The release of a War Criminal

August 6, 2011 uruknet.com War Criminal Charles Graner was released from prison today. It's amazing to read the candy valentines to him from the press. He got a dishonorable discharge and was sentenced to 10 years (he only served six) after, as CNN noted in real time, being found "guilty of 10 charges, including aggravated assault, maltreatment and conspiracy." It was the Abu Ghraib prison scandal -- now a part of the distant history because the Iraq War has gone on so long. Graner and those serving with him abused Iraqi prisoners. They physically abused them, they sexually abused them, they humiliated them and they had no real defense for their actions. Though some involved in torturing were young, Graner was neither young nor inexperienced. He was already 34 and he'd previously served in the first Gulf War. His parents stated at the time that he was a fall guy for higher ups. There's little doubt (though no one's been able to prove it in court thus far) that the torture orders came from the White House (that was when Bush occupied it). There was no accountability above Graner. But if his parents want to boo-hoo over that, let's remember that Graner refused to take the stand in his own trial. He was caught. He chose not to implicate the ones above him. He's a War Criminal for his actions and he knows it. After his sentencing, he told CNN, "We were called to violate the Geneva Convention. We were asked to do certain things I wasn't trained to do." He's a War Criminal and he had a choice. So did the military. The military had many choices when it came to Graner. After the Gulf War, Graner became a prison guard. In June 2004 (months after the Abu Ghraib prison scandal news broke), David Finkel and Christian Davenport (Washington Post) reported on Graner and his 'work record' which included: In 1992, he was working at a county prison in Pennsylvania with guards who acknowledge beating up prisoners as a means of control. In 1994, he made a fellow prison guard sick by spraying Mace into his coffee. In 1997, he was accused by his wife of threatening to kill her. In 1998, when he was working as a guard in a state prison, he was accused by one inmate of slipping a razor blade into his food. That's not the end of his legal problems, but how did that record escape the military? Or was it because of that record that Graner was assigned to Abu Ghraib? Graner rejoined the military in 2001. How did that happen and how did he remain in the military? His first wife was Staci Graner. Whatever the marriage was, the separation and divorce were violent. Dennis Cauchon, Debbie Howlett and Rick Hampson (USA Today) reported in May 2004 about after the marriage broke up: Over the next four years, Staci Graner obtained three temporary protection of abuse orders. In an affidavit for the first order, Staci Graner said Charles Graner threatened to kill her and told her "that she could keep his guns, because he did not need them for what he was going to do to the plaintiff." A judge ordered the couple to conduct their child custody exchanges at the police station. For the 1998 order, Staci Graner testified that one night Charles Graner sneaked into the house where she was living with their children and jumped out at her from the laundry room to scare her. "I just don't think this is normal behavior, and he does frighten me," she testified. "I don't want him anywhere near me." Her affidavit said that Charles Graner "set up a video camera in my house without my knowledge and showed me the tapes." In 2001, Staci Graner filed a five-page, handwritten affidavit. She said that Charles Graner had come to her house and "yanked me out of bed by my hair, dragging me and all the covers into the hall and tried to throw me down the steps." Three protection of abuse orders and the military allowed him to re-enlist? Are you getting why women in the military are sexually assaulted so often? No, I'm not accusing Graner of sexually assaulting a fellow soldier (Iraqi detainees, yes) but a military that can overlook three court orders of protection against someone is a military that embraces violence against women and don't pretend otherwise. Looking at the issues involved -- and it's not just War Crimes -- today, I'm really shocked because I keep coming back to that idiotic plan by Maj Gen Anthony Cucolo at the end of 2009 when he wanted to court-martial any female soldier who got pregnant. And if she would say who the father was (and if he was in the military), he'd be court-martialed as well. Like that was going to happen in most cases. The plan was thankfully dropped due to public outrage. But Cucolo thought it was needed. And, reality, not only was it not needed but there was no effort to follow existing rules. Spc Charles Graner used Abu Ghraib as a sexual hookup. How did it help unit cohesion for him to sleep with Megan Ambuhl while both were stationed at Abu Ghraib prison? (He would marry Ambuhl after he was in prison -- with a friend standing in for him in the ceremony.) And do we not grasp how many rules were broken when he entered into a sexual relationship with Pfc Lynndie England? How many rules did that violate and why didn't the military punish Graner for that as well? Lynndie England (in the photo above) was 21 when the story broke. I've stated many times that she needs to take accountability for her role in the abuse and stop making excuses. Her actions were criminal, they were War Crimes. That doesn't mean on other areas, she doesn't have several arguments to make. Certainly she was used and abused by a superior who not only had a sexual relationship with her but also is the father of her child. Graner needed to be punished for the War Crimes. That's not in doubt. But the military allowing him to come in after all his domestic abuse issues and the military's refusal to punish him for his relationship with England (or any of the other women) goes a long way towards explaining why the rate of sexual assault is not declining in the military. When they can make an example, they chose not to. By choosing not to, they repeatedly send a message that sexual assault and misconduct is acceptable and just part of being in the military. They're not the only ones sending that message. Lynndie England immediately became the fact of the Abu Ghraib story. She was a woman so it was 'surprising' to some that she could abuse. She wasn't the only woman involved in the scandal (or in the photos). Long after details began emerging about Charles Graner (who was clearly the ringleader of those who were punished), about his past abuse as a prison guard, about his domestic abuse, long after all of that was in the news, Lynddie was still the shocker. Still the one to glom on. For some sexists. Doubt it? Read this sentence: "Indeed, Charles Granier, one of the abusers at Abu Ghraib and the lover of Linndie England the Trailer Park Torturer, worked as a guard at Pennsylvania's notorious Greene Correctional Unit and has since gone back to work there." Graner (his name is mispelled) is just "one of the abusers" but Lynndie (her name is mispelled) is a "torturer" and, not only that, she's so damn trashy: "Trailer Park". Do you not get the huge pass that's given to Graner in that sentence which demonizes Lynndi who served under him? The sentence acknowledges awareness of Graner's prison work in the US but even that awareness didn't lead to a cute little nickname for Graner like "Trailer Park Torturer," now did it? Who are we quoting? From "May 8/9, 2004," that's "Torture as Normalcy" by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair (CounterPunch). And that template can be found in the reports on Graner's release which refuse to hold him accountable or express shock in the way that was repeatedly done in articles on Lynndie England.

:: Article nr. 80282 sent on 07-aug-2011 16:52 ECT
www.uruknet.info?p=80282

Link: thecommonills.blogspot.com/2011/08/release-of-war-criminal.html

Deaths in Iraq pro-reform rallies

At least 12 protesters killed by security forces, amid nationwide "day of
rage" against corruption and poor services.

Feb 25, 2011 Al Jazeera

Thousands of Iraqis have taken to the streets across the country to
protest against corruption and a lack of basic services in an organised
nationwide "day of rage", inspired by uprisings around the Arab world.

In two northern Iraqi cities, security forces trying to push back crowds
opened fire on Friday, killing at least 12 demonstrators.

In Baghdad, the capital, demonstrators knocked down blast walls, threw
rocks and scuffled with club-wielding troops.

Hundreds of people carrying Iraqi flags and banners streamed into
Baghdad's Tahrir Square, which was under heavy security.

Military vehicles and security forces lined the streets around the square
and nearby Jumhuriya bridge was blocked off.

Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf, reporting from Baghdad, said there was a violent
standoff between the protesters and the riot police on the bridge that
leads to the heavily fortified Green Zone.

Ahmed Rushdi, head of the House of Iraq Expertise Foundation, tried to
join the protests in Baghdad but was prevented from doing so by the army.

"This is not a political protest, but a protest by the people of Iraq. We
want social reform, jobs for young people and direct supervision because
there is lots of corruption," Rushdi told Al Jazeera.

"If [prime minister Nouri] al-Maliki does not listen, we will continue
this protest. He told everyone that we are Saddamists, but that is not
right. We are normal Iraqi people."

Eight years after the US-led invasion which ousted Saddam Hussein, the
former Iraqi leader, development in the country remains slow and there are
shortages of food, water, electricity and jobs.

Protesters confirmed that they were protesting for a better life and
better basic services.

"We are free young men and we are not belonging to a certain ideological
movement but we ask for our simple legitimate demands that include the
right of education and the right of decent life,” Malik Abdon, a
protester, said.

'Al-Qaeda threat'

The Arab world has erupted in protests seeking to oust long-standing
rulers and improve basic services, although Iraqi demonstrations have been
more focused on anger over a lack of essential needs and an end to
corruption rather than a change in government.

Protesters have demonstrated throughout Iraq, from the northern city of
Kirkuk to the southern oil hub of Basra.

A crowd of angry marchers in the northern city of Hawija, 240km north of
Baghdad, tried to break into the city's municipal building, Ali Hussein
Salih, the head of the local city council, said.

Security forces trying to block the crowd opened fire, killing three
demonstrators and wounding 15, local officials said.

The Iraqi army was eventually called in to restore order.

In Mosul, also in northern Iraq, hundreds of protesters gathered in front
of the provincial council building, demanding jobs and better services,
when guards opened fire, according to a police official.

A police and hospital official said three protesters were killed and 15
people wounded. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they
are not authorised to brief the media.

Friday's protests were organised mainly through social networking site
Facebook, echoing mass rallies mobilised by youths through social media
which unseated Tunisia and Egypt's long-ruling heads of state.

In recent weeks, protests had been mounting in cities and towns around
Iraq. Several people have been killed and scores wounded in clashes
between demonstrators and security forces.

Al-Maliki, the prime minister, has affirmed the right of Iraqis to protest
peacefully but on Thursday he advised them to stay away from Friday's
demonstration due to possible violence by al-Qaeda and members of Saddam's
banned Baath party.

A weakened but stubborn campaign of violence by fighters is still capable
of carrying out large-scale attacks in Iraq despite a big drop in overall
violence since the peak of sectarian warfare in 2006-7.

Shia religious leaders, including revered Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani
and Muqtada al-Sadr, had also cautioned their followers about taking part
in the protests on Friday.

Kurdish guards fire on protest in Iraq, killing 2

By YAHYA BARZANJI, Associated Press Feb 17, 2011

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq – Kurdish security guards opened fire Thursday on a
crowd of protesters calling for political reforms in northern Iraq,
killing at least two people, officials said, showing even war-weary Iraq
cannot escape the unrest roiling the Middle East.

Separately, a car bomb killed eight people and wounded 30 others in
Muqdadiyah, 60 miles (90 kilometers) north of Baghdad, an official said.
The area was once one of the strongholds of al-Qaida, and insurgents there
stage frequent attacks despite improved security in much of the country.

The demonstration in Sulaimaniyah was the most violent in a wave of
protests that extended to the southern cities of Kut, Nasir and Basra.
Iraq has seen small-scale demonstrations almost daily in recent weeks,
mainly centered in the impoverished southern provinces and staged by
Iraqis angry over a lack of basic services like electricity and clean
drinking water.

The hundreds of Kurdish protesters in the northern city of Sulaimaniyah,
160 miles (260 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, Thursday, demanded
political reforms from the regional government in the semiautonomous
territory.

Although Kurds generally enjoy a higher standard of living than the rest
of Iraq, many are tired of the tight grip with which the ruling parties
control the region and the economy.

The protesters moved to the headquarters of Kurdish President Massoud
Barzani's political party, where some demonstrators threw stones at the
building.

Kurdish security guards on the roof then opened fire, sending people
fleeing for cover.

A local police official and a hospital official said two people were
killed, and the medical official said 47 people were injured. Both said
the deaths and injuries were the result of shootings. The officials spoke
on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the
media.

An Associated Press reporter saw one teenager shot in the head and being
carried away by policemen on the street trying to help the protesters.

In the southern city of Basra, about 600 people gathered in front of the
provincial headquarters, facing off against police protecting the
building. Witnesses said the protest was largely peaceful.

"We are demanding that the Basra governor be fired because he has not done
anything good for Basra," said Mohammed Ali Jasim, a 50-year-old father of
nine at the protest in Iraq's second-largest city.

Dozens of angry protesters also stormed the municipal building and set it
on fire in the small town of Nasir, 170 miles (270 kilometers) south of
Baghdad, said a police official in the provincial capital of Nasiriyah. He
spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to
the media.

Five policemen were wounded after protesters hurled stones at the building
and five protesters were arrested before a curfew was imposed, the officer
said.

Demonstrators in the southern city of Kut, 100 miles (160 kilometers)
southeast of Baghdad, gathered for a second day in front of the governor's
office, demanding his resignation over corruption allegations.

The demonstrators decorated a donkey with a sign reading "governor" and
began to hit the animal with their shoes — a grave insult in the Arab
world.

In Kirkuk, 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of Baghdad, more than 100
widows and orphans demonstrated near the governor's office, demanding aid.

Iraq is one of the few countries with a democratically elected government
in the Middle East, but Iraqis have a long list of grievances, including
electricity that sometimes works only a few hours a day, unemployment that
runs as high as 30 percent and rampant corruption.

Security is also a top concern.

Eight people died and 30 others were injured in a car bombing in
Muqdadiyah in Diyala province, north of the capital, said the spokesman
for the provincial health office, Faris al-Azawi.

Iraqi leaders have sought to mute Iraqis' anger by granting concessions
like cutting electricity tariffs and diverting money to buy jet fighters
to food for the needy. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vowed to serve only
two terms, to distance himself from the authoritarian rulers dominating
the rest of the region.

Al-Maliki said policemen should not use force against protesters and said
many of their demands were legitimate. But he said 20 people involved in
the protests had been arrested and that rioters would not be tolerated.

He accused remnants of the outlawed Baath Party that used to rule Iraq
under Saddam Hussein, al-Qaida and people who did not do well in last
year's elections with being behind the riots but provided no proof for his
accusations. The prime minister often blames the Baath Party and al-Qaida
for violence across the country.

Meanwhile, a top ally of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr was shot and
killed by gunmen on his way home from the holy Shiite city of Karbala,
said a member of the Karbala provincial council, Hussein Shadhan
al-Aboudi.

Sheik Jassim al-Mutairi used to deliver the Friday sermon in the Sadrist
strongholds in eastern Baghdad and Kufa, 100 miles (160 kilometers) south
of Baghdad.

__

Associated Press staffers Sinan Salaheddin and Saad Abdul-Kadir in
Baghdad, Nabil al-Jurani in Basra, Hadi Mizban in Kut and Sameer N. Yacoub
in Amman, Jordan contributed to this report.