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May 07, 2009
The Torture of American Soldiers
The Torture of American Soldiers
By: Jamie Glazov
"Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Dave Gaubatz, the first U.S. civilian (1811) Federal Agent deployed to Iraq in 2003. He is currently the Director of the Mapping Sharia Project and the Owner of DG Counter-terrorism Publishing
FP: Dave Gaubatz, welcome to Frontpage Interview.
There has been an enormous amount of talk about torture of Islamic terrorists who have been captured, specifically since the war in Iraq (2003); what are your thoughts?
Gaubatz: I believe it is time intelligence officers and other agents who were involved in obtaining evidence from terrorists on the ground in Iraq at the start of the war (2003) begin helping one another out and telling it like it was.
In April – July 2003, while in Nasiriyah, Iraq, I had the opportunity to talk with the Director of Saddam’s Nasiriyah Hospital, several doctors, and nurses who actually attended to Private Jessica Lynch when she was a POW. In addition another agent and I had the opportunity to 'interrogate' the Director of the 'Red Crescent' who was located across the road from the hospital. This Director was responsible for the torture and death of American soldiers from the 507th Maintenance Company, Fort Bliss, TX, and many other service members throughout Iraq.
FP: What guidance were you and your team of counter-terrorism officers provided for conducting interviews or interrogations?
Gaubatz: Jamie, it is important to note many of the interrogations our team conducted were not within the safe confines of a ‘friendly’ base or inside a prison. The vast majority of our interrogations were in the field. The only guidance other agents and I had received was the enemy we were fighting were specifically Islamic terrorists (Saddam civilian Fedeyeen and supporters of Al Qaeda); neither who wore military uniforms.
When I was deployed to Iraq, I was an 1811 U.S. Federal Agent. I had been briefed by our government that since I was a civilian, but would have identification indicating I was a Major, be carrying an M16, a 9mm, and other weapons. If the enemy captured me I would be considered a spy under the ‘Geneva Convention’ and would likely be executed. Our government leaders advised me during briefings they would have no legal authority to prevent this. I acknowledged I understood these rights and was willing to take the risks for our country.
These were essentially our rules of engagement in the field as well. If the enemy had no uniform they were not soldiers and were considered terrorists. They had no rights. This did not mean we abused captured enemies, but it does mean we thought we had the support of our government to obtain all and any information that would protect our ‘troops’ and our country. And we did collect an enormous amount of intelligence.
FP: Can you name politicians who were aware of intelligence that was being obtained during interrogations?
Gaubatz: It would be easier to name the ones who were not concerned. In early 2003, Americans fighting in Iraq felt we had the support of all politicians, regardless of political affiliation. We had inquires from politicians of all levels about the intelligence we were collecting. These politicians had constituents who wanted answers on the war and I believe deserved answers. Our teams wrote hundreds of intelligence reports and we briefed many through other electronic means. One such person at the time was then Senator Joe Biden (now VP Biden). I still have my war notes taken from the field, and his name was written in my book on 7 June 2003.
Biden was aware of intelligence we were obtaining from the field, and never did anyone question our methods of obtaining the intelligence. We were professionals and collected intelligence using the best method one could when surrounded by enemies sometimes 6 to our 2.
FP: Can you provide some specific intelligence you were able to obtain during filed interviews and interrogations?
Gaubatz: Yes, it is time American intelligence officers begin bringing forth the truth of the realities of how our brave troops were treated during Operation Iraqi Freedom by the same people who are now being protected and soon to be released by President Obama and with the support VP Biden, who knew the truth about our soldiers being tortured.
Why will he not speak about it? Did Biden know Iranians were entering Iraq and providing sophisticated weapons to Islamic terrorists to kill our brave troops? I am not trying to single out Biden who knew what was going on, but to let the American people understand both Republicans and Democratic leaders were aware of the situation in Iraq.
We were being encouraged by both parties to obtain intelligence to protect our troops and country.
When we went to war in 2003, we were facing an enemy we were not prepared for, and still aren’t. The enemy was not simply the Army of Saddam, but the Islamic terrorists who were residing in Iraq well before 2003. Once we entered Iraq, the Iranians began entering southern Iraq and were paying Islamic suicide bombers to kill Americans. VP Biden and all key government leaders were provided reports of these acts.
Now I watch television daily and hear our liberal leaders whining about Islamic terrorists who may have been ‘slapped’, or put into a box with a caterpillar. None of these liberals were standing up for civilian intelligence officers in 2003 that were being deployed to Iraq with misleading identification and weapons.
When we went to war in 2003, we were facing an enemy we were not prepared for, and still aren’t. The enemy was not simply the Army of Saddam, but the Islamic terrorists who were residing in Iraq well before 2003. Once we entered Iraq, the Iranians began entering southern Iraq and were paying Islamic suicide bombers to kill Americans.
I mentioned in my first question, I had interrogated ‘Enemy Prisoners of War’ (EPWs) in the field during the war. One was the Director of the Red Crescent in Nasiriyah, Iraq.
Below is the reality of what our troops faced and the tortures they endured. We obtained intelligence during interrogations. We subsequently saved lives.
Below is a sampling of the results of the interrogations agents and I obtained: I have the documents, photographs, and contact information of Iraqis and U.S. personnel who were also aware. Anything I write or speak about can be verified. Simply ask VP Biden and our President to release the complete intelligence reports my team and I wrote in 2003.
1. When the members of the 507th were ambushed in Nasiriyah, Iraq, Private Jessica Lynch was initially taken to an Iraqi military base hospital in the Nasiriyah area (not the civilian hospital). Some of the other 507th were killed during the ambush, and others were captured and then murdered.
2. I visited the military hospital Private Lynch was held and it can be best described as 'filth'. Jessica suffered physically and psychologically at this military facility.
3. When our brave troops began bombing this Iraqi base, the Iraqis decided to move Private Lynch to the Nasiriyah civilian hospital. The leaders of the Baath Party were using the basement of the hospital and its many tunnels as sanctuary.
4. Jessica Lynch was drugged, tied up, and placed under the stretcher in a Red Crescent vehicle. The Director of the Red Crescent was a senior member of the Baath Party and was allowing the use of ambulances to transport weapons and Saddam supporters (military and Saddam's civilian Fedeyeen forces) throughout Iraq. Our U.S. military on the ground had been informed the 'Rules of Engagement' did not allow searching mosques, schools, or Red Crescent ambulances. U.S. military personnel died as a result of this.
5. A few days before Private Lynch was rescued, she was placed in Saddam’s civilian hospital.
6. The doctor of Jessica Lynch and a brave Iraqi lady was 'Hameeda'. She is the sister-in-law of my good friend Mohammed Odeh Al Rehaief. Mohammed is the Iraqi lawyer who had provided intelligence to U.S. forces which enabled Jessica to be rescued.
7. Jessica Lynch's hospital bed was located near a window overlooking a soccer field near the grounds of the hospital. She had been forced to watch as some of her team members were tortured, beheaded and buried.
8. One agent and I had interviewed the Saddam Hospital staff and determined the location of the dead Americans who had been killed during the 507th ambush.
9. The Director took us to a position on the soccer field and said the 507th members had been buried in front of the soccer goal posts, so the children would run over their graves while playing soccer. This was to dishonor our ‘troops’.
10. The Director informed us the 507th members had been beheaded and many had been dragged through the streets of Nasiriayh.
11. The night before Jessica Lynch was rescued; the Fedeyeen had threatened to take Jessica Lynch from her hospital bed, use a ‘Red Crescent vehicle, and go into the desert area outside of Nasiriyah. The Fedeyeen were going to bury Jessica alive in the vehicle. The doctor of Jessica was able to talk the Fedeyeen out of removing her this night. The next day our troops rescued her.
12. I wrote numerous intelligence reports pertaining to these tragedies and others. Senator Biden and many others were aware of the tortures our troops underwent, and the ‘interrogation results I and others had conducted on Enemy of Prisoners of War (EPW), and the results.
FP: Can you mention any other intelligence you were able to obtain during interrogations?
Gaubatz: I have hundreds of pages of personal notes, photographs, names, dates, locations, and yes, VP Biden was aware of intelligence we were obtaining from EPWs. He nor any politician ever asked how we were obtaining.
EPWs informed our teams of hidden weapons, the locations of Fedeyeeen forces, the locations and methods of ‘suicide bombers, and the Iranians who were entering southern Iraq to provide specialized weapons to insurgents, and paying Iraqis to conduct ‘suicide bombings against our troops’.
I still have the listing of insurgents, their locations, and the type weapons they had to use against our troops. These notes were written in Arabic, translated into English and then forwarded to all levels of our government.
Our troops knew in 2003 we were facing an ‘evil ideology’ of Islamic terrorists, many died, and many more will likely sacrifice their lives because we have politicians who care more for their careers than they do the security of our nation.
I am releasing several never before seen documents and photographs I obtained while working counter-intelligence/counter-intelligence in 2003. Why? Because the intelligence gathering abilities of our brave officers is being hampered, this translates into our country facing a national security threat from Islamic terrorists. This means our children will become their targets.
I believe it disturbs many Americans and the intelligence officers that now we have liberal Democrats in office who know the truth about the sufferings of our troops, and now stand up for the rights of Islamic terrorists who may have to be pushed around to save our troops. I will not be one responsible for their deaths and the sufferings their parents will go through simply because a politician wants to placate the liberals who care more for Islamic terrorists than they do for their neighbor’s son or daughter fighting for our country.
FP: Final words?
Gaubatz: I have never written or said anything I can’t substantiate under oath when required to do so. Will VP Biden, Pelosi or others do the same under oath? I believe it is time the American public demand they begin answering our questions; with their right hand raised, using a Bible, not the Quran. Thank you.
.
"'TORTURE' REGRETS CHEER OUR ENEMIES"
by Adam Brodsky
(SNIPPETS):
Now the Obama folks will hand out scores of new photos from investigations at US prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan.
They will be again, no doubt, by the hand-wringing and calls for prosecution over tactics described in the memos and whatever is in the new photos.
Consider those tactics: throwing cold water at prisoners, sleep deprivation, slamming them against walls and, of course, waterboarding -- pouring water on a cloth over the prisoner's nose and mouth for no more than 40 seconds.
Will the head-choppers and acid-bathers be deterred by this -- or entertained?
The New York Times describes one technique, "the facial hold," as "essentially what grandma does to a visiting grandchild who misbehaves -- with hands holding the sides of the head as questions are asked."
Huh? Were prisoners supposed to fear being kissed?
Indeed, the photos alone may set off more calls for legal action and inquiries. How high up the chain of command was such behavior condoned?
The left insists that we not stoop to our enemies' level, lest we become no better than them. But that's flawed moral logic. "Harsh" questioning is meant to save lives and protect freedoms; terrorists practice butchery to inflict pain, usurp power and drive innocents into submission.
America will never be in the same moral swamp as terrorists, no matter how "harsh" our interrogations, because our intent is to fight evil, not conduct it. And terrorists forfeit any claim to civilized treatment when they abandon it themselves.
Still, we nonsensically continue to regard them as morally equal. When pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama recently, the ship's crew struck a deal: It would release a pirate it had captured, and the pirates would hand back the ship's captain. The crew then carried out its half of the deal, releasing their prisoner. Guess what? The pirates reneged and kept the captain.
Well, duh. Pirates shouldn't be trusted or accorded the good faith shown others. Nor should terrorists. The Navy sharpshooters who killed three of the brigands displayed the more appropriate response.
Our new enemies require us to adopt new standards. But never for a moment should anyone think such changes compromise our moral standing.
Self-flagellation and restraint won't make us more noble. But they might just make us more . . . dead.
.
Wild Thing's comment.........
There are plenty of articles about how the terrorists have been treated, blogs that cater to the enemy, raise money to send to the enemy as Code Pink did with their check for some $600,000 they delivered to the al quada.Politicians with treason in their very souls siding against our troops by their comments and lies.
There is something that has embedded itself into these people that is so sick, so twisted I don't think anything can change their minds unless it was a lobotomy.
We hear them speak out big time with the help of the media how many have been killed in Iraq, and doing this with full knowledge that the numbers are mostly including the lives of the terrorists that have been killed. But instead of telling the truth they round them all up, terrorists and civilians one and all and throw that number around as FACT of how many lives our troops murdered... yes murdered. That is how they make it seem as they work their propaganda on the dummies watching on TV and nodding oh yessss aren't we just so horrible to kill all those civilians.
Screw That!
Now we are stuck with Obama as he does his unnecessary kind of diplomacy by kissing up to the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan as he tells them please I beg of you, we are so sorry to have killed your civilians and I promise to get to the bottom of who these killers in our military are. This coming from the CIC!
THAT is just not going to cut it with me. Don't mess with our military Hussein!
We have had beheadings, real not imagined torture, cutting up a body so badly it could only be identified by DNA and on and on done to our troops that were kidnapped. There was not one once of outrage about any of that, NONE from the media, nor the politicians.
Only from bloggers that care enough about our military to rant about these nightmares and insanity done to our troops.
This whole thing with the interrogation memos and now the photos to be released, all of it will back fire. I don't care if it backfires on Obama and his ilk it should. BUT what I am concerned about it that it will hurt our troops. They are the ones out there, they are the ones in danger. And they are the ones Obama is sticking a knife into their hearts and souls and morale.
Our troops are warriors, American Heroes all of them and they deserve better!!!
Posted by Wild Thing at May 7, 2009 06:48 AM
Comments
And the bleeding hearts complain about water boarding? Excuse me? All those soldiers who suffered so many indignities at the hands of the terrorists and all those who died needlessly due to those damn planes deserve so much better! Waterboarding is a cake walk in comparision. Why was it okay for our kids to be treated so badly but we can't touch one little hair on little Abdul's head? Someone has their morals screwed up and it ain't me.
Posted by: Lynn at May 7, 2009 08:19 AM
Saw on the news last night where Taliban killers gouged out the eyes of Pakistani police who were suspected of spying. Murdered them afterward, of course. I remember the images of dead Americans dragged through the streets and hung from bridges...plenty of outrage from the country then. What's happened? The Obamaists and their pals in the news have flooded us with a sense of guilt for all the "nasty" stuff we've done to the world. Used our self-image of being the "Good Guys" against us by revealing all the terrible things that go on without our knowledge as civilians. See, ain't we bad? BULLSHIT. Obama is a traitor. He is supporting our enemies by making us weak and vulnerable. This is a time of WAR...the diplomacy of appeasement will only strengthen our enemies' resolve that now is the time to strike. Bah!! Impeach the bastard!
Posted by: PeteSuj at May 7, 2009 09:55 AM
The Commie lovers of the world and the United States have always and still do paint an ugly picture of the United States Military. They give a blanket pass to the Communists and Islamist who torture, then butcher their captives. War is the ugliest thing I've ever seen, being a supposedly non-combatant I have witnessed Communist atrocities the media would like to conveniently blame on our troops but being there at the time there was no mistaking their handy work. We are trained to respect life and avoid civilian casualties, to obey the rules and treat our captives with human dignity. Once engaged in a firefight or attack the rules change dramatically and it boils down to survival. God help the US serviceman who was captured and left as an example to the rest of us. I don't want to dwell there. But when you find three of your fellow countrymen hacked to bits in a bunker after a ground attack you become hardened, that is only one instance. Don't preach to me about collateral damage or treating these beasts with kid gloves or with some special rules of engagement, if they are in the battle field supporting and harboring the combatants, kill them all and let God sort it out. That 7 or 8 year old kid hanging around can kill you as certainly as that 20 year old, they have no rules.
Posted by: Jack at May 7, 2009 11:03 AM
From what Gaubatz describes is torture of our troops. We all have suspected it and believed it to be true. But none of this ever make the papers or the local news at 6 pm. I vaguely remember some reference, I think, of the troops who were tortured and buried in the soccer field. It was never pursued by the press or Congress or the democrats who always 'look out for the little guy' or anybody else.
It seems that Abu Ghrab came to light just after the Jessica Lynch rescue and then the dems jumped all over this to demean and destroy the troops character.
They all knew about the torture of our troops but never said aa word instead they maligned and berated our troops calling them Nazi's. Not only that they did it on National Television.
This what makes this so unacceptable they knew about this and said nothing yet did a complete 180 and attacked their own troops, all for political gain. The democrats are despicable.
Treason is right. They should all be hanged and Murtha then Durbin should be numbers 1 and 2 up the 13 steps.
Posted by: Mark at May 7, 2009 11:07 AM
We haven't fought a war to win since WWII. Even the First Gulf War was ended too soon so we wouldn't harm any more enemy.
Our government lies. Directly and by omission. Omission of the facts such as what happened to the troops of the 507th after they were captured.
The media lies. Also by omission and by being bias. They played on the Abu Ghraib story for a year. Yet they covered the story of the murders and mutilations of three POWs from the 10th Moutain Division for only a couple of days. Now they treat the teasing by caterpillar of the 9-11 planner as a major war crime.
America is not going to win this war. It is another no-win war. We will win battles, maybe even a front. But we are self defeating. Our leaders are corrupt and our media is anti American.
Supposedly we are at war, yet we allow immigration into America of large numbers of the enemy peoples we are battling. The home front is the war we will lose. Due to treasonous acts, we are losing the propaganda front and the political front. Too many Americans seemed to have forgotten what happened on 9-11.
It may be the only hope we have is the Americans who still remember 9-11 everyday. You know, the ones with the bibles and guns. The ones who know the difference between torture and teasing.
Posted by: TomR at May 7, 2009 12:21 PM
I will say it again although I've said it numerous times, O'Vomit is a traitor and being a traitor during a war is punishable by the death sentence. He is also guilty of providing comfort to the enemy and passing along "SECRET" materials. Uh, hanging or firing squad comes to mind but this maggot deserves ...........
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Posted by: cuchieddie (DHS suspected terrorist)) at May 7, 2009 05:17 PM
Lynn, your right, it is totally mixed up,
upside down and insane as well. They want
to totally ignore what has been done to our
troops.
Posted by: Wild Thing at May 7, 2009 11:43 PM
PeteSuj, thanks for telling about what
happened to the Pakistani police. Also
I am glad you mentioned when the dead
Americans dragged through the streets
and hung from bridges. Yes there was
outrage back then, I think the years of
the hate Bush syndrome has sent them into
some kind of total propaganda machine and
they have lost all reality of whose side
they should be on. I might be wrong but
I can't figure out why they don't care
now.
Posted by: Wild Thing at May 7, 2009 11:47 PM
Jack, AMEN, I heard a lot of stories of
how children and women too were not to be
trusted in war. They had grenades and weapons
hiden and knew how our American soldiers
would possibly hold back even for a second
and give them the enemy a chance to kill
them ( our soldiers).
Posted by: Wild Thing at May 7, 2009 11:50 PM
Mark, yes that is exactly what they did. It
is unforgivable.
Posted by: Wild Thing at May 7, 2009 11:53 PM
Tom, great run down of all of it. Thank you
Tom. All of that is so true.
Posted by: Wild Thing at May 7, 2009 11:59 PM
