AL NASSER TO SPEAK IN LA MESA WEDNESDAY ON IRAQ WAR ISSUES

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Dr. Farouk Al Nasser, an Iraq native and U.S. citizen, will speak on conditions in Iraq at the La Mesa Community Center on Wednesday, June 3rd. “Dr. Nasser will help us understand the situation on the ground in Iraq; he is in contact with his extended family of more than 400 living in Iraq,” said Linda Armacost, president of the La Mesa-Foothills Democratic Club, host of the meeting, which is open to people in all political parties. Nasser will provide information and perspectives on the Iraq War not found in the mainstream U.S. media, she added. Armacost offered insights into a recent decision by Barack Obama not to release additional photos of prisoner abuse in Iraq from 2001 to 2005.

“President Barack Obama's apparent reversal of his commitment to release photos of Bush-era torture was driven by a bone-chilling assessment of what might happen, delivered by none other than Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Malik,” Armacost said, citing a McClatchy Newspapers report. That report stated that when Malik was told by U.S. ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill that new photos of suspected detainee abuse were about to be released in response to an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit, “"he went pale in the face," according to a U.S. military official who requested anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity. According to McClatchy, the official said “Maliki warned that releasing the photos would lead to more violence that could delay the scheduled U.S. withdrawal from cities by June 30…The public outrage and increase in violence could lead Iraqis to demand a referendum on the security agreement and refuse to permit U.S. forces to stay until the end of 2011.”

 

The report cites a second unnamed official, who told McClarthy, “Maliki made an ominous prediction that ‘Baghdad will burn.’” If the new photos are released. Unreleased Abu Ghraib abuse photos reportedly depict scenes of rape, sodomy and sexual abuse, according to statements made to The Telegraph by former army officer, Major General Antonio Taguba.

 

Taguba, a respected officer, was brought in to conduct an internal investigation into the abuses committed by American soldiers against detainees at Abu Ghraib and issued a report critical of the Bush administration’s use of enhanced interrogation techniques, dubbed the Taguba Report, which was leaked and published in 2004. Taguba was forced to resign from the Bush administration in 2007. In his interview with The Telegraph, he supported President Obama’s decision not to release the additional photos of abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan prisons, including Abu Ghraib, because the images would inflame the Muslim world further and place American troops in danger.

 

Former Vice President Dick Cheney and other Bush administration officials have defended the use of enhanced interrogation techniques to obtain information from suspected terrorists and deny that torture was committed. Al Nasser will speak at 7 p.m.; socializing and refreshments will begin at 6:30 p.m. The La Mesa Community Center is located at 4975 Memorial Drive in La Mesa. Admission is free to the public.


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