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Sunnis demand probe of torture allegations
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-16 21:51
Many Sunnis suspect Shiites of being allies of Iran.
The U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq issued a report Monday depicting a bleak
picture of the Iraqi legal system.
"Massive security operations by the Iraqi police and Special Forces continue
to disregard instructions announced in August 2005 by the Ministry of the
Interior to safeguard individual guarantees during search and detention
operations," the report said.
In continuing insurgent violence near Baghdad, three U.S. Army soldiers were
killed Tuesday in a roadside bombing near Baghdad, the U.S. command said. A U.S.
Marine was also killed Tuesday when a car bomb exploded near Karmah, 50 miles
west of Baghdad, another statement said.
That brought to at least 2,074 the number of U.S. service members who have
died since the beginning of the war in 2003, according to an Associated Press
count.
Near the Syrian border Tuesday, U.S. and Iraqi forces swept through most of
an insurgent stronghold, encountering pockets of fierce resistance, destroying
five unexploded car bombs and killing at least 30 militants, the U.S. command
reported.
"Intelligence reports indicate that the strong resistance to the Iraqi and
coalition push into the city is due in large part to the fact that insurgents
believe they are trapped and have nowhere else to go," the military said of the
operation.
The U.S.-Iraqi attack on Obeidi was the latest stage of an offensive to clear
al-Qaida-led insurgents from towns and cities in the Euphrates River valley near
the border with Syria and seal off an infiltration route for foreign fighters.
U.S. officials have said the Euphrates Valley campaign is also aimed at
encouraging Sunni Arabs to vote in the parliamentary elections without fear of
insurgent reprisals. The Bush administration hopes a successful election will
encourage many in the Sunni community to abandon the insurgency.
Officials from the European Union on Wednesday ruled out sending an observer
mission to Iraq for the elections because it is too dangerous.
"The Iraqi government has requested the EU provides election monitors. A full
observation mission will not be possible at the moment, but the (EU) Council
will look closely to see what we can do to support the elections," said British
Defense Procurement Minister Lord Bach, whose country holds the rotating EU
presidency. Bach said the EU would support domestic election observers.
"We cannot go to Iraq now. It is too dangerous and our people could not do
their job in a proper way," said EU External Relations Commissioner Benita
Ferrero-Waldner.
Also Tuesday, a Pentagon spokesman acknowledged that U.S. troops used white
phosphorous as a weapon against insurgent strongholds in the battle of Fallujah
a year ago. Lt. Col. Barry Venable denied an Italian TV news report that the
spontaneously flammable material was used against civilians.
Venable said white phosphorous shells are a standard
weapon and are not banned by any international weapons convention to which the
U.S. is a signatory.
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