Een onderzoek van The Guardian en BBC Arabic heeft bekendgemaakt dat de VS ex-veteranen naar Irak stuurde om toezicht te houden over de martelcentra in Irak. Het gaat om James Coffman en James Steele, die direct raporteerden aan respectievelijk David Petraeus en Donald Rumsfeld. Het is de eerste keer dat Petraeus direct gelinkt wordt aan de misbruiken.
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The allegations, made by US and Iraqi witnesses, implicate US advisers for the first time in these human rights abuses. It is also the first time that the then US commander in Iraq, David Petraeus, has been linked through an adviser to the abuses.
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Citaat:
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The Guardian/BBC Arabic investigation was sparked by the release of classified US military logs on WikiLeaks that detailed hundreds of incidents where US soldiers came across tortured detainees in a network of detention centres run by the police commandos across Iraq. Private Bradley Manning, 25, is facing a prison sentence of up to 20 years after he pleaded guilty to leaking the documents.
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James Steele speelde een sleutelrol in de training en supervisie van door de VS gefinancierde 'special police commandos' die een netwerk van martelcentra onderhielden.
Een reportage hierover:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGfYfbPS6zU
Over die docu nog dit:
Citaat:
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The relatively muted response in the US contrasted with that in Iraq. In Samarra, one of the centres of the Sunni insurgency against US-led forces and where Iraqis are alleged to have been tortured in a library, ... thousands of people gathered in the city for anti-government protests..
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013...e-centres-link