Italians knew of jail torture by Iraqis -military

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L12163699.htm

ROME, May 12 (Reuters) - Iraqi guards are torturing prisoners in the south of Iraq and see such brutalisation as part of the job, an Italian military commander was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

Italy, which has some 2,700 troops in Iraq, has said it was unaware of U.S. abuse of prisoners, but the military chief acknowledged that abuse in Iraqi-run prisons was common knowledge.

"We sometimes saw detainees who were half dead with iron burns on their bodies and terrifying bruises from beatings," Colonel Carmelo Burgio said in an interview with Corriere della Sera newspaper published on Wednesday.

Asked if Italian forces complained to the Iraqi guards he said: "Of course, but they were amazed that we were scandalised. For the Iraqi police it is normal practice to greet detainees with 30 lashes".

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[maddezmom]

1. this is bullshit...deflecting the torture and abuse of the US

all prisons whether Iraqi or US run under the overall control of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority?

[treepig]

2. wow, those six bad apples really got around

they must have been going at it 24/7 for months on end!

[sundancekid]

3. same political stench as in the US cover-ups of prisoner abuse

from the identical source with link in original message ...
a couple more instructive paragraphs:

<snip>
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government insists it knew nothing about the abuse at a U.S.-run jail near Baghdad and has rejected calls from opposition parties for Italian troops to quit Iraq over the scandal.

Amnesty International said on Wednesday it had handed over reports on allegations of torture in Iraq to the Italian authorities and regularly raised its concerns at a string of meetings with Foreign Ministry officials.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday it had "never received specific information on torture".

The torture issue has come at a bad time for Berlusconi, who has invested a lot of political capital in supporting Bush over the Iraq war. He faces a crucial test in next month's European Parliament elections and could lose votes over the issue.

<snip>