Wikileaks documents released Friday evening to The Guardian, UK, The New York Times, Der Spiegel and Le Monde are full of revelations that are being underplayed by MSM as ‘not revelatory’.  Don’t be fooled.  They include documents showing that the DoD had previously lied, but actually was keeping track of civilian deaths after a fashion; that there were far more killings of civilians by Blackwater employees and US soldiers than reported; that Iran was funding Shiite combatants (known already), and reports of death squads operating under Nouri Al-Maliki.  They show that US soldiers abused detainees until at least the end of 2009. 

But torture of Iraqis by Iraqis (including women and teenagers) is what I’ll address here today.  More analysis of the almost 400,000 documents will come, and more commentary. 

In a recent poll, only 3% of Americans listed the Wars as primary issues informing their voting choices.

Watch this video on Frago 242 if you can stomach it; the Guardian says it was issued in June 2004, not May 2005, as the New York Times article implies.

Please note that General Peter Pace wanted torture stopped, and for US troops to help stop it; Rumsfeld argued with him publicly.  And obviously won the argument.

From The Guardian:

Other logs record not merely assaults but systematic torture. A man who was detained by Iraqi soldiers in an underground bunker reported that he had been subjected to the notoriously painful strappado position: with his hands tied behind his back, he was suspended from the ceiling by his wrists. The soldiers had then whipped him with plastic piping and used electric drills on him. The log records that the man was treated by US medics; the paperwork was sent through the necessary channels; but yet again, no investigation was required.

This is the impact of Frago 242. A frago is a "fragmentary order" which summarises a complex requirement. This one, issued in June 2004, about a year after the invasion of Iraq, orders coalition troops not to investigate any breach of the laws of armed conflict, such as the abuse of detainees, unless it directly involves members of the coalition. Where the alleged abuse is committed by Iraqi on Iraqi, "only an initial report will be made … No further investigation will be required unless directed by HQ".

Frago 242 appears to have been issued as part of the wider political effort to pass the management of security from the coalition to Iraqi hands. In effect, it means that the regime has been forced to change its political constitution but allowed to retain its use of torture.

One section’s summary on prisoner abuse by the NYT:

Summary: If the war was dangerous for Americans, it was far worse for the Iraqis who worked for them. One Iraqi interpreter was killed by an American sniper from his own unit, who mistook him for a militant when the Iraqi became separated from his platoon.  (my bold)

Allegations and documentations of prisoner abuse in Iraqi prisoners by Human Rights Watch were reported by the Los Angeles Times in a piece about Al_Maliki’s massive torture operations a month before Al- Maliki  met with the President at the White House on October 20, 2009.

The Pentagon warned on Friday that releasing secret military documents could endanger US troops and Iraqi civilians:

"By disclosing such sensitive information, WikiLeaks continues to put at risk the lives of our troops, their coalition partners and those Iraqis and Afghans working with us," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.

He said the documents were "essentially snapshots of events, both tragic and mundane, and do not tell the whole story."

Secretary of State Clinton denounced the leaks, saying they will endanger US forces.

In 2009, fifty-five cases have been investigated by the Iraqi government.

Duties of the Occupying Power:

Hague Conventions of 1907
Art. 43.
The authority of the legitimate power having in fact passed into the hands of the occupant, the latter shall take all the measures in his power to restore, and ensure, as far as possible, public order and safety, while respecting, unless absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the country.

This photojournalism collection by James Estrin and David Furst is called In American Custody was published October 22, 2010 at NYT online.

The US handed over more than 2000 Iraqi prisoners to Iraqi security in July, 2010, allegedly as part of a greater picture to give legitimacy to the new, if not yet formed, Iraqi government.  Al-Maliki claims that the leaks are part of a plan to discredit him.