The Abu Ghraib courts-martial of three U.S. soldiers is being moved from Iraq to Fort Hood, Texas. The first court-martial is for Spc. Charles Graner and is scheduled to begin Jan. 7, 2005. Sgt. Javal Davis and Spc. Sabrina Harman will also to be tried at Fort Hood. Graner’s lawyer has said the Garner and other military police officers were following orders from military intelligence officials and civilian contractors.

Looking back over the last fourteen years of US action in Iraq, we see that the US has effectively imprisoned the entire country, stripped its citizens of their dignity, their wealth, their health and education, and subjected them to a campaign of ongoing terror, without appeal and apparently without end.

The systemic abuse in the prison system is not only more evidence of what the cult of militarism does, but also as further proof that our government has brought upon the Iraqi people exactly what it has claimed to be liberating them from - terror, insecurity, tyranny. This is a fundamental betrayal of staggering magnitude, a betrayal not only of US trust and security - for surely we are ever more clearly and powerfully focused in the sights of people who would avenge themselves violently against the US - but also a betrayal of the Iraqi nation. Its citizens have been treated, not as people with an inalienable right to self-determination, but as objects in a high-stakes political and economic ruse.

Recently Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) has Updated their Iraqi Detainee Website. CPT Iraq has done a thorough job of rechecking with the detainees listed on their detainee files. Some have been released and shared devastating testimony of their detention experience. We encourage new people to join the campaign on behalf of Iraqi detainees, and those already involved to re-energize their efforts.

New and updated information is now available on the site.

• New testimonies of released detainees
• International law resources
• Contacts for US government representatives in Iraq
• Sample letters
• Reports
• New photo albums
• Links

The US assault on Fallujah will add new detainees to an occupation list that already exceeds six to eight thousand. Our sources indicate that house raids and arrests continue across the country, also adding to the detainee population. The goal of the US invasion, at one point, was to remove the horrors of Sadaam Hussein. Those included killing of and denial of human rights to Iraqi citizens. Now those horrors are perpetrated by the United States presence in Iraq. Your vigilant attention and action can be part of the process that corrects this ongoing injustice.

US news indicates that the legal system is beginning to correct some of the most blatant injustices of the Guantanamo Bay detentions, but the situation in Iraq is beyond the reach of the US courts. CPT Iraq asks you to join in this effort to expose and change this situation.

Visit the IPT website for more information.