U.S. soldiers mistreat Iraqi detainees

By Wissam Al-Kubeisy

BAGHDAD, January 12 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The family members of Al-Saud Al-Kubeisi have many things to remember since the fall of Baghdad and the overthrow of the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein.

On November 7, 2003, Shukria have a few hours to sleep in relief, as the 60-year-old woman – already suffering from high blood pressure and heart failure – woke up to the noisy knocks of an unexpected and also unwelcome visitors.

All at the large house dropped out of their beds, wondering who they (the visitors) could be.

The visitors could be thieves and looters working undeterred in the dark since the country fell into a cauldron of bubbling and seething insecurity.

They could be relatives seeking help in a capital many of its inhabitants are plunged into dire straits as unemployment and insecurity hitting all-time high.

But the comers were neither thieves nor relatives, since they were in military outfit and armed to the teeth.

"We are coalition forces. Open the door now, or we will break it," a soldier with an Iraqi accent forced the words out.

The coalition is an euphemism for Anglo-American occupation forces in the oil-rich country.

Fear swept contagiously across the hearts of the house occupants, standing up for a much terrible scenario many of Iraqis have witnessed or heard of.

"Get out of the house, or we will kill everyone inside," the invading forces harshly said.

All rushed out, hands raised and some of them in their night gowns.

The soldiers jumped on Shukria's son. Ferociously chaining the 25-year-old Asaad, the old sick mother went unconscious.

Others were also held in shackles and left surrounded in the severe cold of the garden.

"Even my husband was tightly held, putting his life on the line," remembered the grieving Shukria.

The 75-year-old Shawki (her husband) was suffering asthma, which needs intensive care and no dispense with Oxygen tents.

A short time afterwards, the family members had enough time to contemplate the horrible surrounding atmosphere – more than 80 soldiers deployed at the place, warplanes oozing overheads and thick rays of light shed on the targeted house.

"They turned the area into a military barracks," Shukria recalled.

Local inhabitants were infuriated that the raid was unjustified, as just two guns were recovered – one licensed by the U.S. occupation authorities.

The appealing cries of the children by no means deterred the invading soldiers, who rather used the family members as human shields inside the house.

"You are financing terrorism," the soldiers said before detaining Shawki – whose head disappeared into a black bag that revived memories of the old regime's violent practices.

Shawki was detained with his three sons and a Sudanese driver despite Shukria's cries that "this is unfair. He is sick".

After the raid, the family discovered that the safe – in which tens of thousands of dollars and dinars were kept – was looted after forcibly broken.

The whole house also plunged into a mess – doors and windows broken and refrigerator destroyed – a compliant always given by the local inhabitants after  U.S. massive detention campaigns.

"It is the same style of burglars. They did not ask for keys to open the safe, but rather forced it open," said Shukria.

Shukria said the U.S. troops could have acted on a wrong tip-off, but conceded the action is by no means justifiable.

"My husband and three sons are now in prison for this," she said, joining many residents with dozens of tales on the detention of their sons unjustly.

The situation was not different from that on Thursday, where hundreds of angry Iraqis waited outside Baghdad’s infamous Abu Ghraib prison for the promised release of detainees held by occupation forces for carrying out resistance attacks.

‘‘Liars! Liars! They won’t let them out!’’ a woman screamed as she emerged from the detention camp. Others railed against ‘‘unjust detentions’’ among the thousands of people held without detention or charge.

Other Concerns

Now, Shawki's family has other concerns to voice; where and why he and the other three sons were detained and how long would they still be in incarceration.

"They do not allow us to get answers of these," said Ahmed Shawki, the only son not behind bars.

The release of detainees has been a top demand of the country’s community and tribal leaders, as well as human rights advocates who say families are searching for relatives who get detained and are not heard from for months.

"We thought that the Saddam regime was history. Given the U.S. military practices, the injustice is now much bigger," he said.

Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets after the capture of Saddam last month carrying placards in support of the former Iraqi leader, saying they are now under more brutal rule and what many Iraqis see as long-standing occupation.

"Before the fall of Baghdad, the Iraqi soldiers have broken into our houses only after getting an official permission from the court," Ahmed said.

He also remembered that Iraqi soldiers were allowing the house occupants to change their bed clothes, something deemed important in such a conservative society.

Iraqis feel resentful that promises of a better future made by the United States before the Iraq invasion in March have turned empty with lack of security and deteriorating level conditions besetting the oil-rich country.

British soldiers clashed Saturday, January 11, with armed, stone-throwing protesters in southeastern Iraq, killing six people, as impatience with Iraq's occupying forces boiled over as unemployed Iraqis pelted British troops with stones.

Although the U.S. and British forces gave no date for pack up and leave, Iraqis feel impatient for the situation to be back to normal.

Sitting in the house – where sadness and frustration are running high, Shukria has nothing to do but praying for an end to the detention of her husband and three sons and military occupation.