Meanwhile, In Iraq...

In today's installment of "Meanwhile.." Come three via The Independent.

In the interest of brevity, I'll just offer up the links, with a wee quote from each.

In our first story, we get some additional color on just how violent things are. That more allegations of torture, mutilations and death squads are being reported should come as no surprise.

[snip]...And there are others: the Shia Defenders of Khadamiya - set up under Hussein al-Sadr, a cousin of Muqtada, who is an ally of the former prime minister Iyad Allawi - and the government-backed Tiger and Scorpion brigades. They all have similar looks: balaclavas or wraparound sunglasses and headbands, black leather gloves with fingers cut off, and a variety of weapons. When not manning checkpoints, they hurtle through the streets in four-wheel drives, scattering the traffic by firing in the air. Out of sight they are accused of arbitrary arrests, intimidation and extrajudicial killings.

The US and Britain, which trained many of the forces involved, and which still have ultimate responsibility for them, are implicated. But the pattern of illegality is also the continuation of a process that began with the questionable justification for the invasion. American and British forces have played their own part, from the abuses of Abu Ghraib to deaths in British military custody, from the deployment of white phosphorus as a chemical weapon in the assault on Fallujah to the wild use of overwhelming American firepower, which some have called almost as indiscriminate as the killings caused by Sunni insurgents' car bombings...[/snip]

What seems a new development is that US and British troops are allegedly standing by as interrogations' are taking place. Of particular interest(and sickening) are the allegations of "spray and slay" operations(for a definition see the last paragraph under the heading: 'The Charge Sheet.')

Our second item regards the alleged killing of Iraqi prisoners with electric drills. Gruesome.

[snip]...John Reid, the Secretary of State for defense, admits that he knows of "alleged deaths in custody" and other "serious prisoner abuse" at al-Jamiyat police station, which was reopened by Britain after the war.

Militia-dominated police, who were recruited by Britain, are believed to have tortured at least two men to death in the station. Their bodies were later found with drill holes to their arms, legs and skulls.

The victims were suspected of collaborating with coalition forces, according to intelligence reports. Despite being pressed "very hard" by Britain, however, the Iraqi authorities in Basra are failing to even investigate incidents of torture and murder by police, ministers admit.

The disclosure drags Britain firmly into the growing scandal of officially condoned killings, torture and disappearances in Iraq. More than 170 starving and tortured prisoners were discovered last week in an Interior Ministry bunker in Baghdad.

American troops who uncovered the secret torture chamber are also said to have discovered mutilated corpses, several bearing drill marks...[/snip]

Hard to add much to that.

"They hate us because of our freedoms."

Maybe our tacit - and sometimes overt - disregard for international law plays a part. Who knows?

Last on our list for today is a good example as to why it is so difficult to get to the facts in time of war. Former US marine Staff Sergeant Jimmy Massey has claimed in interviews that he and members of "his platoon killed unarmed civilians during the invasion of Iraq."

Mr. Massey has an autobiography out, titled, 'Kill, Kill, Kill,' and according to The Independent his basic story has never been challenged. But now that 'Kill, Kill, Kill' is being primed for publication in the US, its accounts are being questioned.

[snip]...Earlier this month Ron Harris wrote a series in his newspaper, the St Louis Post-Dispatch, under headlines that included, "Is Jimmy Massey Telling the Truth About Iraq?". The articles seized on minor discrepancies of detail and implied that, because Mr Massey suffers from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, he is less than reliable...[/snip]

[snip]...But when Mr Harris appeared on CNN to accuse Mr Massey of lying, claiming he had witnessed the incidents described by the marine, he in turn was challenged by another journalist. Jeff Schmerker, a reporter for The Mountaineer in North Carolina, said Mr Harris told him that he did not see the events with his own eyes. The St Louis Post-Dispatch man was assigned to a different company in the battalion from Mr Massey's.

The sergeant's main charge is not denied by the reporter or the Marine Corps. "Yes, marines killed civilians," said Mr Harris. "I even reported on the shooting and killing of a British TV crew while I was in Iraq." In December 2004, the Marine Corps spokesman at the Pentagon, Major Douglas Powell, told MSNBC: "We're not saying he's lying, but his perception of what the situation was in relation to the rules of engagement, and what was justified, is different than ours."...[/snip]

The Major was mighty tactful in his wording.

This Harris fellow seems less than entirely forthcoming. Where does the truth lie? I certainly do not know. But it seems plausible that if the USMC did not dispute Massey's accounts at an earlier time, then there may be little to refute. With allegations as severe as these, one must think that the military had at least an impromptu investigation at an earlier date.

As always, much more detail at provided links.