Welcome to the chambers of death

By Jamal Mudhafar

Azzaman, November 20, 2005

The U.S.-led occupation, that was forecast to end dictatorship and introduce democracy, seems to have been a harbinger of more violence, more oppression and more killings.

Terrorist attacks are surging and suicide bombers mushrooming. And there seems to be no end to abuses and atrocities whether by U.S. troops, government security forces or the secretive and fearful militias.

In the aftermath of U.S. occupation, there is no Iraqi family or home without a tragic story to tell or a calamity to moan.

Acts of violence and terror taking place in Iraq are unprecedented in their horror and barbarism.

These are perhaps the ugliest crimes and most appalling human rights violations in the history of mankind.

Not every thing reaches the outside world. Even international media representatives based in Iraq are not aware of them as they, for security reasons, spend their reporting stints in fortified hideouts in Baghdad.

Horrendous crimes are being committed in Iraq in addition to major bombings the terrorist launch to attract international media attention.

Mass killings and liquidations have become the norm with kidnapping a way of life and identity card murder a daily practice.

Mutilated bodies thrown on roadsides and garbage dumps have become a common sight. Amid the gloom and uncertainty about the future, reports surface of prisoner abuses and squandering of millions of dollars by government ministries.

Death counts have lost their significance in Iraq with fatal incidents, bombings and trigger-happy militia gangs killing hundreds and even thousands very week.

In the midst of this horror, assassinations of Iraqi professionals, former army officers, Baathists, clerics and Iraqis of note continue with impunity.

Some Iraqis may understand that it is beyond the power of the government and the mighty U.S. army to put an end to the insurgency.

But they cannot understand why atrocities like those of Abu Ghraib and most recently those of the secret jail run by the Interior Ministry could happen.

They cannot understand why Iraqi and U.S. forces cannot put an end to the abduction of innocent people and the assassination of university professors, medical doctors and other professionals.

Every now and then the government sets up an investigation committee to look into incidents like these but to no avail.

We know that these committees are formed but we are never told about their outcome.

So the killers, the torturers, the kidnappers, the corrupt officials, the liars and the cheats are free. We the innocent people have become their prisoners.

This is exactly the reality of the current situation in our country, the ominous harbinger of even much worse to come.

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