after World War II who were "just following the orders of Hitler"?
You can read the four torture memos that Obama released here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/page/torture-memos
The torture techniques described in these memos include.....
*Forced nudity
*"Walling", which is slamming a prisoner into a wall
*"Cramped confinement" which means "placement of the individual in a confined space"
*Stinging insects placed inside "a confinement box"
*Waterboarding - one of the memos actually admits that "the use of waterboarding constitutes a threat of imminent death"
*Sleep deprivation for several days
*Sleep deprivation while wearing a diaper
*The use of "stress positions" to cause "muscle fatigue"
*"Dietary manipulation"
*Facial and abdominal slapping
One of the most shocking things in these memos is that they recognized that the techniques that they were authorizing were ones that we condemned other countries for using.
However, the reality of American torture goes far beyond what was described in those four memos.
The truth is that it is documented that the torture of American prisoners around the world has been absolutely sadistic and brutal.
The following is list of some of the torture acts that U.S. military personnel committed against "terror suspects" as recorded in the executive summary of the Article 15-6 investigation of the 800th Military Police Brigade by Major General Antonio M. Taguba. A full copy of this report can be found at MSNBC.com.....
*Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees
*Forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions for photographing
*Forcing detainees to remove their clothing and keeping them naked for several days at a time
*Forcing naked male detainees to wear women’s underwear
*Forcing groups of male detainees to masturbate themselves while being photographed and videotaped
*Arranging naked male detainees in a pile and then jumping on them
*Positioning a naked detainee on a MRE Box, with a sandbag on his head, and attaching wires to his fingers, toes, and penis to simulate electric torture
*Writing "I am a Rapest" (sic) on the leg of a detainee alleged to have forcibly raped a 15-year old fellow detainee, and then photographing him naked
*Placing a dog chain or strap around a naked detainee’s neck and having a female Soldier pose for a picture
*A male MP guard having sex with a female detainee
*Using military working dogs (without muzzles) to intimidate and frighten detainees, and in at least one case biting and severely injuring a detainee
*Taking photographs of dead Iraqi detainees
*Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees
*Threatening detainees with a charged 9mm pistol
*Pouring cold water on naked detainees
*Beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair
*Threatening male detainees with rape
*Sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick
Does that sound like sadistic torture to you?
I certainly hope so.
Don't you think that those who participated in such acts should be held accountable?
So do I.
But apparently Obama does not, so all of the torturers are going to escape punishment and will never be brought to trial.
For even more reports of American torture that are almost too horrific to describe, read these articles:
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=30291
ATTENTION: http://arabwomanblues.blogspot.com/2009/05/news-from-iraqs-underworld.html THIS ONE IS SHOWN BELOW.
The word "shame" is not nearly strong enough to describe this state of affairs.
Have the American people sunk so low that they are now perfectly willing to accept that their government brutally tortures people with absolutely no accountability?
Has the church sunk so low that it now applauds the sadistic torture of helpless prisoners?
Growing up I always regarded torture as something that the "bad guys" did.
That was something that the Nazis and the Soviets and the North Koreans did.
Are we now becoming the bad guys?
It is a fair question.
This blog copyright © 2008 The Last Days. All Rights Reserved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://arabwomanblues.blogspot.com/2009/05/news-from-iraqs-underworld.html
Arab Woman Blues. Reflections in a sealed bottle...
Who am I ? The eternal Question . Have not figured it out fully yet . All you need to know about me is that I am a Middle Easterner, an Arab Woman - into my 40's and old enough to know better. I have no homeland per se. I live in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Egypt simultaneously ... All the rest is icing on the cake. /Copyrights reserved, 2006-2009
May 1, 2009
Iraq's Underworld.
I was at a friend's place the other night, and whilst this friend was busy preparing dinner, I was left to zap the TV at my convenience...It is not often that am given this privilege of zapping as I please. I really made up for it, that night and zapped my head away... Engrossed in my nervous hobby, fate or luck had it that I land on Al-Sharqiya - an Iraqi TV channel.
As a rule of thumb, I try avoid watching Iraqi TV altogether. It just depresses the hell out of me. In particular the Iraqi Shiite channels where permanent, chronic, non stop "latmiahs" are aired live. Latmiah is the act of pounding one's breast with one's fist or hand...usually followed by scenes of wailing and ultimately by scenes of heavy self flagellation - a 24/7 Ashura. (Ashura is a Shiite religious day characterized by mass hysteria in the "new" Iraq)
The other Iraqi TV channels, I find them as dodgy as the Shiite ones. You have Al-Baghdadia (where Muntather Zaidi - the shoe thrower used to work). One is never sure who Al- Baghdadia works for. Some say it supports the chief Driller of the Mahdi Army - Muqtada Al-Sadr. Others say it is a patriotic channel. Go figure...
Then you have the all Assyrian channels, the all Kurdish channels, a couple of channels from Al-Anbar where they are always reciting poetry of which I understand nothing. And you also have the official Iraqi puppet channels who praise Maliki non stop and of course the Arabic version of Fox news, funded by the Americans.
The only two channels I watch if I have to, are Al-Babylia and Al-Sharqiya both of which are anti-occupation and secular, praise to God.
As I was saying before opening the above parenthesis -- my friend was in the kitchen chopping away and I could smell some wonderful, mouth watering, scents emanating from there, tipping me into a world that made my palate anxious to taste some good, wholesome stuff for a change...
Meanwhile, Fate decided that I was to watch the program aired by Al-Sharqiya called Al-Aghlabiya Al-Samita -- The Silent Majority.
And here I was stuck with the silent majority.
The program was solely devoted to the gross Human rights violations and abuses in "liberated" Iraq with particular reference to the plight of prisoners/detainees in Iraq's Gulag.
Many called in. Some were ex-prisoners, other relatives of someone who is still in prison or reported dead while in prison.
The stories were harrowing. I felt as if I was watching a horror film. Truly, I still have not fully recovered from what I heard that evening.
People were calling in from ALL of Iraq - Baghdad, Basra, Diwaniya, Suleymania, Erbil...Some were exiled and calling from outside of Iraq and they had escaped a similar ordeal, a similar ordeal as that of the still lingering prisoners. Some were very close relatives of someone still imprisoned in some Iraqi dungeon.
That evening, I had forgotten my writing pad at home, so I just scribbled some of the important information on the blank edges of an old newspaper.
I cannot recall the full exact numbers and locations but I do have the overall stories well stored in my mind as well as few cases that cannot and will never be forgotten. So help me God not to omit or forget anything.
ALL of the stories shared similar characteristics and details - a common thread, if one may call it that.
- What am about to tell you does NOT cover American run prisons/detention camps, nor does it cover official Iraqi prisons. I say official because this program and all the testimonies it bore, made it clear that there are 600 SECRET/SHADOW prisons in Iraq besides the official ones.
- Prisoners, both men and women are arrested on identity/sect basis or because they are relatives of someone who is wanted for "insurgency". The term insurgency is used very loosely by the Iraqi authorities. I shall explain how later.
- Prisoners are usually caught after a "Mukhber Seree", a mouchard in French, I am not sure what the term is in English. Basically someone charged of spying on people for anything he considers as "subversive". So the Mukhber Seree has full authority and 10 times out of 10, he either works for the Police, a Militia or a particular Ministry, or the Mukhabarat - secret service or the official Government.
I say official government because you have to know that today in Iraq there are several mini governments within the government. And that is important to remember, because it transpired from the stories that each prison belongs to a party, a militia, or some government mafia clan member...
Moreover prisoners who make it out alive, and I personally know of two cases who have been released, stay in hiding and keep changing houses, because the Mukhber Al-Seree would not let go of them. So, in fact they are never free.
- All the prisoners have not been formally charged with any "crime" and none has had access to any legal council or trial. An example : someone drew an anti-occupation graffiti on the wall of one neighborhood, all of the men in the age range of 15 to 45of that same neighborhood were arrested the following day and imprisoned.
- All of the stories report widespread use of horrific torture methods. Common torture methods across the country are : electrocution, being hanged by hooks from the ceilings, sleep deprivation, food deprivation, isolation, made to listen to torture from other cells, beatings, crammed space - one example 150 inmates in one cell of 3 by 8 meters, amputating fingers, amputation of limbs following torture, pulling nails and teeth, burning with cigarettes and acid, blinding one eye, drilling extremities...and rape including gang rape of male prisoners was commonly reported. One example given was in the space of one day 45 policemen raped around 100 detainees. Rape includes the forcing of bottles in the anus. This was a common theme that came up in every single story. I will devote a separate paragraph to the secret women's prison.
- The age range of the prisoners is from as young as 13 to as old as 70. As I said the great majority are not charged with anything and have had no access to any formal trial. Huge ransoms are always asked to release the prisoners. I know that to be the case since we experienced the same thing with my relatives. And this was confirmed again in the testimonies that I heard that night.
Families would pay the extortion money and the prisoner would not be released and more money is requested... It is the police prison guards right up to the highest echelons who do the bidding for the money. Just to show how deep the corruption has seeped in the new "liberated" Iraq.
I am trying not to forget anything here and my little pieces of newspaper are scattered in front of me and my head is spinning with bits of stories...
- Many relatives of ex-prisoners, ex-prisoners because these prisoners died under torture, said that they were called by anonymous people telling them that the body of so and so, was found in some street. One prisoner after a brutal torture session managed to give the phone number of his family to his cell mate, this latter engraved it on the sole of his rubber slippers. He called the family two days later to inform them that their son died from torture.
- Usually those who die from torture and if they are not dumped in some street, are given fake death certificates by an official hospital. It seems that there is an agreement between those who run those prisons and some of the hospitals in Iraq to fabricate death certificates stating - cause of death : natural. And the usual reason given is heart attack. But when the families do manage to recuperate the body, they see that it has been deformed beyond recognition because of torture.
- Now for the women's secret prison. This is how it happens and this what takes place. The police, militia or some other party is looking for an "insurgent" - as I said the word "insurgent" is used loosely by the current Iraqi mafia to denote just about anyone they don't like and mainly for sectarian or political reasons or because he was affiliated to the previous regime in particular the army. So if they can't find this person, they usually go for the female member of his family. Usually his wife or sister.
These female relatives are then placed in a secret prison -- a women only prison.
Nidal Shibib, an Iraqi woman human rights activist reported during the course of this program the following -- and I want you to read this carefully.
Torture and gang rape are common daily occurrences in this secret female prison. Not only that, but when "Firaq Tafteesh Amerkiya" - meaning American teams for Prison supervision - go to visit these secret prisons, one of which is the women's, the police in charge of this particular prison invite this American team "to do as they please with the female prisoners." And I quote - "they unbolt the doors of the cells wide open and tell them - take them all for your pleasure." These female prisoners find themselves raped again but this time by the Americans who supervise the Iraqi prisons- supervise them for "good conduct".
Some of the women who are eventually released are killed in "honor" by their families to wash away the shame of rape. Nidal Shibib rightly asked - "the male prisoners who are raped are not killed in honor, why do they kill the women? " (This is another parenthesis, I will not go into right now.)
- The IRANIAN connection : Many of the prisoner's relatives confirm that their relative was/is held in Iranian run prisons IN IRAQ and their torture was done by Iranians or that it was done under Iranian order and command. Some of these detainees happen to be ex-army officers. Many of them have died under torture.
Those who are not detained in Iraq, were arrested in 2003 by Iranian special forces and transferred to KARON prison in IRAN where their fate is still unknown.
Again, another Iraqi human rights activist by the name of Mohamed Al-Sheikhly has a whole dossier of the names of those Iraqis who disappeared in Iranian prisons in IRAN, and he has been active in finding their whereabouts/release, in vain...
On the same subject, I was told recently that President Ahmadinejad, in the 80's, then member of the Iranian revolutionary guards, was in charge of supervising the torture of Iraq soldiers during and in the aftermath of the Iran-Iraq war. (yet another parenthesis. So many sub-chapters in the Iraqi tragedy.)
- Yalla Layla, the food is ready...
- Yes, am coming, just one second
- Ya Layla, the food is getting cold...you have been complaining that am slow cook and that you are so hungry...yalla...
- Yes am coming, hold on one more second please...
- What are you doing for God's sake?
- Here I am.
- See, I cooked your favorite stew with Bamia (Okra) and rice... what's the matter aren't you hungry anymore ? Layla are you okay ?
- Yes I will be fine, give me a few minutes...
- What happened to you all of a sudden ?
- Give me a few minutes, I need to re-emerge from the Underworld...
I re-emerged, but a part of me is still there...in the secret prisons of Iraq.
P.S: Please circulate this post widely. As far and as wide as you can. The truth about Iraq new found "freedom and democracy" must be shown to the whole world.
For more complete information you may contact the Silent Majority.
Alternatively, you may write to: aghlabiya@alsharqiya.com
Posted by Layla Anwar at 1.5.09
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