Another Nail...

So another tidbit hits the news in the last 24 hours telling of Pfc. Lynndie England getting 3 years for humiliating prisoners. There is more here than meets the eyes and ears in the news. Just take a whiff.

Take a look at this Iraqi guy's back. These concentric rings about the diameter of a cigarette are ... you guessed it, cigarette burns. The Iraqi powers that be are very motivated to get a confession because of the bias their "legal" system has toward it's value, so they get them ANY way they can. This includes long and repeated brutal torture as seen here. In this guys case, he was arrested by not the police but the Mahdi Organization.

Now Here Is The Part That Is Complicated...

The Mahdi Organization was considered a terrorist organization started in Sahdr City by Shiites just after the fall of Saddam. It's original name was the Mahdi Army. It is somewhat like Hezzbollah, having both military, political, and charity wings. These guys were swapping bullets with us until the Iraqi government made peace and let them patrol Sadr City in Baghdad openly with weapons just like official policemen earlier this year. This equals one day being able to shoot on sight an "enemy inusurgent" and the next day, literally, a the same guys can walk around and must be left alone unless they post a direct threat to coalition forces. The Mahdi Organization even has it's own courts seperate from the official Iraqi legal system but run under a religious system. They can torture with the best of them from the "Saddam" days. Unfortunately for anyone accused of a crime in Baghdad, this is what may await you, especially if you have some money they might extract as well. That's a story for another time.

Yes, my RebulicanDemocraticNonvotingInvolvedRadicalDudeChicks, between these guys, the Iraqi Police, the Iraqi Army, and the Iraqi Public Order Brigades torture has made a big come back. Rape is a popular tool for both men and women arrested. Swapping stories with other soldiers reveal this to be broad problem.

The torture that the Iraqis have especially excelled at is by beating the hands and feet until the nails fall off or are helped off with a set of pliars. They simply take a rolling pin sized wooden rod and fasten a loose strap over it at each end of the rod. They place your hands or feet between the strap and rod, then tighten the strap with the rod by rolling it. It holds the hands or feet easily. Thats when they "get medieval on your ass" and whip you with 1 inch PVC pipe on your hands or feet. Now whether you are guilty or not, you are very motivated to get this to stop, and will usually admit to anything to stop it.

Eventually all these guys talk to their families and friends and tell these stories and show their marks. Hence, this is one of the many reasons that so many Iraqis have little trust in the new system. (CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE.)