Documentary whiz Errol Morris is turning his camera on Abu Ghraib’s most notorious moments in his latest film, “Standard Operating Procedure,” in which he unearths a host of unsettling information about torture, “ghost” prisoners and interrogators, and, as Morris describes in this blog about his new project, exactly what happened to prisoner Manadel al-Jamadi’s body after he died while under interrogation at the prison in Iraq.
Errol Morris in The New York Times:
Stevanus provides some additional information about the O.G.A.‘s [Other Government Agencies agent’s] demeanor: “After we found out he [Jamadi] was dead, they were nervous; they didn’t know what the hell to do. The short, fat O.G.A. guy said, “No one’s ever died on me before when I interrogated them.”
Swanner called on his cell phone for assistance and several other C.I.A. officers arrived. It’s presumably not O.K. to kill prisoners. Several additional M.P.‘s arrived, including Capt. Christopher Brinson. Capt. Donald Reese and Lt. Col. Steve Jordan. Jordan soon notified Colonel Pappas, the commander of the prison.
The top brass at the prison—essentially everyone who was anyone—were present and involved in a heated discussion of what to do next. According to Jordan, Pappas made it clear that he wasn’t going to take the fall for what amounted to the death of an O.G.A. prisoner.
Hydrue Joyner described the scene as a version of the movie “Weekend at Bernie’s,” where two sad-sack employees pretend that their murdered boss is still alive so that they can avoid being implicated in his death. Indeed, when al-Jamadi was finally entered into the prison log book on November 5, 2003 (since he was a “ghost” detainee without an identification number), he was simply identified as “Bernie.” A good joke.
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Terracide and the Terrarists: Destroying the Planet for Record Profits
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By cyrena, May 20, 2008 at 10:41 pm Link to this comment
Greetings Fadel,
And THANK YOU for this information!! I DID NOT KNOW much of this, (specifically about the Israelis being first on the torture scene in Iraq). I had also NEVER HEARD of this so-called “Palestinian Hanging” invention, though admittedly that part does NOT surprise me, because of what the Israelies have been doing to thousands of Palestinans whom they’ve held for YEARS and YEARS in their own prisons.
Of course we’ve talked about the criminality of the Jordanian regime, and the misery of the refugees there. And yes, I believe that the Iraqi refugees there should be informed of the role of Jordan in these crimes to their own. To that end, I’m going to pass this along to some of my own colleagues.
Thank you again, since you probably already know that this worst crime against humanity (torture) has become a ‘specialty’ interest of mine.
Report thisBy Fadel Abdallah, May 20, 2008 at 8:08 pm Link to this comment
“The Palestinian Hanging”!
“Al-Jamadi was put in a stress position, a Palestinian hanging a low-budget crucifixion without the nails. His arms were handcuffed behind him and then the handcuffs were suspended from a window frame.”
============================================
First, I take my hat off in respect for Errol Morris’ courage and hard work to document this American miscarriage of justice in Iraq as exemplified by the brutal death of Al-Jamadi.
Second, notice that Al-Jamadi was tortured by a method called “Palestinian Hanging,” as described above from the piece I quoted directly from the article. Because the article does explain why a torture in Abu Grieb Iraq happened to be called the “Palestinian Hanging,” let me fill you on this and explain its meaning and implication.
This so-called “Palestinian Hanging” is an Israeli invention to torture Palestinians at a low cost! It was taught to the Americans by the the ten thousand or so of Israeli experts who were in the first wave of the occupying forces in Iraq. This is, of course, a well kept secret in the American mainstream media. But the appearance of this so-called “Palestinian Hanging” is a great revelatory aspect of the Iraqi war. And one of these revelatory aspects is that the war in Iraq was not only carried on, at least partly,
on behalf of Israel, but also with Israelis as active participants in the war and its tortuous aspects.
Thirdly, Jordan with its damned criminal political authority, is also responsible for the torture and atrocities committed against Iraqis. It’s not a secret, as was revealed in this article, that after the initial torture at Abu Grieb or other Iraqi-based facilities, those unlucky prisoners were rendered to Jordanian authorities for even worse methods of torture and inhumane interrogation.
I am particularly interested and eager that, as many Iraqis as possible, especially those living in Jordan now as miserable refugees, whose numbers are estimated at between a million and half and two millions, should learn about the role of Jordan in this criminal war in Iraq. I wish they can form a movement and help topple the criminal and corrupt Jordanian regime.
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