Rape of Iraqi women by American soldiers. US soldiers force Iraqis to perform oral sex American soldiers bully

The main task of the process is to decide whether the case of 21-year-old England should be tried by a military tribunal.

An ordinary soldier of the 372nd military police brigade and 8 of her colleagues were at the center of a scandal with mockery of the captives of Abu Ghraib, which shocked the whole world. In photographs that fell into the hands of military investigators, and then in the media, England and her fellow prison guards pose with naked Iraqis, from whose bodies living pyramids are created, hold captives on a leash, and make offensive gestures and movements of a sexual nature towards them.

At first, England's lawyers said that commanders ordered the guards to mock the captives, who thus hoped to get valuable information from them. However, later, according to witnesses, it turned out that the tortured prisoners were ordinary criminals who were of no value to the intelligence services, ITAR-TASS reports.

In addition, the chief investigator in the case, Paul Arthur, said at the commencement of England's court hearings that she and other US military officers mocked the prisoners "for laughs." Arthur said England had previously told him that the controversial photos were taken of the guards "joking and having fun during the night shift."

Before the trial, England herself refrained from answering questions from journalists gathered in court, Reuters reports.

A total of 19 counts were filed against the private, including bullying detainees and possessing sexually explicit photographs of non-Iraqis.

If found guilty, she faces up to 38 years in prison. The first of 9 Abu Ghraib guards, Jeremy Sivitz, was found guilty in May and sentenced to a year in prison.

The second female face of the Iraqi war - the executioner girl

Those who know Lindy England look at the photos and can't believe their eyes. For months now, they have seen shocking images of the 21-year-old girl humiliating Iraqi prisoners and say they don't recognize her as the person they know.

Lindy's mother, Terry, told the Baltimore Sun: "The news is all about it, but I don't hear anything new. They keep showing and showing these pictures. How much longer will I have to look at them?" Every day there is additional evidence of the abuses of American soldiers, and relatives, friends, neighbors experience, in addition to indignation, also shock. Pride is replaced by disgust, writes the British newspaper The Independent (translation on the site Inopressa.ru).

When they saw one of the latest photographs released of Lindy England holding a prisoner on a leash, friends could not believe that this was the same Lindy they had escorted to Iraq. Destiny Coyne, the girl's best friend, told The Washington Post: "It just seems ridiculous to me because it's not Lean. She wouldn't pull a dog's collar, let alone a human."

Lindy England grew up in the small town of Fort Ashby in West Virginia, near the Maryland border. While still at school, her mother said she volunteered for the Army Reserve and went through basic military training when her classmates found summer jobs.

After her young fighter course, she returned to Fort Ashby where she worked in a poultry processing plant. Then she joined the 372nd Army Regiment, based in Maryland. She managed to be married, however, this marriage fell apart even before she went to Iraq last year.

Her family says she joined the army to earn money for college. They think of another girl stranded in Iraq who also made headlines, Jessica Lynch.

The England family draws parallels between their daughter and this girl, who was captured in Iraq and later rescued by US intelligence from an Iraqi hospital in what was described as a rescue mission by the Pentagon.

"Just like with this Lynch, the press blows the story out of proportion," Lindy's father says. "Only this time in a negative way, not a positive one."

It is hard to imagine how information regarding their daughter could be even more negative. Photographs circulated around the world showing their girl pointing at the captives' genitals with a smug smirk. Friends describe England as an independent person who doesn't care about anything. And her mother insists that Lin was not trained to be a security guard. "She didn't guard them, she registered them. She just happened to be there when these pictures were taken."

At the same time that the prisoner abuses depicted in the photographs were taking place, late last year, the people of Fort Ashby and the surrounding area were proud of the likes of England and her colleagues, considering them heroes. Knowing that they were helping to provide security at a prison that became infamous during Saddam Hussein's time, friends posted pictures of them in the courthouse and local supermarket.

But according to Mrs. England, back in January, her daughter called from Baghdad with news that shook that pride. She said that an investigation into prison abuse had been launched. "I just want you to know that there might be some trouble," Lin said to her mother.

Her mother has lost a lot of weight, is unwell and sleeps most of the time. She spoke to her daughter on the phone once last week. The news was on TV. "You are shown on all programs," she told her daughter. "Here you are, but naked Iraqis, and here you show the thumb."

She says her daughter replied, "Mom, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

The parents have not commented on their daughter's alleged pregnancy, nor on her relationship with Charles Grainer, a former prison guard from Pennsylvania, one of the six soldiers indicted.

Grainer's neighbors were shocked by the news of his participation in the torture of prisoners. A verse from the Book of the Prophet Hosea is carved on a stone located near his house: "Sow for yourself in righteousness, and you will reap mercy; plow open your novice, for it is time to seek the Lord, so that when He comes, He will rain righteousness on you."

His neighbor, Thomas Zawada, has seen photographs of Grainer standing with a wide smile in front of a pile of naked bodies. "It's not American," says Zawada, "you can't treat people like that."

But according to documents obtained by The Independent, this is not the first time Grainer has been implicated in a crime. His ex-wife, Stacy, applied for protection three times for "mistreatment". In a court filing, she describes how he once showed up at her house after their divorce.

“He pulled me out of bed by the hair, pushed me out into the hall and tried to throw me down the stairs,” she wrote. “Both children saw it all and started screaming. Mommy".

It also became known that Greiner, a former US Marine, was working at the Greene Correctional Facility when the scandal broke out in connection with the beating of prisoners. Official sources say nothing about whether charges were then brought and whether he was punished.

On the Japanese island of Okinawa, where American military bases are located, only recorded rapes happen on average 23-25 ​​cases per month.

The American soldier brings on his boots (more precisely, elegant high boots) the land of freedom. Where American troops come, the air immediately begins to smell of freedom, the water acquires the taste of freedom, and even houses burn especially, in a free way.

This has already been forgotten in Germany, but it is well remembered in Vietnam, Panama, Granada, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq and many other places where the brave Yankees landed, attacking only obviously smaller countries and military power. However, in little Vietnam, they managed to get in the teeth, after which they land their soldiers somewhere only after a thorough missile sweep.

And most of all, Americans love when you don’t need to fight at all, but you can safely drink beer and pester local girls. Read, if anyone speaks the language of the current "any friends", or rather, the owners of the Kiev authorities, the statistics on sexual crimes in the American army. Ripped off by hamburgers and cola-fueled warriors rape everything that moves, .

The number of victims among the US military itself increased from 2013 to 2014 from 19 to 26 thousand people. If you divide by all the US bases, you get an average of 70 rapes a day. Once again, we are only talking about cases where one soldier or officer rapes another or another. Cases of rape of local women and residents are not included in these statistics.

On the Japanese island of Okinawa, where American military bases are located, only recorded rapes happen on average 23-25 ​​cases per month. And this must be taken into account that in Japan, after rape, even fewer women turn to the police than in Russia - such morals. That is, in reality, the number of Japanese women raped by the American military is many times, if not orders of magnitude more.

The situation is similar in South Korea. The total number of crimes committed by the US military since their arrival in South Korea has exceeded 100,000. Again, rape is in first place, fatal accidents are in second, and intentional and unintentional murders are in third.

More precisely, the vast majority of killings are recognized as unintentional, because the US military is outside the jurisdiction of local courts - only American ones.

The cases when soldiers and officers in the United States were found guilty and sentenced to real terms for crimes committed abroad can be counted on the fingers. Bullying, murder, rape, robbery of the local population - these are quite permissible pranks for the military.

And now all this will be in Ukraine, where more and more American instructors arrive - on an official and unofficial basis. A video that shocked many, where Americans mock a disabled person, is still flowers.

Records of real murders and rapes will appear on the net very soon - as they appeared after the occupation of Iraq. Americans do not care what country is around - they justifiably feel unpunished - because here no one will allow them to judge, and in the USA no one will condemn them for crimes against savages.

“A gentleman on the other side of the Atlantic is not responsible for what a gentleman on this side of the Atlantic does” - although Americans are proud of almost 240 years of independence from Britain, they still have not got rid of the traditional Anglo-Saxon attitude to the outside world. A hostile and contemptuous attitude that the unfortunate girls of Ukraine will have to fully experience, whom no one can protect from the violence of the American military.

America, to the envy of the Old World, has not known wars on its territory for a long time. But this does not mean that the American army was idle. Vietnam, Korea, the Middle East... And although the history of the US Army also has examples of the heroic and simply dignified behavior of soldiers and officers, there are episodes in it that have covered the US Army with shame for many years to come. Today we remember the most shameful and brutal deeds of American soldiers.

In early 1968, American soldiers in the Vietnamese province of Quang Ngai were constantly suffering from surprise attacks and sabotage by the Viet Cong. Intelligence, after conducting surveys, reported that one of the main nests of the Vietnamese partisans is located in the village of Mai Lai. The soldiers were told that all the inhabitants of the village were either Viet Cong or their accomplices, and were ordered to kill all the inhabitants and destroy the buildings. In the early morning of March 16, 1968, soldiers arrived in My Lai by helicopter and began to shoot everyone who caught their eye - men, women and children. Houses were set on fire, groups of people were pelted with grenades. According to military photographer Robert Haberly, who arrived in My Lai with the troops, one of the soldiers tried to rape a woman who managed to fight him off only because Haberley and other photographers were watching the scene. However, according to rumors, she was not the only one: several women and girls were subjected to violence, starting from the age of 10. Hundreds of people were killed during the My Lai massacre. However, despite the presence of witnesses, the American government was clearly not eager to investigate this incident. At first, it was presented simply as a military operation, then, under public pressure, 26 servicemen were brought to trial. However, only one of them, Lieutenant William Cayley, was charged with mass murder and sentenced to life in prison - but after only three years he was released thanks to a pardon received from President Nixon.

The massacre of Lakota Indians at Wounded Knee took place in 1890. Prior to this, two years on the lands of the reservation of the Lakota tribe there was a crop failure, the Indians were starving. The tribe began to unrest. The American authorities, in order to stop the discontent, decided to arrest the leader of the Indians, Sitting Bull. The Indians resisted, as a result, several people, including Sitting Bull himself, were killed, and a group of rebels, led by an Indian named Spotted Elk, fled the reservation to find refuge in a neighboring tribe. The Indians managed to reach their fellow tribesmen - but a few days later, a group of rebels, located on the Wounded Knee Creek, was surrounded by about 500 soldiers armed with artillery. The soldiers began shelling, which killed at least 200 Indians - men, women and children. The weakly armed Indians could not answer - and although 25 soldiers died as a result of the skirmish, but, as the army men later reported, almost all of them died from the fire of their colleagues, who fired into the direction of the crowd without looking. The execution of the unarmed was appreciated by the authorities: 20 soldiers received Medals of Honor for the execution of an almost unarmed crowd.

The bombing of Dresden, which began on February 13, 1945, became a real crime of the American army against world culture. Until now, it is not known exactly what made the American aircraft drop a record amount of explosives on the city, every second house in which was an architectural monument of European significance. 2,400 tons of explosives and 1,500 tons of incendiary ammunition were dropped on the city. During the bombing, about 35 thousand civilians were killed. As a result of the bombing by American aircraft, Dresden was reduced to ruins. Why this was done could not be explained even by the Americans themselves. Dresden did not have any significant number of troops, it was not a fortification that stood in the way of the advancing allies. Some historians have argued that the bombing of Dresden had the sole purpose of preventing Soviet troops from capturing the city, including its industries, intact.

On April 22, 2004, US Army soldier Pat Tillman was killed by a terrorist in a remote area of ​​Afghanistan. At least that's what the official announcement said. Tillman was a promising American football player, but after September 11, 2001, he left the sport and enlisted in the American army. Tillman's body was brought home, where he was buried with honors in a military cemetery. And only after the funeral it became known that Tillman died not at all from the bullets of terrorists, but from the so-called "friendly fire". Simply put, he was shot by his own by mistake. At the same time, as it turned out, Tillman's commanders from the very beginning knew the true cause of his death, but they were silent about it in order to protect the honor of the uniform. This story caused a big scandal, during which even US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld testified to military investigators. However, as often happens in such cases, the investigation gradually came to naught, and no one was punished for the death of the young man.

In 864, the Confederate government opened a new camp for Northern army prisoners at Andersonville, Georgia. Somehow, hastily built barracks, blown by all the winds, housed 45 thousand people. The guards were ordered to shoot to kill anyone who tried to leave the territory.
The prisoners of Andersonville did not even have water - the only source of it was a small stream that flowed through the territory. However, very soon it was no longer possible to drink from it because of the dirt - after all, the prisoners washed themselves in it. There was also not enough space: the camp, where 30-45 thousand people constantly stayed, was designed for only 10 thousand. In the absence of medical care, prisoners died by the thousands. In 14 months, 13,000 people died in Andersonville. After the end of the Civil War, camp commandant Henry Wirtz was put on trial and hanged, becoming the only participant in the war to be executed for war crimes.

In 1846 the United States declared war on Mexico. This war, called the Mexican War, was fought by the United States with superior forces. There was only one problem: many ordinary soldiers were emigrants from Ireland - Catholics, and were subjected to constant ridicule and humiliation by Protestant officers. The Mexicans, realizing this, gladly lured fellow believers to their side. In total, there were about a hundred deserters. They were commanded by a certain John Riley. A whole battalion was formed from the Irish, which received the name of St. Patrick. For about a year they fought on the side of Mexico until they were captured, surrounded by superior enemy forces, at the Battle of Cerbusco in August 1847. Despite the fact that the St. Patrick's Battalion, which had completely used up ammunition, threw out a white flag, the Americans immediately killed 35 people on the spot, and 85 more were put on trial. 50 people were subsequently executed, and only 50 got off with rods. Such behavior with prisoners was a violation of all the laws of war - however, no one was punished for the murder of captive Irish who surrendered at Chebrusco.

In December 2004, American troops in Iraq, with British support, launched an assault on rebel-occupied Fallujah in what became known as Operation Thunder Rage. It was one of the most controversial operations since Vietnam. Since the city was under siege for a long time, about 40 thousand civilians could not get out of it. As a result, during the operation, for 2,000 killed insurgents, 800 civilians were killed. But that was only the beginning. After the capture of Fallujah, European media accused the Americans of using white phosphorus during the battle for Fallujah, a substance similar to napalm and banned by international conventions. The Americans denied the use of white phosphorus for a long time - until, finally, documents came to light confirming that the corresponding weapon was nevertheless used in battles against the rebels. True, the Pentagon did not fully agree, saying that the principle of the weapon used was completely different.

Meanwhile, during the storming of Fallujah, two-thirds of the 50,000 city buildings were destroyed, which also indirectly indicates the use of white phosphorus, which has great destructive power. Local residents noted an increase in the number of children born with abnormalities, which is also typical for the use of chemical weapons. However, the words of remorse from the lips of the American military did not sound.

After the United States signed a victorious peace with Spain in 1898, the Filipinos, who had long fought against Spanish rule, hoped to finally gain independence. When they realized that the Americans were not going to grant them independent statehood at all, but considered the Philippines only as an American colony, war broke out in June 1899. Not expecting such problems, the Americans responded to the resistance with immeasurable cruelty. Here is how one of the soldiers described what was happening in a letter to the senator: “I am ordered to bind the unfortunate prisoners, gag them, beat them in the face, kick them, take them away from their crying wives and children. Then, having tied, we dip his head into the well in our own yard or, when bound, lower him into a pit of water and keep him there until, due to lack of air, he is on the verge of life and death, and begins to beg to kill him. to end suffering."

The Filipinos responded to the soldiers no less fiercely. After the rebels in the village of Balangiga killed 50 American soldiers, the commander of the military contingent, General Jacob Smith, told the soldiers: “No prisoners! The more you kill and burn them, the more pleased I will be with you."

Of course, the Filipinos were not able to compete with a superior enemy. The war with the Philippines officially ended in 1902, and the country remained a US protectorate. Some 4,000 American soldiers and 34,000 Filipino fighters were killed in the fighting. Another 250,000 civilians in the Philippines died at the hands of soldiers, famine and epidemics. The Philippines gained independence from the United States only in 1946.

One of the most famous leaders in the group of Lakota Indian tribes, Crazy Horse was the last leader who resisted American rule to the end. With his people, he won many impressive victories over the US army and capitulated only in 1877. But even after that, he did not sign any treaties with the Americans, remaining on the Red Cloud reservation and sowing discontent in the hearts of the Indians. The American authorities did not take their eyes off him, considering him the most dangerous of the Indian leaders and not knowing what to expect from him. In the end, when rumors reached the Americans that Crazy Horse wanted to go back to the warpath, they decided to arrest the leader, imprison him in a federal prison in Florida, and ultimately get him a death sentence.

But the Americans did not want to displease the Indians, and therefore invited Crazy Horse to Fort Robinson, ostensibly to negotiate with the commander, General Crook. However, in fact, Crook was not even in the fort. Entering the courtyard of the fort and seeing the soldiers, Crazy Horse drew a knife to try and fight his way to freedom. However, one of the soldiers immediately stabbed him with a bayonet. A few hours later Crazy Horse died. His body was taken to an unknown destination, and to this day the location of his grave remains one of the biggest mysteries in American history. And his murder was an example of treachery, unworthy of a real soldier.

Rumors that prisoners were tortured and abused in the Abu Ghraib military prison circulated as early as 2003. However, only in April 2004, with the appearance of photographs from the prison, in which the guards mock the prisoners, the rumor turned into a huge scandal. As it turned out, the methods of influence used in Abu Ghraib included sleep deprivation, forcible stripping of prisoners naked, verbal and physical humiliation, and dog-baiting.

Photos of Iraqi prisoners - naked, humiliated, in a state of extreme stress - appeared in the American and international press. Pictured above is Ali Shallal al Kouazi, who was arrested after complaining about American soldiers taking his property. The jailers demanded that he give up the names of the rebels resisting the US troops. Not having received the required information, they sent him to Abu Ghraib. There, they stripped him naked, tied his hands and feet and forced him to crawl up the stairs in this form. When he fell, he was beaten with rifle butts. He was bullied for six months. When his photos hit the media, he was hastily released. He needed six surgeries to recover from the injuries sustained in Abu Ghraib.

However, even after the scandal, no proper conclusions were drawn. The tormentors featured in the pictures were put on trial, but the vast majority of them received relatively light sentences: only a few received less than a year in prison, and many managed to avoid imprisonment altogether. Higher commanders completely shied away from responsibility.

It took fifty years for the crime committed by American soldiers in the Korean village of Nogun-Ri to become public. In July 1950, in the chaos of the Korean War, American soldiers were ordered to prevent the movement of Koreans, military or civilian, among other things, by blocking the flow of refugees fleeing the advancing North Korean troops. On July 26, a column of refugees approached a group of American soldiers holding a position at a railway bridge near the village of Nogun-Ri. The soldiers exactly followed the order: when the refugees, mostly women and children, tried to break through the chain, fire was opened on them to kill. According to eyewitnesses, more than 300 refugees died in the meat grinder. In 1999, Korean journalist Choi Sang-hong and American journalists Charles Hanley and Martha Mendoza, based on the testimonies of Korean survivors and former military personnel, published an investigative book, Nogun-Ri Bridge, in which they described the incident in detail. The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000.

But, as the authorities decided, it was too late to punish the perpetrators, and the massacre on the Nogun-Ri Bridge was simply declared "a tragic incident resulting from a mistake."

The landing in Normandy on June 6, 1944 is considered one of the most heroic pages in the history of the American army. Indeed, the allied armies showed heroism and courage, landing on a well-fortified coast under enemy dagger fire. The local population greeted the American soldiers with enthusiasm, as heroic liberators, bringing freedom from fascism. However, on account of American soldiers there are such acts that at another time could be called war crimes. Since the speed of advance into the depths of France was critical to the success of the operation, the American soldiers were given a clear message: take no prisoners! However, many of them did not need separate parting words, and without any remorse they shot the captured and wounded Germans.

In his book D-Day: The Battle of Normandy, historian Anthony Beevor gives a number of examples of Allied brutality, including the story of paratroopers shooting 30 German soldiers in the village of Haudouville-la-Hubert.

However, the cruel attitude of the soldiers of the allied troops to the enemy, especially to the SS, can hardly be surprising. Much more outrageous was their attitude towards the female population. Sexual harassment and violence by American soldiers became so widespread that the local civilian population demanded that the American command somehow influence the situation. As a result, 153 US soldiers were tried for sexual assault and 29 were executed for rape. The French joked bitterly, saying that if they had to hide men under the Germans, then women under the Americans.

The campaign of General Sherman at the head of an army of northerners to the Atlantic coast in November-December 1864 became an example of military heroism - and unprecedented cruelty towards the local population. Passing through Georgia and North Carolina, Sherman's army was guided by an unequivocal order: to requisition everything that was necessary for the needs of the army, and to destroy supplies and other property that could not be taken with them. Armed with the orders of their superiors, the soldiers felt like they were in an occupied country in the South: they looted and destroyed houses, almost destroying the city of Atlanta that fell in their way. “They broke into the house, smashing and plundering everything in their path, like rebels and robbers. I had no choice but to turn to the officer. But he answered me: "I can't do anything, madam - this is an order!" — wrote one of the local residents.

Sherman himself never regretted what his soldiers did during the campaign. He treated the population of the South as an enemy, which he clearly wrote in his diary: “We are fighting not only with the army, but also with a hostile population, and all of them - young and old, rich and poor - must feel the heavy hand of war. And I know that our trip through Georgia in this sense was the most effective.

On May 19, 2016, former Marine Kenneth Shinzato was arrested on the Japanese island of Okinawa, home to a major US military base, for the rape and murder of a 20-year-old Japanese woman. It was only a couple of months after another military officer was arrested in Okinawa, this time an officer who, while driving under the influence of alcohol with six times the blood alcohol level, was responsible for a multi-car accident that injured local residents. The May incident was a turning point: locals began to demand the closure of all American bases, and even the Japanese government expressed dissatisfaction with the too long US military presence in the Japanese islands.

Horribly, the case of Kenneth Shinzato is not the worst crime committed by the US military in Okinawa. The most notorious was the rape in 1995 of a 12-year-old girl by an American sailor and two marines. The perpetrators were put on trial and sentenced to long prison terms. According to statistics, since 1972, US military personnel have committed 500 serious crimes, including 120 rapes.

In 2010, the infamous Wikileaks published a video dated 2007. It shows two American helicopters shooting down a group of civilians on the streets of Baghdad, two of whom are Reuters correspondents. Notably, when the agency asked government officials for a video of the incident, the government refused to provide it. Only with the help of Wikileaks did the agency manage to find out the truth. On it, you can clearly hear helicopter pilots calling people in civilian clothes "armed rebels." At the same time, although the people standing next to the journalists were indeed armed, the pilots could not help but notice the cameras of the reporters, and it is not difficult to judge from the behavior of the Iraqis accompanying them that they were not rebels. But the pilots preferred not to notice the attributes of the journalistic craft and immediately they opened fire. On the first run, seven people, including 22-year-old Reuters journalist Namir Nur-Eldin, were killed. On the tape, you can hear the pilot laughing, exclaiming: “Hurrah, ready!” “Yes, the freaks are dead,” replies another. When a passing van stopped near one of the wounded, Reuters journalist Said Shmakh, the driver of which began to drag him into the body, the pilots fired a second round at the van: “Class, right in the forehead!” - the pilot rejoices under the laughter of his comrades.

As a result of the attack, both Shmakh and the driver of the van were killed, and two of the driver's children, who were sitting in the front seat, were seriously injured. On the third pass, the pilot launched a rocket into a neighboring house, killing seven more civilians.

Before the video footage of the incident was released to Wikileaks, the American command claimed that the pilot went on the attack because the victims themselves were the first to open fire from the ground. The video recording, however, proved the complete inconsistency of these allegations. Then the Americans said that it was easy to confuse a group of armed people with rebels, and that what had happened was a serious, but understandable mistake. At the same time, the military remained silent about the cameras in the hands of journalists, as if by agreement. So far, none of the participants in the incident has been punished for what happened.

- molten.

Several American soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killed her and her family, including a 5-year-old child. Another soldier helped cover up the crime.

One of the killers, Stephen Green, was convicted on May 7, 2009 and is awaiting sentencing (he is currently serving a life sentence without the right to pardon; mixednews note).

A leaked 101st Airborne Division media relations manual directs that information about the case be prevented wherever possible. The liaison department covered up the presence of the two child victims, and described the rape victim, who had just turned 14, simply as a "young woman."

According to news reports of the time, the US Army's Criminal Investigation Department delayed the investigation of the case by 3.5 months.

As Ernesto Cienfuegos of La Voz de Aztlan wrote on May 2, 2004, the release of CBS news photos showing the heinous sexual abuse and torture of Iraqi POWs at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison was a Pandora's box that the Bush administration opened.

Journalist Cienfuegos further says, Apparently, the suspected commandant of the prison where the worst abuse took place, Brigadier General Janice Karpinski, refused to step down on her own, and said that the CIA, military intelligence and private contractors were involved in torturing prisoners and raping Iraqi women. army.

General Karpinski (left)

General Karpinski, who commanded the 800th Military Police Brigade, spoke of pressure from Military Intelligence and the CIA to ensure effective interrogations. A month before the alleged bullying and rape took place, she says a team of Military Intelligence officers, the CIA and private consultants hired by the US government arrived in Abu Ghraib. Their main mission was to introduce new interrogation techniques to get more information, she said.

At least one photo shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner, while another allegedly depicts a male interpreter raping a male prisoner.

Other photographs reportedly depict prisoners being sexually abused using objects such as clubs, wire and phosphorescent tubes.

These details came to light thanks to Major General Antonio Takuba, a retired military officer who was investigating abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Allegations of rape and abuse were included in his 2004 report, but the photographs were never released to the public. He later confirmed their existence in an interview with The Daily Telegraph in May 2009.

The London newspaper further noted that "the violent nature of some of the images may explain (despite earlier promises to release them) Obama's attempts to prevent publication of some 2,000 prison photographs in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Major General Taguba, who retired in January 2007, said he supported the president's decision, adding: These photographs show torture, abuse, rape and all kinds of obscenities.

Even the description of what is depicted is pretty awful, take my word for it.

In April 2004, La Voz de Aztlan news source obtained new photos from confidential sources showing shocking scenes of rape of two Iraqi women by Military Intelligence and private contractors in US military uniforms. In May 2004, Cienfuegos wrote that hundreds of such photographs in Iraq changed hands among American soldiers. The photographs depicting scenes of violence changed like baseball cards.

The Asian Tribune cites here three photographs that sparked criticism that the US used rape as a weapon of war in Iraq.

CBS has released footage showing American soldiers humiliating Iraqi prisoners in Abu Gharaib prison. Prisoners are forced to perform oral sex, beaten and forced to fight each other. And smiling Americans are posing right there.

In one picture, wires are connected to the prisoner's genitals - apparently, he was tortured with electric shocks. On another, a prisoner fights off a dog. Another photo showed the corpse of a brutally beaten Iraqi. But the most horrifying footage may remain unknown: one of the prisoners testifies that a soldier who worked as an interpreter raped a prisoner, and a female soldier watched and photographed - these materials are not in the "collection" of CBS.

The eerie footage - and there are several dozen of them - is now being studied by an investigation team created by the army command to investigate the incident. She has already expressed her opinion: the guilt of the jailers is beyond doubt. In this case, 17 soldiers and officers have been suspended from service, six of them have already been charged. The authorities banned this material from being shown on television - CBS gave it without permission when the scandalous footage began to surface in other sources.

At the moment, the name of only one tormentor of prisoners is known - reserve sergeant Chip Frederick, who also worked as a warden in a prison at home, and went to Iraq on a contract basis. He tries his best to whitewash himself, but his excuses do not sound very convincing. Here are some of his words.

"I worked well as a warden, and later I was brought in to conduct interrogations. With us, criminals confessed very quickly - usually within a few hours."

"Yes, I saw people being beaten. Sometimes we had to use force to force the prisoners to cooperate - this was allowed by the rules. We learned some of the most necessary words in Arabic, but they did not want to listen to us, and sometimes it was necessary to push the prisoner a little."

Even more interesting is the statement of the sergeant's lawyer: "The feeling of power, the belief that you are helping the CIA, doing a charitable cause, had an intoxicating effect on a native of a small town in Virginia ... Good guys do these things to help people and justice - this is very important to them ".

The sergeant and his colleagues did not see the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war until they were charged. Frederick especially emphasizes this - allegedly no one consulted him. However, it is, of course, impossible to treat prisoners like that, and people in general, no matter who they are.

In this and some other aspects of the case, the investigation sees the guilt of the prison administration. But it is not yet clear who is more to blame - the system or individuals. This is one of the main questions that should be clarified in the course of the investigation.

General Mark Kimmit, commander of military operations in Iraq, was shocked by these footage. Here are excerpts from his repentant statement: “We are all horrified by the actions of a few military personnel ... We understand that our soldiers can also be captured, and now we cannot count on the fact that they will be treated with respect ... But we need remember: the culprits are not the entire US army. You can't judge all 150,000 soldiers stationed in Iraq by them."

True, the general, with all his desire, cannot guarantee that the same thing does not happen in other prisons. Moreover, he said that several similar cases (apparently not so serious) had already taken place.

During the time of Hussein, Abu Gharaib prison was the most terrible place in Iraq. Few managed to get out of there alive, and nightmarish tales of torture beyond imagination and summary executions leaked out of the prison. The Americans came to Iraq to stop Saddam's lawlessness, but they turned out to be little better.

Not surprisingly, the situation in the country remains alarming. Muslim TV channel Al Arabia reported that at least one American soldier was killed and two were injured in a car bombing in Iraq. This happened in the Mufraq district in the city of Baakuba. The car was blown up by a landmine around 09:50 local time.

At the same time, the country's law enforcement forces report other data: according to them, an Iraqi policeman was killed and several people, including, possibly, Americans, were injured.

Coalition forces have not yet commented on the situation. In addition, a jeep was fired upon in the Basra region, as a result of which a South Korean (according to other sources, a resident of South Africa), who was a civilian, was killed.

Yesterday, according to official figures, three soldiers lost their lives in Iraq. One, a Ukrainian, was killed in a shootout, two others, whose nationality was not specified, died in the hospital from their wounds.