I saw
this on the local news the other night and I couldn't believe it.
An Iraqi refugee who returned home to visit relatives says he was detained and severely mistreated by U.S. soldiers for 12 days.
Jawad al-Hamid, 34, of Everett, told The Herald newspaper the soldiers didn't feed him or let him use a restroom for several days, fastened his handcuffs so tight that he was left with scars on his wrists and pushed him to the floor of his tiny cell.
I shouldn't be surprised at what al-Hamid is claiming. I think what shocks me the most is that this kind of thing continues to happen.
Al-Hamid said he flew from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Oct. 23 with a friend from Seattle. During stops in Chicago and Amman, Jordan, they met two other U.S. Iraqis who were returning to their homeland to visit their families, he said.
The four agreed to rent a car and driver once they arrived at their final stop, Damascus, Syria. They crossed into Iraq from Syria, and several hours later arrived at a U.S. Army checkpoint near al-Ramadi, al-Hamid said.
Soldiers asked the men for their identification, frisked them and searched the car, he said. The soldiers asked why four strangers had rented a car together and crossed into Iraq from Syria, a base for terrorists.
The soldiers also expressed concern about seven cell phones al-Hamid had with him - gifts for his relatives, he said. A man who appeared to be a high-ranking officer then accused the four of being terrorists and ordered soldiers to arrest them, al-Hamid said.
Soldiers put plastic handcuffs on the men and covered their heads with hats or towels, laughing as they were doing so, al-Hamid said. They took them to a detention center, he said.
Maybe the fact that they did not know each other prior to the meeting on the flight over and renting a car and al-Hamid had seven cell phones on him is a legitimate reason to sit them aside and question them, but the treatment they received is absolutely ridiculous. Al-Hamid's wrists are still scarred from the plastic handcuffs and he doesn't have complete use of his hands now. According to the news report that I saw, doctors have told him it might take up to two years for the damage to heal. Since he has been home he has tried once to file a complaint at a recruiting center in Everett, WA. and this failed.
This is absolutely sick and appalling. I watched this report on Friday and began to get a sick feeling in my stomach as he recalled what had happened to him and showed off his scarred wrists. Then they showed the video he took once he reached Basra and you could see the damage done. Not only did he have to endure physical torture he says he was barely fed while he was imprisoned and he was refused medical treatment.
When is this going to stop?
-mtfriend
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