Iraqi int min, Baghdad residents reax to leak of US military documents

Описание: (23 Oct 2010)
1. Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al Bolani leaving news conference with security
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Jawad al Bolani, Iraqi Interior Minister:
"Any practice of human rights violations, under any pretext or label or from any rank, is condemned, under the law and from the nature of the new regime in this country and the state's institutions. The interior ministry always follows up any cases of violations in such respect. There are investigation committees that work continuously and there is a department that is specialised in following up these procedures. No-one is above the law. As long as the investigations of some of these cases of violations take, there are courts and legal actions that will reach those who are involved in violations against any Iraqi."
3. Wide exterior of internet cafe
4. Mid of internet cafe sign
5. Customers browsing internet
6. Customer on Wikileaks website
7. Close of screen with Wikileaks website
8. Man watching Wikileaks website
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Zaynab Abdul Razaq, Lecturer at Baghdad University College of Medicine:
"After eight years of the Americans coming to Iraq, many Iraqi people were killed every day and they had to avoid what happened from the beginning, not now."
10. Various of people on the internet
11. Man reading newspaper
12. Headline in al sharq al Awssat local newspaper reading (Arabic) 'Amid expectations of publication of secret documents on Iraq war, Wikileaks promise an important declaration today'
13. Men reading newspapers at stand
STORYLINE:
The Iraqi interior minister Jawad al Bolani promised legal action against people accused of torturing detainees, following the release on the Wikileaks whistle-blower website of almost 400-thousand documents, many alleging violence against prisoners held by Iraq's security services.
The 391,831 documents date from the start of 2004 to January 1, 2010, providing a ground-level view of the war written mostly by low-ranking officers in the field.
The dry reports, full of military jargon and acronyms, were meant to catalogue "significant actions" over six years of heavy US and allied military presence in Iraq.
The field reports from US forces and intelligence officers also indicate US forces often failed to follow up on credible evidence that Iraqi forces mistreated, tortured and killed their captives as they battled a violent insurgency.
Although the documents appear to be authentic, their origin could not be independently confirmed, and WikiLeaks declined to offer any details about them.
Political rivals of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the claims serve as a warning against keeping him in power.
The hoard of nearly 400-thousand documents details reports by the US military of alleged abuse by Iraqi security forces after al-Maliki, a Shiite moslem, became prime minister in May 2006.
Such abuses were also widely reported in Iraq before al-Maliki took the top job.
The opposition Iraqiya bloc said the allegations demonstrate the need to ensure that al-Maliki does hold onto power through the political deal-making that has dragged on since national elections in March, 2010, failed to produce a clear winner.
The leaked documents include hundreds of reports from across Iraq with allegations of abuse.
Amnesty International called on the US to investigate how much its officials knew about torture when they handed over thousands of detainees to Iraqi security forces.
However, Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al Bolani said Saturday that he condemned any "human rights violations" but was confident authorities would deal with any allegation appropriately.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...