In the U.S., where the policies were instituted and even defended, Silence!
23 December 2012 - The Ministry of Defence continues to pay the price for what the Baha Mousa inquiry termed its "corporate failure" in Iraq, having paid out £8.3m to 162 Iraqi torture victims this year alone. While the figures speak volumes, the payments remain shrouded in secrecy.
This compensation leaves a sour taste: although it is an important measure of redress for victims, it is certainly not justice done. The full truth of what happened is yet to emerge, and those responsible have not been held to account. There is still no sign that the government is prepared to do the right thing and establish a full independent public inquiry into torture and ill-treatment by members of the British armed forces in Iraq from 2003 to 2008.
This failure is part of a clear pattern. When allegations of abuse are made they are first downplayed – any wrongdoing, we are told, is down to a "few rotten apples" – then, if any investigations do follow, they are carried out within existing military structures. This "trust us, we will deal with it" approach has long since lost credibility; as for rotten apples, the numbers of victims are too large and the patterns of abuse too similar to speak of exceptions.
The government's solution to the large number of allegations of torture and ill-treatment from 2003 to 2008 was to establish the Iraqi Historic Allegations Team (IHAT) and the Iraq Historic Allegations Panel (IHAP). The cases they are meant to investigate are anything but historic, being actively pursued by hundreds of victims. read more>>>
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