Early voting begins in Iraq’s hospitals, prisons
12 December 2005 Associated Press
Iraq’s election commission said Sunday it was investigating a fivefold increase in the number of new voters in Kirkuk “that is difficult to explain.” Kurds want to incorporate the oil-rich northern city into their self-ruled region, an idea strongly rejected by the two other ethnic groups in the city, the Arabs and the Turkomen.
[…]
On Tuesday, the estimated 1.5 million Iraqi voters living outside the country can begin casting their ballots at polling centers in 15 countries, including the United States, Canada and Australia. That voting also ends Thursday evening in each of those countries.
Suspected insurgents held in U.S. or Iraqi detention but who have not been convicted of an offense, are eligible to vote, Iraqi officials said. Saddam — who is jailed and facing trial for the deaths of more than 140 Shiites in 1982 — also has the right to vote but it was not known whether he would.
Abuse cited in 2nd Iraq ministry facility
Officials say 12 prisoners subjected to ‘severe torture’
By Ellen Knickmeyer
11 December 2005 Washington Post
An Iraqi government search of a detention center in Baghdad operated by Interior Ministry special commandos found 13 prisoners who had suffered abuse serious enough to require medical treatment, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Sunday night.
An Iraqi official with firsthand knowledge of the search said that at least 12 of the 13 prisoners had been subjected to “severe torture,” including sessions of electric shock and episodes that left them with broken bones.
“Two of them showed me their nails, and they were gone,” the official said on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.
[…]
Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari, under heavy pressure from Khalilzad and Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top U.S. commander in Iraq, ordered a nationwide investigation of detention centers after that discovery. The prison investigated Thursday was the first center examined as part of the government-ordered inquiry.
Lt. Col. Guy Rudisill, a spokesman for U.S. military detention issues, said American authorities had already been aware that the prison searched Thursday existed. U.S. forces had not known about the previous facility.
The United States invaded Iraq so the corrupt may be legitimised and the tortured can vote?