SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Secret US detention center, Camp Nama, was held at Baghdad international airport. (Photo: Khalid Mohammed/AP)
UK Whistleblowers Detail Torture at Secretive US Prison in Baghdad
New information on Camp Nama reveals history of silence surrounding US torture
Apr 01, 2013
Former members of the UK military have come forward for the first time to detail many of the vast human rights abuses they witnessed at a highly secretive U.S. prison in Baghdad during the Iraq war, the Guardian reports Monday.
According to the UK service members, many Iraqi prisoners who were brought to the prison in Baghdad international airport--known as Camp Nama--faced "some of the most serious human-rights abuses to occur in Iraq after the invasion," the Guardian reports.
"The methods used were so brutal that they drew condemnation not only from [Human Rights Watch] but from a special investigator reporting to the Pentagon," but have not been detailed by services members from the facility until now.
The abuses the UK soldiers report U.S. services members committing include:
- Iraqi prisoners being held for prolonged periods in cells the size of large dog kennels.
- Prisoners being subjected to electric shocks.
- Prisoners being routinely hooded.
- Inmates being taken into a sound-proofed shipping container for interrogation, and emerging in a state of physical distress.
A British serviceman also stated: "I saw one man having his prosthetic leg being pulled off him, and being beaten about the head with it before he was thrown on to the truck."
The UK soldiers said that they complained about the widespread abuses, but the UK Ministry of Defense stifled their complaints and continues to deny having received any of the complaints.
"I remember talking to one British army officer about what I had seen, and he replied: 'You didn't see that - do you understand?' There was a great deal of nervousness about the place. I had the impression that the British were scared we would be kicked off the operation if we made a fuss," a UK ex-serviceman said.
The Guardian adds:
While Abu Ghraib prison, just a few miles to the west, would achieve global notoriety after photographs emerged depicting abuses committed there, Camp Nama escaped attention for a simple reason: photography was banned. The only people who attempted to take pictures - a pair of US Navy Seals - were promptly arrested. All discussion of what happened there was forbidden.
However, as the Guardian reports, "One person who has been widely reported to have been seen there frequently was General Stanley McChrystal, then commander of US Joint Special Operations forces in Iraq."
Read more from this story here.
_______________________
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Jacob Chamberlain
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.
Former members of the UK military have come forward for the first time to detail many of the vast human rights abuses they witnessed at a highly secretive U.S. prison in Baghdad during the Iraq war, the Guardian reports Monday.
According to the UK service members, many Iraqi prisoners who were brought to the prison in Baghdad international airport--known as Camp Nama--faced "some of the most serious human-rights abuses to occur in Iraq after the invasion," the Guardian reports.
"The methods used were so brutal that they drew condemnation not only from [Human Rights Watch] but from a special investigator reporting to the Pentagon," but have not been detailed by services members from the facility until now.
The abuses the UK soldiers report U.S. services members committing include:
- Iraqi prisoners being held for prolonged periods in cells the size of large dog kennels.
- Prisoners being subjected to electric shocks.
- Prisoners being routinely hooded.
- Inmates being taken into a sound-proofed shipping container for interrogation, and emerging in a state of physical distress.
A British serviceman also stated: "I saw one man having his prosthetic leg being pulled off him, and being beaten about the head with it before he was thrown on to the truck."
The UK soldiers said that they complained about the widespread abuses, but the UK Ministry of Defense stifled their complaints and continues to deny having received any of the complaints.
"I remember talking to one British army officer about what I had seen, and he replied: 'You didn't see that - do you understand?' There was a great deal of nervousness about the place. I had the impression that the British were scared we would be kicked off the operation if we made a fuss," a UK ex-serviceman said.
The Guardian adds:
While Abu Ghraib prison, just a few miles to the west, would achieve global notoriety after photographs emerged depicting abuses committed there, Camp Nama escaped attention for a simple reason: photography was banned. The only people who attempted to take pictures - a pair of US Navy Seals - were promptly arrested. All discussion of what happened there was forbidden.
However, as the Guardian reports, "One person who has been widely reported to have been seen there frequently was General Stanley McChrystal, then commander of US Joint Special Operations forces in Iraq."
Read more from this story here.
_______________________
Jacob Chamberlain
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.
Former members of the UK military have come forward for the first time to detail many of the vast human rights abuses they witnessed at a highly secretive U.S. prison in Baghdad during the Iraq war, the Guardian reports Monday.
According to the UK service members, many Iraqi prisoners who were brought to the prison in Baghdad international airport--known as Camp Nama--faced "some of the most serious human-rights abuses to occur in Iraq after the invasion," the Guardian reports.
"The methods used were so brutal that they drew condemnation not only from [Human Rights Watch] but from a special investigator reporting to the Pentagon," but have not been detailed by services members from the facility until now.
The abuses the UK soldiers report U.S. services members committing include:
- Iraqi prisoners being held for prolonged periods in cells the size of large dog kennels.
- Prisoners being subjected to electric shocks.
- Prisoners being routinely hooded.
- Inmates being taken into a sound-proofed shipping container for interrogation, and emerging in a state of physical distress.
A British serviceman also stated: "I saw one man having his prosthetic leg being pulled off him, and being beaten about the head with it before he was thrown on to the truck."
The UK soldiers said that they complained about the widespread abuses, but the UK Ministry of Defense stifled their complaints and continues to deny having received any of the complaints.
"I remember talking to one British army officer about what I had seen, and he replied: 'You didn't see that - do you understand?' There was a great deal of nervousness about the place. I had the impression that the British were scared we would be kicked off the operation if we made a fuss," a UK ex-serviceman said.
The Guardian adds:
While Abu Ghraib prison, just a few miles to the west, would achieve global notoriety after photographs emerged depicting abuses committed there, Camp Nama escaped attention for a simple reason: photography was banned. The only people who attempted to take pictures - a pair of US Navy Seals - were promptly arrested. All discussion of what happened there was forbidden.
However, as the Guardian reports, "One person who has been widely reported to have been seen there frequently was General Stanley McChrystal, then commander of US Joint Special Operations forces in Iraq."
Read more from this story here.
_______________________
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.