Again we have no proof; only the anonymous words of a
teacher in Baghdad who remembered this incident when he read of the U.S. news
of ‘segregation boxes’ the other day. It came to us in an anonymous email so we
do not know the source. So again I write it as a fiction; a possible scenario;
another example of torture used against innocent civilians, even in the time
when lots of Iraqis loved the Americans and their invasion.
--
One of the Iraqi women who was a
head mistress of high school in Baghdad was arrested after the American
invasion to Iraq. She was a relative of a wanted man who used to be a powerful
assistant to the ex-president Saddam.
We knew her as a good woman and a
responsible teacher who looked after her students as a teacher and a mother.
She was strict in controlling the school and never choose to be lenient with
rules. She was highly moral and fully controlling of the school.
A Sunni with power and a vocal
supporters of the old regime, she was resented by many teachers. Although she
was rich and powerful some teachers (who didn't like her) accused her of
robbing the school after the invasion and rumors were to woven against her. Other teachers thought of her as
good since she kept the school in order, and the students respect for the
teachers was maintained. Not like now when discipline and respect have fallen.
Many things were changed in Iraq as
a part of the new era. The arrest and persecution of the Sunni became common. She
was forced to resign paving the way for another mistress to run the school.
One day, some teachers decided to
visit the old mistress who had been released because she has no information to
tell about her relative. When they came back I saw pain and sorrow on their
faces. They were too worried about the whole situation in Iraq after their
visit.
They told me that she told them she
was put in a one meter by one meter metal box under the heat of the sun for
days. The guard used to come and bang on the metal box to make an echo that
hurts the detainee inside. After that they put her in a jail with some women
and when her turn of investigation comes they used to threaten her with dogs.
One of the teachers told me that they saw bruises on her body while her pale
face was still in shock!
She no longer lives in Iraq.
--
So each
day more stories of torture are released. More
atrocities are indicated, and the result?
No one is
punished. No one takes responsibility. No justice prevails, and the sad state
of American morality is revealed by our actions, not our words.
Yeah, Richard. I agree. It's the Gerties who scare me. They justify torture so easily.
When is it right for me to pull your fingernails out, Gertie?
Posted by: Bruce | Sep 23, 2008 at 08:57 PM
No person, guilty or innocent deserves to be tortured. Especially in this manner. What right has any human being to subject another to hours (let alone days) baking in a 1 meter by 1 meter by 1 meter metal box under the desert sun? There is no crime which vitiates that kind of punishment.
Posted by: Richard From Canada | Sep 23, 2008 at 02:21 PM
I just have to comment that I find it interesting you seem to assume they are innocent. I mean they won't even give you information about themselves at all...anonymous. As my father used to be fond of commenting, there are so many innocent people in the jails! What a shame.
Posted by: Gertie | Aug 09, 2008 at 12:39 PM