No place for children

Scotland’s Sunday Herald discovers that “Coalition” forces are holding more than 100 children in Iraqi jails such as Abu Ghraib. Witnesses claim that some of the detainees – as young as 10 – are subjected to torture and rape.

Former prisoner Thaar Salman Dawod said: “[I saw] two boys naked and they were cuffed together face to face and [a US soldier] was beating them and a group of guards were watching and taking pictures and there was three female soldiers laughing at the prisoners. The prisoners, two of them, were young.”

This must be what the Melbourne Age meant when it called for the “Coalition” to stay in Iraq until a stable government was established. No thought of whether the troops were contributing to the instability or leading to greater violence against innocent Iraqis.

Would an Australian journalist like to ask government officials or military spokespeople about what our troops may know about all these allegations?

Text and images ©2024 Antony Loewenstein. All rights reserved.

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