Iraq: "Mission Accomplished". Definitely Not!

If the West had some sort of pipe-dream of deposing Saddam in Iraq to then see the country stabilised, the were way of the mark and track. It is barely a month since the main contingents of military pulled out of Iraq - and the country is seemingly falling apart in all manner of ways. CommonDreams reports........

The human rights situation in Iraq is worse now than it was a year ago, Human Rights Watch argues in a new report out Sunday.

Human Rights Watch says it uncovered a secret Iraqi prison where detainees were beaten, hung upside down and given electric shocks to sensitive parts of their bodies. The group based its claims on the testimony of detainees themselves. The group says the forces who control the facility report to the military office of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

From the report:

BAGHDAD – Iraq cracked down harshly during 2011 on freedom of expression and assembly by intimidating, beating, and detaining activists, demonstrators, and journalists, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2012.

In February, Human Rights Watch uncovered a secret detention facility controlled by elite security forces who report to the military office of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. The same elite divisions controlled Camp Honor, a separate facility in Baghdad where detainees were tortured with impunity.

“Iraq is quickly slipping back into authoritarianism as its security forces abuse protesters, harass journalists, and torture detainees,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Despite U.S. government assurances that it helped create a stable democracy, the reality is that it left behind a budding police state.” [...]

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Mahler's Prodigal Son

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