'They abused me and stole my dignity' - Saddam Salah al-Rawi

[dArKeR]

An Iraqi prisoner who was held for four months at the notorious United States-run Abu Ghraib jail near Baghdad described on Wednesday how he spent 18 days naked alone in a cell, often with his hands and feet bound together, and was frequently beaten, urinated on and occasionally photographed hooded and naked by American troops.

Saddam Salah al-Rawi (29) said inmates were ordered not to reveal the abuse to Red Cross officials.

For two hours on Wednesday al-Rawi, prisoner number 200144, gave a graphic and harrowing account of his time in jail. Although he speaks no English, he named some of the soldiers already identified in the investigation into prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib.

His account suggests abuse at the prison was widespread and systematic and involved more than the actions of a handful of junior soldiers. His testimony is one of around a dozen being studied by the Iraqi Human Rights Organisation, which eventually hopes to bring cases against the US military.

"I feel I lost my dignity," al-Rawi said. "I couldn't even raise my head in my house when I went home."

Al-Rawi, a former trainer in Saddam Hussein's feared special security organisation, was arrested in Baghdad on November 29 last year. He claims he was detained by Iraqi police after he went to warn them about a car he saw in central Baghdad that he believed was packed with explosives.

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=66232

[Minstrel Boy]

1. Doesn't matter anymore.

He wasn't beheaded by - well, by persons unknown.

[Tellurian]

2. "I feel I lost my dignity," al-Rawi said.

Cheney: "Look, get off Rumsfeld's back, and let him do his work!"