Middle East News

Iraqi government should probe abuses, US says

Oct 25, 2010, 21:34 GMT

Washington - Investigations into allegations that Iraqi security forces abused or committed crimes against civilians are the responsibility of the Iraqi government, not the United States, the US State Department said Monday.

'If there needs to be an accounting, first and foremost there needs to be an accounting by the Iraqi government itself, and how it has treated its own citizens,' State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said. 'And that, too, is a conversation that we have had and will continue to have with the government of Iraq.'

WikiLeaks, the self-described whistle-blower website, on Friday published nearly 400,000 classified US military documents. Some of them contained information suggesting US forces were aware of the abuse of Iraqi citizens at the hands of Iraqi security forces or police officers.

International demands have since grown for the United States to investigate the cases, but Crowley said the matter is the responsibility of the sovereign Iraqi government. He said US troops notified Iraqi authorities if they witnessed abuse or crimes.

'Our troops are well trained on human-rights issues, and where they have seen issues of concern or outright abuse by any country where we have a partnership, they are required to report that, and they did,' he said.

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