Video: US troops fire on Iraqi detainees

[Appollynon]

I found this on PressTV this morning and thought it was worth sharing.

Amateur footage recently posted on the internet shows American troops firing live ammunition on Iraqi prisoners during a riot in a US detention facility in Iraq back in 2005.

The footage shows US forces using disproportionate force and live rounds against prisoners at the US prison facility Camp Bucca located in Iraq.

The Iraqi detainees were protesting the American troops' desecration of Islam's holy book, the Qur'an.

At the time, the US military tried to cover up the bloodshed, saying the riot happened when the prisoners confronted a search for contraband in the prison.

But the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) later revealed that the real cause of the riot was the desecration of the Holy Qur'an by US troops.

The thing that I find the most disturbing and sickening about this video isn't just the shooting, but the whooping, laughing and applause that these psychopaths are giving each other for shooting rioting prisoners, who in their own words, "are throwing nothing but dust balls and rocks".

 

[Ottershrew]

Thanks, Appollynon.

Apparently 4 prisoners were shot dead on this occasion, while 5 others were wounded.

Here's a link to the video.

 

[Ellipse]

Same as the Nazis inside concentration camps .

 

[Ottershrew]

A personal reflection on life at Camp Bucca can be found here:

Jailed 2 years, Iraqi tells of abuse by Americans

It's pretty heartbreaking. Here's an extract:

Mr. Ani said the electric prods were first used on him on the way to Camp Bucca. "I was talking to someone next to me and they used it," he said, describing the device as black plastic with a yellow tip and two iron prongs. He said the prods were commonly used on him and other detainees as punishment.

"The whole body starts to shake and hurt," he said. "And you lose consciousness for a couple of seconds. One time they used it on my tongue. One guard held me from the left and another on my back and another used it against my tongue and for four or five days I couldn't eat."

In a separate interview, the insurgent from Samarra said such a device had been used on him for speaking out of turn. Ahmed Majid al-Ghanem, 50, a former Baath Party official who was also freed from Camp Bucca and is now living in Syria, said in a separate interview that he witnessed the electric prods being used as punishment on other detainees.

The Times interviewed Mr. Ani at his apartment in Damascus, the Syrian capital, where he sat on a couch with his parents, wife and children. When he demonstrated how he had been held for the electric prod, his 4-year-old daughter, Al Budur, mimicked his actions.

Lt. Col. Keir-Kevin Curry, a detention system spokesman, said: "Every use of less than lethal force, to include use of Tasers, is formally reported by facility leadership, ensuring soldiers are in accordance with proper use. Touching a Taser to someone's tongue is not one of the approved uses."

 

[Appollynon]

Thank you Ottershrew for posting the link to the video that I had meant too, and the link to the NY Times article. That was difficult reading, it reminded of the documentary film "Taxi To the Darkside" and the reckless hate that is documented in that film. They held Mr Ani for two years, only questioned him once, and never even charged him with a crime! It really gets my blood boiling when I see these thing's on a daily basis and understand that what we see, is likely juts the tip of a very large and bloody iceberg.

 

[Cosmos]

that makes me angry as hell

 

[maryjk_99]

I couldn't watch that video...I was already an emotional mess over a story I just read regarding a Marine's suicide:

_http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/04/15/california.marine.suicide/index.html?eref=rss_mostpopular

..."We thought we had a young man here who was on the way back," said his father, Stacy Hunt. "He turned his life around. Four days prior to his death he is holding his brand new baby niece, our granddaughter. He had bought a new truck. He was so excited. He was preparing to go on Ride 2 Recovery (a rehabilitation program for injured veterans). And three days later it's over. It's insidious."

...Hunt was in a public service announcement for suicide prevention.

Why?

Hunt was surrounded by family and friends.

Why?

Hunt volunteered for Team Rubicon, traveling with veterans to Haiti and Chile on humanitarian missions after earthquakes.

...Wood stresses that Hunt was self-aware and actively sought help in exorcising the demons of war.

I pray for these poor souls disparately trying to normalize their lives with their families but these demons just cannot be shaken away. The tossing away of all these lives affected by the shams (and shame) of these wars and the treatment of these families will not go unnoticed. The contrast between the story of the soldiers in Iraq along with stories like this one will help in the awareness of the two different human species on this planet, so perhaps this is how it is meant to be?? Or..how it must be for us to realize we are really all in this together ...the wheat and the chaff must be separated.