← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Centinel
Thread ID: 14428 | Posts: 3 | Started: 2004-07-04
2004-07-04 19:07 | User Profile
[url]http://asia.news.yahoo.com/040704/afp/040704154700int.html[/url]
Sunday July 4, 11:47 PM
Israel denies claims from US general that interrogators were in Iraq
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel categorically dismissed claims by the US general who used to run the notorious Abu Ghraib prison that any of its interrogators had been in Iraq.
"There is no basis whatsoever to the reports regarding the alleged participation of Israeli investigators in the interrogation of prisoners and/or detainees in Iraq," a statement from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's bureau said Sunday.
"These reports are emphatically denied," it added.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom also dismissed the claims by Brigadier General Janis Karpinski as "completely baseless".
"We are not involved in any way in Iraq. We are not involved in training or in interrogations, or in anything else. The whole claim is preposterous," he told army radio.
Karpinski, who was suspended in May over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the facility just outside Baghdad had told BBC radio that she had met a man who said he was an Israeli interrogator at another US-run detention center.
"I saw an individual there that I hadn't had the opportunity to meet before, and I asked him what did he do there, was he an interpreter? He was clearly from the Middle East," Karpinski said, according to the BBC web site.
"He said, 'Well, I do some of the interrogation here. I speak Arabic but I'm not an Arab; I'm from Israel."
Karpinski has been outspoken in defending her performance in Iraq, charging that she was being made a scapegoat for abuses carried out in a wing of Abu Ghraib under the control of military intelligence.
While Israel was a firm supporter of the US-led invasion of Iraq, the government is aware that its presence there would be highly inflammatory.
A report by US Major General Antonio Taguba into the abuse at Abu Ghraib referred to the activities of two private American contractors at the prison -- interrogator Steven Stefanowicz of CACI International and translator John Israel of Titan Corp.
In his report, Taguba said he suspected that Stephanowicz and Israel were among those who were "either directly or indirectly responsible for the abuses at Abu Ghraib."
The Washington Post on Sunday quoted a top US military official as saying he believed Karpinski's claim of possible involvement by Israeli interrogators at Abu Ghraib was an "urban legend" derived in part by the fact that a contractor had the surname Israel.
"Nothing I have seen indicates we had anyone but government contractors and uniformed soldiers there," the unidentified official told the Post.
2004-07-04 19:49 | User Profile
I am really surprised that everyone is making such a big deal out of this at this time.
Maybe because they, the Israelis, got cough?
About seven months ago, in Rense.com, I read that there were a dozen Israelis "advisors" operating as interrogators in Iraq.
Only thing is that there are many more Jews "advisors'" working with the coalition in Iraq than we are told, not only because they look more like the Iraqis than we do but also because they know the language.
Besides the "advisors" you have also the "business men" that are making a lot of money with the help of the Americans, besides being "business men" they also operate as spy's for the state of Israel.
2004-07-04 22:52 | User Profile
[size=3][font=Times New Roman]This story seems phony to me, if only for the reason that Israel had nothing to gain from sending its Mossad sadists to Abu Ghraib, and immense amount to lose from itââ¬ânamely, that all-too-precious commodity of American public opinion. With due sensitivity to the significance of todayââ¬â¢s date, the American empire has plenty of highly trained (and highly motivated!) interrogators that rival anything Israel could contribute. And furthermore, I am sure it can be agreed on this board that every bit of information pertinent to Israelââ¬â¢s security concerns is already being promptly forwarded to the proper authorities in Israel. [/font][/size]
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[size=3][font=Times New Roman]What is the motive for an Israeli presence in Iraq aside from whatever control they exert through the US military? What possible contribution could a few Israeli interrogators have on the overall intelligence-gathering efforts? [/font][/size]