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Prisoner abuse 'on wider scale', US report says
An official US army overview of the deaths and alleged abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan has revealed a wider scale of mistreatment than has so far come to light, it was reported today.
The New York Times said it had obtained a recent army synopsis of the status of investigations into 36 cases of alleged abuse relating to US units.
The paper reported that the document had been compiled by the US army's criminal investigation command at the request of military officials.
It covers cases at Abu Ghraib prison, near the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, which is at the centre of a scandal over the abuse of detainees by US troops.
However, the synopsis, dated May 5, also details previously unpublicised cases of alleged prisoner mistreatment.
One case cited detailed a prisoner who was in the custody of US navy commandos in Iraq last month, and whose death the document attributed "blunt force trauma to the torso and positional asphyxia". It described the death as a suspected "homicide", or murder.
The document also reportedly details investigations into allegations of prisoner abuse in Samarra, north of Baghdad, last spring, saying that unidentified enlisted personnel "forced into asphyxiations numerous detainees in an attempt to obtain information" over a 10-week period.
Most of the allegations of abuse that have already been reported were claimed to have occurred either as part of interrogations or before them.
The new evidence of prisoner mistreatment is likely to be interpreted by some as adding weight to claims that there has been a pattern to abuse rather than it being, as the White House has insisted, the actions of "a few".
Reports have claimed that torture had been sanctioned by high-ranking army and White House officials, who had taken a harder line on interrogation in the context of the "war on terror".
The New York Times said the army synopsis suggested that the cases of abuse under greatest scrutiny may have taken place in Afghanistan, where two prisoners died during one week in December 2002.
The prisoners died in an area near a US base at Bagram airport, which was being used for interrogations overseen by a platoon from the US army's North Carolina-based 519th Military Intelligence Battalion.
Military intelligence personnel, and an army reserve military police unit from Ohio, were thought to have been "involved at various times in assaulting and mistreating the detainees", according to the document.
US army officials had originally said that at least one of the deaths had been due to natural causes, the Times says.
It adds that the document was apparently put together during the week after reports of abuse at Abu Ghraib first emerged, and may have been a response to the intense scrutiny facing the US military.
The White House is under growing pressure over its handling of the situation in Iraq, partially due to the Abu Ghraib revelations. Seven US soldiers have so far been charged with abusing Iraqi detainees at the jail.
In a speech yesterday, the US president, George Bush, said Abu Ghraib had been a scene of "disgraceful conduct by a few American troops who dishonoured our country and disregarded our values", adding that the building would be demolished.
However, opinion polls following the speech suggested it had not boosted Mr Bush's standing in the polls in the way in which the White House had hoped.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1225108,00.html
The document, dated May 5, is a synopsis prepared by the Criminal Investigation Command at the request of Army officials grappling with intense scrutiny prompted by the circulation the preceding week of photographs of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. It lists the status of investigations into three dozen cases, including the continuing investigation into the notorious abuses at Abu Ghraib.
In one of the oldest cases, involving the death of a prisoner in Afghanistan in December 2002, enlisted personnel from an active-duty military intelligence unit at Fort Bragg, N.C., and an Army Reserve military-police unit from Ohio are believed to have been "involved at various times in assaulting and mistreating the detainee."
The Army summary is consistent with recent public statements by senior military officials, who have said the Army is actively investigating nine suspected homicides of prisoners held by Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan in late 2002.
But the details paint a broad picture of misconduct, and show that in many cases among the 37 prisoners who have died in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army did not conduct autopsies and says it cannot determine the causes of the deaths.
Read More
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/26/politics/26ABUS.html
The paper reported that the document had been compiled by the US army's criminal investigation command at the request of military officials.
It covers cases at Abu Ghraib prison, near the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, which is at the centre of a scandal over the abuse of detainees by US troops.
However, the synopsis, dated May 5, also details previously unpublicised cases of alleged prisoner mistreatment.
One case cited detailed a prisoner who was in the custody of US navy commandos in Iraq last month, and whose death the document attributed "blunt force trauma to the torso and positional asphyxia". It described the death as a suspected "homicide", or murder.
The document also reportedly details investigations into allegations of prisoner abuse in Samarra, north of Baghdad, last spring, saying that unidentified enlisted personnel "forced into asphyxiations numerous detainees in an attempt to obtain information" over a 10-week period.
Most of the allegations of abuse that have already been reported were claimed to have occurred either as part of interrogations or before them.
The new evidence of prisoner mistreatment is likely to be interpreted by some as adding weight to claims that there has been a pattern to abuse rather than it being, as the White House has insisted, the actions of "a few".
Reports have claimed that torture had been sanctioned by high-ranking army and White House officials, who had taken a harder line on interrogation in the context of the "war on terror".
The New York Times said the army synopsis suggested that the cases of abuse under greatest scrutiny may have taken place in Afghanistan, where two prisoners died during one week in December 2002.
The prisoners died in an area near a US base at Bagram airport, which was being used for interrogations overseen by a platoon from the US army's North Carolina-based 519th Military Intelligence Battalion.
Military intelligence personnel, and an army reserve military police unit from Ohio, were thought to have been "involved at various times in assaulting and mistreating the detainees", according to the document.
US army officials had originally said that at least one of the deaths had been due to natural causes, the Times says.
It adds that the document was apparently put together during the week after reports of abuse at Abu Ghraib first emerged, and may have been a response to the intense scrutiny facing the US military.
The White House is under growing pressure over its handling of the situation in Iraq, partially due to the Abu Ghraib revelations. Seven US soldiers have so far been charged with abusing Iraqi detainees at the jail.
In a speech yesterday, the US president, George Bush, said Abu Ghraib had been a scene of "disgraceful conduct by a few American troops who dishonoured our country and disregarded our values", adding that the building would be demolished.
However, opinion polls following the speech suggested it had not boosted Mr Bush's standing in the polls in the way in which the White House had hoped.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1225108,00.html
The document, dated May 5, is a synopsis prepared by the Criminal Investigation Command at the request of Army officials grappling with intense scrutiny prompted by the circulation the preceding week of photographs of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. It lists the status of investigations into three dozen cases, including the continuing investigation into the notorious abuses at Abu Ghraib.
In one of the oldest cases, involving the death of a prisoner in Afghanistan in December 2002, enlisted personnel from an active-duty military intelligence unit at Fort Bragg, N.C., and an Army Reserve military-police unit from Ohio are believed to have been "involved at various times in assaulting and mistreating the detainee."
The Army summary is consistent with recent public statements by senior military officials, who have said the Army is actively investigating nine suspected homicides of prisoners held by Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan in late 2002.
But the details paint a broad picture of misconduct, and show that in many cases among the 37 prisoners who have died in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army did not conduct autopsies and says it cannot determine the causes of the deaths.
Read More
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/26/politics/26ABUS.html
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