More evidence emerges of torture by Spanish troops in Iraq
By
Alejandro López
28 March 2013
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/03/28/spai-m28.html
A video posted by the daily El
País provides more
evidence of the involvement of Spanish troops in torture and mistreatment of
detainees during the Iraq war. It shows soldiers beating up two men in the
detention centre in Al Diwaniyah in 2004, shortly before the newly elected
Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) government pulled out of Iraq that year.
Five
soldiers are shown entering a cell and shouting, “Get up, get up” in Spanish.
When the men don’t move, in all probability because they have no knowledge of
Spanish, three soldiers begin kicking and insulting them while two others
observe from the door. One of the Spanish soldiers can be heard saying off
camera: “Wow! They have killed that one already”, whilst the other laughs at
his companion’s joke. The men on the floor can be heard gasping, coughing and
moaning.
Spanish
troops were deployed in Iraq in August 2003 as part of the US-led coalition
forces that former Prime Minister José Maria Aznar agreed with US President
George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Spain also was given the
command of troops from Honduras, El Salvador, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.
A total of 1,300 troops were deployed in Najaf, south of
Baghdad, one of the holiest cities in Iraq and a pilgrimage centre for the
world’s Shi’ite faithful. Some idea of the mind-set drummed into the troops was
indicated by the use of a new arm badge incorporating the Cross of St. James of
Compostela—a symbol of the liquidation of the Muslims who were driven out of
Spain after centuries of fighting in 1492. This was also the start of the
period of colonialist expansion by Spain’s Catholic monarchy.
Even the centre-right newspaper El
Mundo was forced to
remark, “To put the Cross of St. James of Compostela on the uniforms of Spanish
soldiers demonstrates an absolute ignorance of the psychology of the society in
which they will have to carry out their mission”. And it added, “It would be
difficult to come up with any symbol more offensive to the Shiite population
than this cross”.
The Ministry of Defence has admitted the authenticity of the
video and that, “In accordance with the instructions of Defence Minister Pedro
Morenés, the army has placed in the hands of a military judge in Madrid the
first conclusions of a summary of information in relation to a video recently
published regarding a case of alleged mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by
Spanish soldiers”.
Nevertheless, the essential purpose of this investigation will
be to whitewash the role of top policy-makers in encouraging and sanctioning
the use of torture. This was not the first time torture was used on detainees
by Spanish soldiers and nothing has happened to the perpetrators.
According to the Spanish journalist Olga Rodriguéz, “[In]
Diwaniya, in 2004, it was not difficult to find local people who knew that
Spanish troops mistreated prisoners. ‘It is an open secret’ said an Iraqi whom
I had known for some time”.
In March 2004, US troops detained Flayeh al Mayali, an Iraqi
translator who helped journalists and the Spanish intelligence service CNI,
accusing him of helping insurgent forces murder seven CNI agents in Iraq.
Mayali spent four days in Spanish custody where he says he was hooded, tied up
and beaten and deprived of sleep. He then spent a year in the detention camp at
Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca, after which he was released without charge. No
investigation took place. Even National Court Judge Fernando Andreu, who opened
an inquiry into the deaths of the agents, was not informed of Mayali’s
detention.
In another instance, a Spanish intelligence officer admitted
that the Spanish army used US “enhanced interrogation” methods that included
prolonged stress positions, exposure to harsh elements, waterboarding and other
examples of physical and mental torture. The officer claimed, “we Spanish do
not torture or humiliate, but we put pressure. We follow the North American
operating manual: we placed sandbags on the heads of those who did not
collaborate to make them lose their sense of direction. For the more stubborn
we would put on a heavy metal Metallica CD [...]. We also injected a syringe
with liquid up their noses, it does no permanent damage and leaves no marks,
but [the victim] spends ten minutes squealing like a pig”.
