truth and justice

and the "american way"

NOT the america i know and love

Disappeared in the Name of National Security

Mohamed Farag Bashmilah

From October 2003 until May 2005, I was illegally detained by the U.S. government and held in CIA-run "black sites" with no contact with the outside world. On May 5, 2005, without explanation, my American captors removed me from my cell and cuffed, hooded, and bundled me onto a plane that delivered me to Sana'a, Yemen. I was transferred into the custody of my own government, which held me -- apparently at the behest of the United States -- until March 27, 2006, when I was finally released, never once having faced any terrorism-related charges. Since my release, the U.S. government has never explained why I was detained and has blocked all attempts to find out more about my detention.

What I do know is that the Jordanian government -- after torturing me for several days -- handed me over to a U.S. "rendition team" in Amman, which then abducted me, forced me onto a plane, and flew me to Afghanistan. During this, and several other transfers between CIA prisons, I was subjected to a brutal and deeply humiliating "preparation" ritual. I was stripped naked, dressed in a diaper, shackled, blindfolded and hooded, and then boarded onto a waiting plane. I was forced into painful positions, often reeling from the blows and kicks of the men who had "prepared" me for flight........................

since waterboarding isn't torture

it's NOT it's just a drop in the bucket so to speak. WE DON'T TORTURE. king george says so (and so do all of his court). so we DON'T if they say we don't (yeah, right)

since we DON'T torture, we PAY OTHERS TO DO IT FOR US
Jordan's Spy Agency: Holding Cell for the CIA
Foreign Terror Suspects Tell of Torture

By Craig Whitlock Washington Post Foreign Service
AMMAN, Jordan -- Over the past seven years, an imposing building on the outskirts of this city has served as a secret holding cell for the CIA.
The building is the headquarters of the General Intelligence Department, Jordan's powerful spy and security agency. Since 2000, at the CIA's behest, at least 12 non-Jordanian terrorism suspects have been detained and interrogated here, according to documents and former prisoners, human rights advocates, defense lawyers and former U.S. officials. In most of the cases, the spy center served as a covert way station for CIA prisoners captured in other countries. It was a place where they could be hidden after being arrested and kept for a few days or several months before being moved on to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or CIA prisons elsewhere in the world.............

we invaded their country

for NO legal, legitimate or MORAL reason. we destroyed families, land, businesses. we are ABANDONING those that have helped our military members (i was dumbfounded when i watched 60 minutes this weekend and saw how we were not taking care of those assisting our miltary as translators. the iraqis that have helped us are as good as dead and begging us to help them. take them to america. we of course are spitting in their faces.). HOW DARE WE


Left Behind

Scott Pelley On The Plight Of Iraqis Who Helped The U.S.

(CBS) When U.S. troops invaded Iraq, they had a major handicap – they didn’t speak the language. There would have been no progress, and likely more American dead, had it not been for Iraqi citizens who volunteered to serve our armed forces as translators. Many thousands of Iraqis believed in the cause. They signed on as drivers, construction workers and office workers. But now they and their families are being hunted down by insurgents bent on killing them for collaborating. No wonder many are fleeing Iraq, desperate for asylum. But as they appeal to the U.S., many feel they’re being left behind. .......

A humanitarian crisis of historic proportions


Nearly 2 million Iraqis have fled to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey—another 1.8 million have been displaced within their country's borders.

The humanitarian crisis that didn’t evolve as expected at the start of the Iraq war is now in full swing, says the International Rescue Committee, after surveying needs in Syria and Jordan, where desperate Iraqis have taken refuge from the chaos at home. How the IRC is Helping > ...........

Iraqi Refugees Overwhelm Syria
Migrants Who Fled Violence Put Stress on Housing Market, Schools

By Scott Wilson Washington Post Foreign Service Thursday, February 3, 2005; Page A18
ALEPPO, Syria -- Sabbah Zaker had a small, sturdy construction company in the Iraqi city of Mosul, and although he did not agree with the U.S. invasion, he accepted a $10,000 contract last summer to renovate schools and health clinics across his ethnically mixed home town. A few months later, his name began appearing on the walls of his neighborhood as a warning from insurgents not to cooperate with the Americans. .............
.......We cannot continue like this," said Abdelhamid Ouali, the representative for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Syria. "The situation is terrible, and we are obliged to do something."
Hoping to help the fleeing Iraqis without encouraging their flight, the U.N. agency arranged "temporary protection status" that prevented the Iraqis from being deported but did not trigger the financial aid and relocation assistance that goes to official refugees. Almost two years ago, the agency set up large tent cities and health clinics for thousands of people. The facilities were mothballed when the mass exodus did not immediately materialize. .......

human rights watch iraqis

Violence, Poverty Underscore Story of Iraqi Refugees in Jordan


by Jon Elmer
For those who have fled the chaos of home to settle indefinitely in Amman, making do and maintaining hope of someday returning to a peaceful Iraq are elusive ways of life.
Amman; July 22, 2005 – Hisham Jamil is unequivocal when asked why he and his wife have chosen a life of unemployment in a foreign country over the life they built together in Baghdad.
"You know why we left," he said as he walked hand-in-hand with his wife, Hamsa, down a busy street here in Jordan's capital. "The whole world knows why we left. We can't live in Baghdad anymore; it is as simple as that. Life is impossible."...........

Video: Special report on Iraq's growing refugee crisis

David Edwards

In a Channel 4 News special, Jonathan Miller reports on the millions of Iraqi refugees fleeing their homeland in the wake of an ongoing war.
"They've escaped from hell in Iraq, but now they're stuck here in limbo," reports Miller on the roughly one million Iraqi refugees who have fled to Syria. "Many are destitute, most are illegal. They can't get health care, there's no schooling, and no jobs. And there's always that looming threat of summary deportation."
In Jordan, as in Syria, Iraqis who flee the war are not officially recognized as political refugees, but instead are considered temporary visitors, thus denying them any permanent residence or work permits. Jordan has currently stopped accepting refugees...........