CPTnet
May 30, 2003
IRAQ UPDATE: May 19, 2003
Team members Anne Montgomery, Maureen Jack, and Lisa Martens tried to visit
the airport to speak with US soldiers and observe how they are treating
Iraqi prisoners being held there. Despite several attempts, they were denied
access.
Meanwhile they found that many Iraqi families are coming to the airport to
find their loved ones who have recently disappeared or been arrested.
Families reported that soldiers told them they could only get information by
going to the airport, but upon their arrival, the U.S. military denied them
access and information as well. One woman commented, "This is just like
living under Saddam, you can't find out anything."
The team later asked Army liaison Lt. Col. Stewart Gordon how CPT and Iraqi
families might find out where Iraqis who have disappeared or been arrested
are being held. Gordon replied that while the military is coordinating with
the Red Cross regarding prisoners of war, no system exists for locating
prisoners arrested for other charges, or for the trials of these prisoners.
Furthermore there is no timeline for when the U.S. will develop such a
system in conjunction with the returning Iraqi police.
On the way to the airport, their taxi driver told them he had been in prison
from 1991 until the general amnesty declared in fall of 2002. The Iraq
authorities had arrested him for selling kitchen implements to Kurds. After
his first ten days of prison, these authorities told him to make up charges
for himself or they would make up their own charges against him. They put
him in a cell where the ceiling was too low for him to stand upright.
Another driver told the team he was still keeping his children home from
school because he fears that someone might kidnap or assault them.
CPTer Rick Polhamus observed soldier patrols at gas stations around the
city. When he asked soldiers why they were stationed there, they replied,
"In case someone cuts in line." Polhamus told them that he was there the
previous day and noted while people did cut in line and began yelling at
each other, they were generally able to work the conflicts out on their own.
Polhamus also observed a US army trucks transporting prisoners. One truck
carried about twenty prisoners with hands tied behind their backs, three to
four of which were blindfolded. A soldier said they were being transported
to the northeast for further questioning but gave no other details. Polhamus
photographed the trucks and another truck which appeared to be loaded with
antiquities. He was unable to find out more details.
As he left, he came across a 500-1,000 person march protesting the arrest of
Muslim religious leaders and the harrassment of their families. One banner
read, "If there's freedom for everyone, why are so many in prison?" One
protestor told Polhamus, "The people need control of their own country.
There is no freedom if the US just takes over Saddam's role."
Earlier, the team's Arabic instructor said she was hoping for a united Iraq.
"There are lots of Iraqis with guns, and I don't want them fighting each
other." She also said that many Iraqi families were a mix of Sunni and
Shiite Muslims, as was hers. A teenaged Shia member of her family had been
killed several years ago for praying in public. The family had recently
recovered information about his disappearance and death from the opened
archives of Saddam's regime.
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