I have written in the past about Egypt and how that country's human rights violations debunk Bush's argument about democracy breaking out in the Middle East. Now, a new 58-page report by Human Rights Watch documents the massive extent of torture that is happening in Kurdistan. So, this is just one most ally that is following the example of the leader. So, just like Bush tortures, detains without trial, and commits extraordinary rendition, the followers take the cues off of their leader.
While the human rights violations there pale in comparison with the rest of Iraq, they show that even the most stable regions of the Middle East are simply powder kegs waiting to happen as it is only a matter of time before the dissidents revolt against the heavy-handed tactics of the Asayish.
Detainees are not charged with a crime, given information about their legal status, or provided any rights of appeal. And not only that, they have held hundreds of detainees for more than five years. The logical extreme of this is that it could get to the point where they could wind up holding people for decades and totally forget why they arrested them in the first place.
And not only does this debunk the meme that democracy is breaking out in the Middle East, it debunks the meme that Iraq is now a Democratic society. Instead, it is simply a reflection of how Bush would like to run a country -- playing off the various political factions against each other and create a state of conflict against each other and creating massive war profiteering for him and his oil cronies.
In many cases, they are being denied access to their relatives. So, this is another broken promise from the Bush administration -- their claim to be a party that cares about family values. Instead, they are a party that breaks up families and which tears apart the fabric that keeps humanity functioning. So much for the "compassionate conservative" meme or the "family values" party.
And these methods of torture are awfully familiar:
Torture methods most frequently cited in the report include beatings to the body using implements such as cables, wooden sticks, metal rods, and hosepipes. Detainees also described how Asayish guards placed them in "stress positions" for extended periods, kept them blindfolded and handcuffed for several days at a time, and placed them in solitary confinement. With some exceptions, the report also found that conditions at Asayish facilities remained severely overcrowded and unhygienic.
And there are other problems with the Kurdish system -- the Asayish is a totally separate political entity, answerable to nobody. They are the sole authority over who should be charged with economic or political crimes or sabatoge or terrorism. They actively resist any efforts to bring them under any kind of civilian control.
So, why should this be any kind of a surprise? Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby shows that he has no respect for the fabric of law that rules this country -- he only wants a society where might makes right and he is the Decider. So, why should it be surprising that his allies also engage in this sort of behavior, or that the White House turns a blind eye to all this?
There are over one thousand detainees in the Sulaimaniya prison alone, mostly held on "terrorism" charges. But does this sound familiar? If this sounds familiar, it should; they are not doing anything that the Bush administration has not done already. They are detaining several hundred people at Guantanamo where they face torture, they detain hundreds more at prisons around the world where they face torture, and they detain tens of thousands of people in Iraq. So, it should hardly be surprising that the Kurdish government does not respect basic human rights when their masters, the Bush administration, does not respect them either.
And like Bush, the Kurdish government claims that "they do not torture." It seems that they have even picked up on Bush's spin from their Ministers of Misinformation as they recite the latest White House propaganda lines which the tabloid media inside the Beltway willingly laps up.
And not only that, many of the people arrested were done so in conjunction with the US army -- and we all know how reliable those arrests are. Our troops are not trained as policemen and detectives; they do not testify in court. They are trained as soldiers, and being trained as one does not make you good at the other.