Foxes in the hen-house

Did you know that the government of Iraq submitted its candidacy for the newly formed UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC)? Until a few days ago, its written pledge was not online. Now it is. Look at the document underneath.

In that document you can read some incredible things. Iraq presents itself as being deeply committed to human rights.

Elections take place in New York on Tuesday, 9 May. If elected, Iraq would be subject to the new "universal review," mandatory on all members of the UNHRC. Note the pledge (point #24 of the voluntary commitments) to consider ratifying all Optional Protocols of key human rights instruments. Relative to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, this could be significant, as the Optional Protocol allows for individual petitions. Another question is whether the government of Iraq will sign the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. In general, though scandalous in other respects, the election of Iraq to the UNHRC would be positive... if the Office of the High Commissioner in Geneva, or the special rapporteur on summary executions, were soon to propose substantive action. Perhaps a country visit? The government of Iraq, which more or less has to assent, would be hard pushed to refuse. Whether Iraq will be elected to the UNHRC is another matter.

The Iraqi puppet government is so deeply concerned about human rights, that most of the civilians tortured and killed recently, have been arrested by officials of the Ministry of Interior. Of course with the help of that other great democracy: the USA, who created, funded, armed and trained these death squads.

“After exact counting and documenting, the Iraqi Organisation for Follow-up and Monitoring has confirmed that 92 % of the 3498 bodies found in different regions of Iraq have been arrested by officials of the Ministry of Interior. Nothing was known about the arrestees’ fate until their riddled bodies were found with marks of horrible torture. It’s regrettable and shameful that these crimes are being suppressed and that several states receive government officials, who fail to investigate these crimes.”

Na nauwkeurige telling en verzameling van bewijzen heeft de Iraakse Organisatie voor Opvolging en Observatie bevestigd dat 92 % van de 3498 lichamen die in verschillende streken van Irak werden gevonden door troepen van het Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken waren gearresteerd. Er was niets over het lot van de slachtoffers bekend tot hun lichamen doorzeefd en vreselijk gefolterd werden teruggevonden. Het is beschamend en betreurenswaardig dat deze misdaden worden verzwegen en dat verscheidene staten vertegenwoordigers ontvangen van een regering die geen onderzoek naar deze misdrijven voert.

Original article in Arabic: http://www.iraq-amsi.org/news.php?action=view&id=6598&

بموجب احصاء وتوثيق متقن، فقد تأكد لدى المنظمة العراقية للمتابعة والرصد وبعد اجراء احصاء شمل 3498 جثة وجدت ملقاة في مناطق متفرقة من العراق ان 92 بالمائة من هذه الجثث قد تم اعتقال اصحابها من قبل وزارة الداخلية وتشكيلاتها، ولم يعرف عنهم اي شيء لحين العثور عليهم جثث ممزقة تعرضت لتعذيب بشع.

انه من المؤسف والمخجل ان يتم السكوت على هذه الجرائم وترضى عدة دول باستقبال مسؤولين بحكومة لا تحقق في هذه الجرائم.

المنظمة العراقية للمتابعة والرصد

30/4/2006

Recently an initiative to "save" Iraq's academics has been initiated, with the help of the Iraqi puppet government and UNESCO.

According to spokespersons of this initiative, "These men have been killed at the hands of criminals and terrorists, who have prevented them from working towards the rebuilding and the prosperity of our beloved country." “I call on the international community,” the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, declared, “to show solidarity with Iraqi academics and intellectuals who are subjected to a heinous campaign of violence.” Of course not a word about Iraq being occupied, not a word about the killings committed by US occupation forces and US funded death squads. Not a word about possible independent investigations into these assassinations. " According to the Center for the Arab and Mediterranean World, some 180 academics have been killed in Iraq since 2003 and thousands more have been driven into exile." This quote is rather disturbing. How can they know? The list of academics mentioned by the Center for the Arab and Mediterranean World, is the one that the BRussells Tribunal has compiled in cooperation with Iraqi academics and human rights organisations. This "new" campaign originally stated that they compiled the list. Iraqis connected to this initiative were inside Iraq for the past 3 years and never spoke one sentence or created some kind of awareness about the ongoing assassination campaign. But a lot of money from a rich princess from Qatar can do miracles, apparently. And we know how greedy these collaborators are.

And of course, the BBC repeats this crippled analysis. Their report led Tara Swift, Arab Media Watch Director, to write the following comment:

I was pleased to hear on the BBC world Service's news a long overdue item on the killing of Iraqi academics.

However, I was dismayed that your correspondent seems to have decided, the reason for the Iraqi academics plight is the criminal mafia's!

How did he come to this conclusion? Did he carry out a thorough investigation? Did he study the incidents of the killing and kidnapping of the academics?

While the criminal mafia's do have a role in this issue, the majority of the 200 or so Iraqi academics who were killed/assassinated, there were no ransom demand.

Many of them like Abdul Jaabar Al Naas who was the head of the media department at Mustansiriya University in Baghdad , were deliberately singled out and assassinated in broad daylight.

The occupiers and the 'Iraqi government' have so far failed to investigate a single assassination. These assassinations are happening all over the country and seem to target the academics, everywhere, near their homes, on their way to work or at their place of work. The assassinated academics' religious or ethnic identity seems to be irrelevant.

Your correspondent also failed to tell us that this concerted campaign started in earnest after the invasion of Iraq.

Who is the responsible party for the break down in law and order and lack of borders' protection? Who is morally and legally responsible for protecting Iraqis' welfare, after destroying their country?

Here is another report about four Iraqi academics being shot dead on their way to work at Diyalah University yesterday. No kidnapping , no ransom demand, just killer bullets.

I expect better standard of journalism from the BBC. I also do not expect them to rely on Iraqi oragnisations linked to the occupation for their analysis.

Tara Swift.

The comedy paper underneath is one of the most untruthful and biased documents humanity has ever seen. It’s unbelievable if this Green Zone scum could get away with their unspeakable crimes. It seems that they have learned well what their masters have taught them. But then, didn’t they come on the back of the tanks of the invaders to “save” their fellow countrymen? It seems that they are saving the Iraqis from their oil, their culture, their education, their safety, potable water, electricity. They even save them from their life.