The past year has seen the world learn a great deal about the US war and occupation of Iraq. With the WikiLeaks release of US State Cables, the Iraq War Logs, and a "Collateral Murder" video showing US soldiers firing on journalists and innocent civilians from an Apache helicopter, the criminal nature of the war and occupation has become more evident. To mark the end of eight years of US troops in Iraq and the beginning of a ninth year, it is worth noting the many revelations on Iraq that have become known thanks to WikiLeaks.
On October 22, 2010, 390,000 field reports, which became known as the Iraq War Logs, showed the regular use of abuse, brutality and torture used on Iraqis by Iraqi Police and Iraqi Security Forces. The logs revealed, despite US claims, a tracking of civilian deaths had been going on, and, in fact, 66,000 civilian deaths (15,000 which were previously unknown) had occurred.
At a press conference one day after the release, Phil Shiner of Public Interest Lawyers in the United Kingdom, a firm that has acted on behalf of Iraqis claiming they were tortured or the victim of indiscriminate military attacks, explained how the released evidence could be broken into three key categories: unlawful killings of civilians, indiscriminate attacks or the unjustified use of lethal force against civilians, horrendous abuse and torture of Iraqis by the Iraqi National Guard or the Iraqi Police Service, torture of Iraqis whilst in UK custody (presumably, whilst in the custody of US and other coalition forces custody as well).
Specifically in relation to the Iraqi National Guard or the Iraqi Police Service, Shiner highlighted a fragmented order Frago 242 , which the US and the UK appeared to have adopted as a way of excusing them from having to take responsibility for torture or ill-treatment of Iraqis by Iraqi military or security forces. This, according to Shiner, runs "completely contrary to international law" and "it's well known that there's an absolute prohibition on torture" and "it may never be used."
The logs further revealed the existence of a "Wolf Brigade" or "Wolf Battalion." This brigade was a death squad of Iraqi soldiers that went around terrorizing "insurgents." It became known for its brutality and was so feared in Iraq that US interrogators would threaten Iraqi detainees with the prospect of being turned over to the squad:
DURING THE INTERROGATION PROCESS THE ___ THREATENED THE SUBJECT DETAINEE THAT HE WOULD NEVER SEE HIS FAMILY AGAIN AND WOULD BE SENT TO THE WOLF BATTALION WHERE HE WOULD BE SUBJECT TO ALL THE PAIN AND AGONY THAT THE WOLF BATTALION IS KNOWN TO EXACT UPON ITS DETAINEES." [December 14, 2005]
The Guardian further detailed the Wolf Brigade or the use of an "El Salvador Option":
"The Wolf Brigade was created and supported by the US in an attempt to re-employ elements of Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard, this time to terrorise insurgents.
Members typically wore red berets, sunglasses and balaclavas, and drove out on raids in convoys of Toyota Landcruisers. They were accused by Iraqis of beating prisoners, torturing them with electric drills and sometimes executing suspects. The then interior minister in charge of them was alleged to have been a former member of the Shia Badr militia."
Additionally, details in log entries from 2004 and 2005, according to The Guardian, indicated US infantry raids led to the handing over of detainees to the Wolf Brigade for "further questioning" multiple times. And, a New York Times writer concluded, "US soldiers, US advisers, were standing aside and doing nothing."
The logs uncovered reports of detainee abuse and brutality. These incidents were recorded and never investigated further.
" A CF party, including a ___ went to the Ar ___ Police
Department iot investigate a statement that was done by an ___. He
mentioned that detainees are tortured in prison by IZ Police Officers.
Using a hygienic inspection as an excuse, ___ detainees were searched
and questioned without IZP attendance. The conclusion taken after this
is that drug or medicine users are being tortured specially during dark
hours. Methods they are using are to blindfold the detainee and hang
them upside down on their feet iot hit them on their foot soles. Also
the use of an electrical device is confirmed. This subject ___ with
senior IZP Officers iot stop this, also ___ inspections ___. ["A CF
party, including a ___ went to the Ar ___ Police Department iot
investigate a statement that was done by an ___. He mentioned that
detainees are tortured in prison by IZ ___" February 10, 2004]
ON 29MAY05 AN MNF-___ APPROVED JOINT INTERROGATION PROJECT WITH THE
IRAQI POLICE IN MOSUL REVEALED EVIDENCE OF PRIOR TORTURE/ABUSE ON 3X
LOCAL NATIONALS THAT HAD BEEN CAPTURED APPROX. ___. EXAMINATION OF THE
DETAINEES SHOWED LACERATIONS ON WRISTS FROM HANDCUFFS, BRUISING ON THE
BACK AND THIGHS, BRUISING ON FACE. DETAINEES ALLEGE THAT THEY WERE
BEATEN BY POLICE WITH CABLE ON THE BACK, CHEST AND FACE; HUNG BY THE
WRISTS AND FORCED TO CONFESS TO TERRORIST ACTS. ["SUSPECTED DETAINEE
ABUSE BY IPS IVO MOSUL: ___ DETAINEES ALLEGE ABUSE", May 29, 2005]
Channel 4 News reported that the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and Channel 4 Dispatches found "between 2004 and 2009 32,563 civilians were murdered" and that of the numerous unidentified corpses, which coalition forces often found in the Tigris River, "10,871 civilians were shot in the head, 439 were decapitated and up to 164 were recorded as children." The news organization suggested these "murders" were largely a result of "sectarian death squads."
TBIJ and Dispatches also found "over 300 classified reports in the Iraq war logs alleging abuse by coalition forces on Iraqi prisoners after the Abu Ghraib scandal" and that, in the time span covered by the logs, "some 180,000 Iraqis were imprisoned" or appoximately "one in 50 of the adult male population of Iraq" were imprisoned. And, "more than 1,300 individual cases of torture and abuse carried out by Iraqis on Iraqi prisoners at police stations and army bases, which imply that coalition forces either witnessed or reported on themselves" occurred.
Also revealed was more details on how military contractors in Iraq (like Blackwater) had killed civilians with impunity .
As Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks said, they showed the "truth that occurred before the war, during the war, and [what has] continued on since the war officially concluded."
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