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LoungeMachine
07-10-2006, 10:40 PM
Iraq says to ask U.N. to end US immunity
Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:07pm ET
By Mariam Karouny

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq will ask the United Nations to end immunity from local law for U.S. troops, the government said on Monday, as the U.S. military named five soldiers charged in a rape-murder case that has outraged Iraqis.

In an interview a week after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki demanded a review of foreign troops' immunity, Human Rights Minister Wigdan Michael said work on it was now under way and a request could be ready by next month to go to the U.N. Security Council, under whose mandate U.S.-led forces operate in Iraq.

"We're very serious about this," she said, adding a lack of enforcement of U.S. military law in the past had encouraged soldiers to commit crimes against Iraqi civilians.


"We formed a committee last week to prepare reports and put it before the cabinet in three weeks. After that, Maliki will present it to the Security Council. We will ask them to lift the immunity," Michael said.

"If we don't get that, then we'll ask for an effective role in the investigations that are going on. The Iraqi government must have a role."

Analysts say it is improbable the United States would ever make its troops answerable to Iraq's chaotic judicial system.

Asked to respond to Michael's remarks, White House spokesman Tony Snow dismissed that as a "hypothetical game".

But Snow said: "We also understand Prime Minister Maliki's concerns and we want to make sure he's fully informed and also that he is satisfied, regardless of what the treaty situation may be on these issues, that justice truly is being done, and that he can make that demonstration to his people as well." Continued... http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=newsOne&storyID=2006-07-10T210647Z_01_KAR040738_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-RAPE.xml

Ellyllions
07-11-2006, 07:29 AM
Snow's right, this is a hypothetical game.

I got another email from my friend in Afghanistan last night. He's working for the private company that has been training the Iraqi police recruits.

He says and has said all along that there are serious problems in training Iraqi police recruits.

1) They don't like the idea of wearing a uniform. It makes them stand out too much and become easily spotted by insurgents.

2) They don't like organizing and using protocol for going after criminals because it puts too many of them at risk at once.

3) They hit first and ask questions later. US soldiers have to watch Iraqi police officers brutally beat people over the most minor offenses and then drag them to a police station. US soldiers are not allowed to interfere.

4) They're too easily drawn into a weapons firefight and will then drop the weapon and run hide. Leaving the weapon in the street and leaving their fellow officers. One runs and then the rest run.

It's not that they're not brave, it's just that they honestly have a different way of thinking. The training they're given doesn't "stick" once they're in the field. And it's a real problem for the trainers. When they don't stick to training, it's hard to tell who are the criminals and who are the police.

This article implies that the US soldiers are the ones enforcing laws or have "free reign" of Iraq. That's simply not true. Even before Saddam was captured, US Soldiers were <u>strictly prohibited</u> from interfereing with Iraqi police when they were carrying out their duties.

And from what I see on my television every day since this thing started, there is no immunity for American forces who break the law in Iraq. If that were true then there wouldn't be any court martial trials at all. In my mind, these statements by Human Rights Minister Wigdan Michael sounds like propaganda aimed to make the Iraqi people feel like their new government is in control than actual fact.

Good if it works to get the common Iraqi citizen more involved in stopping insurgencies, but not good when there are 150,000 American troops roaming the streets...

BigBadBrian
07-11-2006, 05:50 PM
Originally posted by LoungeMachine


Analysts say it is improbable the United States would ever make its troops answerable to Iraq's chaotic judicial system.



Damn right it's unlikely.

American forces should NEVER be subject to any judicial body except that of the US Armed forces and the UCMJ.

Fuck what the UN says.

Warham
07-11-2006, 05:53 PM
Why does the UN exist any longer anyway?

It's a safe haven for dictators and thugs. That's the only thing I can come up with.

DEMON CUNT
07-11-2006, 06:00 PM
Originally posted by LoungeMachine
Iraq says to ask U.N. to end US immunity
Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:07pm ET
By Mariam Karouny

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq will ask the United Nations to end immunity from local law for U.S. troops, the government said on Monday, as the U.S. military named five soldiers charged in a rape-murder case that has outraged Iraqis.



Sounds like a step towards independence to me. Sounds like a step towards getting Iraq to police itself.

If U.S. military personnel have not broken the law then they have nothing to worry about.

Nickdfresh
07-11-2006, 06:01 PM
Fine then, let's leave...

Warham
07-11-2006, 06:03 PM
I don't trust the Iraqis and their court system.

Saddam is still munching away on Doritos in his luxurious jail cell in Baghdad.

Nickdfresh
07-11-2006, 06:06 PM
Well, we did help them design it...

And if the Shia Militiamen would stop killing his lawyers, maybe they could get through the trial...

Warham
07-11-2006, 06:11 PM
Saddam should have tried to make a break for it. Then our troops could have plugged him from behind and this nightmarish scenario would've never happened.