BIKE: Lance in Yellow

[Patrick Goetz]

Lane S. Wimberley wrote:
> Don't know if anyone on this list is following the Tour de France (or
> cares), but Lance took the yellow in today's stage, which appears to
> have been quite exciting.  A good recap is here...
> 

This is fantastic!  As the most prominent Republican in Austin as well 
as a close personal friend of George Bush's, perhaps Lance can use his 
international platform to explain to the rest of the world why we've 
been caught torturing children in Abu Ghraib as well as elsewhere in 
Iraq. I'm not sure the "gee, it was just a fraternity prank" defense is 
going to work for this one, since most 12-16 year olds aren't old enough 
to join a fraternity, but I'm sure Lance can come up with something 
good; like "heck, we thought she was 18!" for the 12-year old who was 
tortured and possibly raped by US interrogators while imprisoned at Abu 
Ghraib.  No coverage in the US media, of course, so I've taken the 
liberty of translating an article from Report Mainz myself and pasting 
it below - sorry for the choppy text, this is how the original is, too. 
  Meanwhile, Lance supports Bush, Bush facilitated (and at least 
indirectly authorized) the torture of children, so y'all will have to 
forgive me for rooting for Tyler Hamilton instead (and now that he's 
out, my own homies, Kloeden, Ullrich, and Voigt).  When you sleep with 
dogs...


http://www.thismodernworld.com/weblog/mtarchives/week_2004_07_04.html#001637

http://www.swr.de/report/archiv/sendungen/040705/02/frames.html
============================================
News from Iraq.  The daily explosion, Saddam before the court, kidnapped 
soldiers, every new revelation overshadows the previous.  The scandal 
over the torture prison Abu Ghraib, oh yes, that was something else.

REPORT stayed on this theme and has consequently uncovered completely 
unbelievable allegations.  In Abu Ghraib and elsewhere children and 
teenagers have been arrested and mishandled.  Thomas Reutter with a 
difficult hunt for evidence.

Report:

With the assault vehicle through the door.  US soldiers storm a 
residence looking for terrorists.  Sometimes during these raids the 
soldiers also arrest children.  What happens to these children?  The 
military has nothing to say about this.  We researched the situation, 
meeting with informants.

One who knows something about this is Sergeant Samuel Provance from the 
National Guard of the US Army.  He was stationed at Abu Ghraib for half 
a year.  Today, five months later, we're meeting with Sergeant Provance 
in Heidelberg.

His superiors have strongly forbidden him from discussing what he 
experienced in Abu Ghraib with reporters; however, Provance wants to 
talk about it anyway.  He is plagued by his conscience.  He tells of a 
16-year old teenager he himself had to take into custody.

O-Ton, Samuel Provance, US-Sergeant:
"He was terribly afraid, very alone.  He had the thinnest arms I've ever 
seen.  His whole body was shivering.  His wrists were so thin that we 
couldn't even use handcuffs on him.  When I saw him for the first time 
to take him to the interrogation, I immediately felt sorry for him.  The 
interrogation specialists hosed him down with water and placed him in a 
car.  Then they drove around with him all night, and at the time it was 
very, very cold.  Afterwards they smeared him with mud and showed his 
father, on whom they had tried other methods of interrogation.  They 
couldn't get him to talk, however.  The interrogation specialists told 
me that after the father saw his son under these circumstances, it broke 
his heart.  He started crying and promised to tell them everything they 
wanted to know."

Despite this, the son continued to be held in captivity.  As a 16-year 
old, he was placed with the adults.  However, Provance also reports the 
existence of a special area, designated for children.  A secret 
childrens' section in the prison of horror, Abu Ghraib.

One who has seen this childrens' section with his own eyes is journalist 
Suhaib Badr-Addin Al-Baz.  Our correspondent met with him last week in 
Bagdad.  The Iraqi television reporter reports that he himself was 
arbitrarily arrested by Americans while filming and was held in Abu 
Ghraib for 74 days.

O-Ton, Suhaib Badr-Addin Al-Baz, TV reporter:
"There I saw a camp for children.  Young, pre-puberty.  There were at 
least 100 children there.  A number were released, but some are surely 
still there."

 From his isolation cell in the adult section, Suhab heard what was 
perhaps a 12-year old girl crying.  Later he learned that her brother 
was imprisoned on the second floor of the prison.  Once or twice he 
himself saw her, says Suhaib.

In the night they were in her cell.  The girl yelled to other captives 
and called the name of her brother.

A sketch artist has painted this scene for the British television 
station ITN.

O-Ton, Suhaib Badr-Addin Al-Baz, TV reporter:
"She was beaten.  I heard her call out: they've taken all my clothes 
off!  They poured water on me!"

Daily, says Suhaib, one could hear her screaming and wimpering.  Other 
captives were also heard crying.  Suhaib also reports on a sick 15-year 
old teenager.  They had chased him up and down the corridor using a 
powerful water cannister until he collapsed from exhaustion, says 
Suhaib.  Then they brought in his father with a hood over his head.  In 
a state of shock, the youth collapsed again.

In the so-called "war against terror" Americans are storming Iraqi 
residences.  Claims Suhaib, they sometimes take entire families into 
custody when they appear to be suspicious.  Individual testimonials, 
however, are hard to verify.

We will continue to research new reports on the capture of children. And 
actually, UNICEF in Genf, the Children's help network of the United 
Nations.  We found an explosive report only a few days old.  In this 
report it says

Quote:
"Children captured in Basra and Kerbala have routinely been relocated to 
an internment camp in Um Qasr."

The internment camp at Um Qasr.  Recorded in 2003: Currently it is too 
dangerous for reporters to drive to Um Qasr.  The camp, a prison for 
terrorists and criminals.  It is calculated that the Americans are also 
holding children here as prisoners of war.  UNICEF writes:

Quote:
"The classification of these children as "interns" is cause for worry, 
since they can be held indefinately, without contact with their 
families, waiting to be processed and classified."

UNICEF still does not want to release the until now unpublished report: 
  UNICEF workers in Iraq should not be endangered.  We're looking for 
further information, and have contacted the International Red Cross. 
Their helpers have inspected Um Qasr, Abu Ghraib, and other prisons. And 
after intense discussions, further confirmation and even concrete 
numbers were reported.

O-Ton, Florian Westphal, Internation Committee of the Red Cross:
"Between January and May of this year we have registered a total of 107 
children in 19 visits to 6 different prisons.  One must stress that 
these are really prisons, controlled by coalition troops."

In the internment center at Um Qasr and also at Abu Ghraib, the Red 
Cross has registered juvenile captives.  Two independent international 
organizations have confirmed to us that the occupation troops are 
holding Iraqi children as prisoners.  However, we do not have any 
information directly from the prisons.  UNICEF was not allowed to visit 
the Kinderknast [orphanage?  children's detention center?] in Baghdad.

Quote:
"In July of 2003, UNICEF requested a visit to this detention center, but 
access was denied."

Since December claims UNICEF, no independent observers have been allowed 
in the Kinderknast.  This despite the fact that the scandal prison Abu 
Ghraib has been opened to journalists.  Of course reporters were 
presented with a pre-arranged guided tour.  Captured children were not 
presented to the press.

O-Ton, Barbara Lochbihler, General Secretary, Amnesty International:
"the US government must naturally respond to this report and provide 
concrete information regarding the age of the children, why they are 
being held, and under what circumstances they were arrested.  And also 
if they were tortured or mishandled.  We don't even know what these 
children's names are, or how many are being held in custody. 
'Independent inspections are not allowed.'  This is scandalous!"

Moderator Fritz Frey:

Of course we confronted the responsible parties with the results of our 
research.  The British Defense Ministry has informed us that children 
and teenagers are not being held prisoner by British troops.  We're 
still waiting on a response from the American Pentagon.

Links:

Reports from the human rights organization Amnesty Internation regarding 
Iraq
(Berichte der Menschenrechtsorganisation Amnesty International zu Irak)
www2.amnesty.de

Internation Committee of the Red Cross
(Internationales Komitee vom Roten Kreuz)
www.icrc.org

The Children's Help Network of the United Nations UNICEF
(Das Kinderhilfswerk der Vereinten Nationen UNICEF)
www.unicef.de