Al Qaeda Torture Chamber Sign: “Come in, you are safe”
Remember the Al Qaeda torture chamber they found recently? There were Quranic verses written all over the place, and they also found mass graves…
BAGHDAD - Blood-splotches on walls, chains hanging from a ceiling and swords on the killing floor — the artifacts left a disturbing tale of brutalities inside a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq torture chamber. But there was yet another chilling fact outside the dirt-floor dungeon. Villagers say they knew about the torment but were too intimidated by extremists to tell authorities until now.
Stories such as these — claims of insurgent abuses and the silence of frightened Iraqis — have emerged with increasing frequency and clarity recently as U.S.-led forces push deeper into former extremist fiefdoms and forge alliances with tribes seeking to reclaim their regions.
The reports and tips now pouring in build a harrowing portrait of rule under al-Qaida and its backers: mass graves, ruthless punishments, self-styled Islamic courts ordering summary executions.
Such a lead brought soldiers earlier this month to the hidden room in Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Thursday. Graffiti on the building proclaimed “Long Live the Islamic State” — a reference to the Islamic governance, or caliphate, sought in Iraq by Sunni extremist groups that include al-Qaida.
Scrawled in white paint above a bed in the torture area was a Quranic phrase in Arabic normally used to welcome a guest. But the context suggested only sadistic mockery: “Come in, you are safe.”
The floor was littered with food wrappers, plastic soda bottles and electric cables that snaked to a metal bed frame, presumably where detainees were shocked, according to the U.S. account of the discovery during a Dec. 8-11 mission.
The rooms “had chains, a bed — an iron bed that was still connected to a battery — knives and swords that were still covered in blood,” said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, the top U.S. commander in northern Iraq.
Nearby were nine mass graves containing the remains of 26 people, he said.
Villagers knew about the torture site, but did not tell authorities as they were afraid of reprisals from the militants, a local policeman told The Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity as he was still afraid of being targeted by extremists.
He said he thought the chamber had been used for a year.
It was not the first such torture chamber discovered in Iraq. But it serves as a reminder of the extremist grip in parts of Iraq despite growing optimism as violence continues to fall.
And Diyala province — where the grisly discovery was made — remains one of the most volatile regions as U.S. and Iraqi forces struggle to match the clear advances against extremists made in Baghdad and the western desert of Anbar.
The province is mixed between Sunnis and Shiites — often called a “little Iraq” and a remnant of Iraq before sectarian bloodletting partitioned many parts of the country along religious lines. Diyala’s capital, Baqouba, also is the self-proclaimed seat of the insurgents’ caliphate.
“I think that is why al-Qaida wants that province so very much, because it is ‘a little Iraq,’” Hertling said. “It gives them access to Baghdad and it also … is considered their caliphate capital.”
American commanders say they are a long way from declaring victory in Diyala.
The weapons caches found during the Muqdadiyah raids included a surface-to-air missile launcher, sniper rifles, and 130 pounds of homemade explosives, Hertling said.
“You know, there’s going to be continued spectacular attacks,” he said. “Are we confident we can protect it? As soon as I say, ‘Yeah, we’re confident,’ it’s going to blow tomorrow.”
It was not the first apparent torture site found after U.S. forces moved into former extremist strongholds.
In March, U.S. troops discovered a similar site in the village of Karmah just west of Baghdad that was used by Sunni insurgents for torture and summary executions. They rescued two Iraqi captives, who apparently had been spared immediate execution because the militants’ video camera broke and they wanted to film the killing.
The captives told U.S. soldiers they had been sentenced to death by an insurgent court and had the choice of either beheading or a fatal gunshot.
Both Sunni insurgents and Shiite militia death squads regularly torture their captives before killing them — sometimes with power drills. Most of the hundreds of bodies that have turned up in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq show signs of torture.
(AP)
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And some of you get on our case about a little water in the face. Fuck off.
December 20th, 2007 at 6:20 pmIf I hear one more lefty say the war in Iraq that is stopping these jihadi pig fuckers from doing this shit is unjust, illeagal and immoral I’m going to loose it!!!!!!
December 20th, 2007 at 6:38 pmIsn’t it interesting that this kind of crap gets short-shrift in the news? Where’s the leftist anger? Where’s the protests in the streets. Where’s the thirst for revenge?
Oh, I forgot American schools and the leftist MSM is too busy teaching their students and Joe and Mary six-pack, how bad America is; instead of exposing these barbaraians for the scum that they are?
And where is the UN convention on torture? Too busy investigating Gitmo and secret CIA prisons? More westaphobic Ameri-phobic hypocracy?
Damn straight.
Death is too good for the scumbags that did this. But something tells me that if the average Iraqi would be allowed to deal with this scum…they might actually get the justice they so richly deserve. And waterboarding would be the least of their worries.
December 20th, 2007 at 7:10 pm[quote]”And some of you get on our case about a little water in the face. Fuck off.”[/quote]
This is no shit. It is why I say to show no mercy whatsoever to captured terrs out of uniform. Squeeze them and then, rid our world of them.
December 20th, 2007 at 7:40 pm@oneshot..
December 20th, 2007 at 7:55 pmAmen Brutha.
lets shut down Gitmo? WHY, lets just let the bad guy do what he wants. WHY? lets play by our rules and be fair to the enemy, while he is so unjust and evil to us. The only way to win a war is to fight harder, smarter, more dirty than the enemy. But we never do, cause we are to afraid of not hurting others feelings, and making us look bad. Well i say fuck those pepes. If they dont like it, then bail!! This shit pisses me off more than anything, and i just want to click off safety and go fuckn nuts!!
December 20th, 2007 at 9:14 pmCan we NOW please haul Ted Kennedy’s wet fat ass over there and rub his gin blossom nose in what REAL torture looks like?
While we’er at it, throw in most the members of Congress who THINK they know what “torture” is …
December 20th, 2007 at 10:01 pmThis makes waterboarding look like a good day.
December 20th, 2007 at 10:31 pmWhere are all of the candy-asses that were crying a river of panther piss about our supposed “torture methods”.
Fuck y’all….
December 21st, 2007 at 5:01 am“Villagers say they knew about the torment but were too intimidated by extremists to tell authorities until now.”
It takes a long time for people who have been systematically brutalized to come forward with what they know. I am so glad we did not leave the Iraqi people to the savages that al-Q and their supporters are.
Thanks to our guys for being there that torture houses like this are not able to continue to opperate.
The trust that our troops have built up with the Iraqi people must continue and Iran must never be allowed to fill any power vacuum whatsoever in Iraq.
December 21st, 2007 at 5:54 am@oneshot
I ask the same question. Where are all you idealistic, “intellctual heavyweights” that cry when we make some evil puke a little uncomfortable for a while. Fuck you and the high horse you rode in on.
December 21st, 2007 at 12:24 pm