September 28, 2005
Female Face of Abu Ghraib Scandal Sentenced to 3 Years
Following Monday's conviction of Pfc. Lynndie R. England - who was found guilty on six out of seven counts of conspiracy and maltreatment of prisoners - the Army reservist was sentenced to three years in prison for her role in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, and was given a dishonorable discharge, The Washington Post reports.
Pvt. England became the so-called "face of the Abu Ghraib scandal," posing alongside naked and shackled prisoners, and smirking in the now infamous "leash photograph."
As The Post reports, England apologized to the court.
"After the photos were released, I've heard that attacks were made on U.S. armed forces because of them. I apologize to coalition forces and all the families."
England also apologized to "detainees, the families, America and all the soldiers."
While the Pentagon has remained steadfast in its position that the abuses carried out in the U.S.-run prison facility in Iraq were an aberration - attributed to a few bad apples - England's defense averred their client was made a scapegoat for the Army's broader policies of abuse for intelligence-gathering purposes. England's attorneys characterized her as young and impressionable, as the 22 year-old claimed she was used by her former lover, reputed ringleader of the abuse scandal, Corp. Charles A. Graner.
Back in January, Graner - the father of England's infant son - received a 10 year sentence for his role.
England�s trial was the last of 9 courts-martial or plea-deals of reservists charged in the prisoner abuse scandal that broke in 2003.
January 16, 2005
Abu Ghraib’s Graner Sentenced to 10 Years for Prisoner Abuses
In addition to a dishonorable discharge from the army, Reuters reports Specialist Charles A. Graner Jr. was sentenced yesterday to 10 years behind bars for his involvement in the detainee abuse scandal at the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison facility in Iraq.
While Graner claimed he was carrying out orders, and that he complained to superiors about the treatment he claims he was forced to mete out to detainees, he nevertheless admitted, “I didn’t enjoy anything I did there. A lot of it was wrong, a lot of it was criminal.”
January 15, 2005
Abu Ghraib “Ringleader” Convicted of Prisoner Abuses
Following a 4½ day trial in Fort Hood, Texas, the reputed “ringleader” of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal was found guilty on all charges.
Within 5 hours of deliberation, the 10-member military jury convicted Army Reserve Specialist Charles A. Graner Jr. on charges including conspiracy, dereliction of duty, maltreatment of prisoners, aggravated assault and indecent acts at the U.S.-run prison west of Baghdad, the Los Angeles Times reports.
For his actions Graner - a former corrections officer - faces a possible 15-year prison sentence.
It was the first court-martial resulting from the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal that embarrassed the nation, incited international outrage and drew the ire of the Arab world. As The New York Times points out, the verdict was returned a year to the day after the Pentagon began its investigation into the scandal. Thousands of damning photographs captured on a CD-ROM documenting the abuses prompted the military investigations, subsequently alerting the world last spring of the abuse.
As the LA Times explains, the abuses occurred from October to December 2003, as U.S.-led forces in Iraq were gathering intelligence in hope of averting the rising insurgency and finding Saddam Hussein. Against this backdrop, Graner’s attorneys argued that their client and his fellow military police were subject to extreme pressure from intelligence agents to employ physical violence to prepare detainees for questioning.
His civilian lawyer rationalized, “And the more aggressive you are, the better intelligence results you get.”
Despite arguments that Graner and his fellow MPs were the proverbial “fall guys” for their superior officers - with culpability ostensibly ascending the Defense Department’s chain of command - witnesses for the defense testified there had in fact, been no orders for the behavior depicted in the photographs. Such admission buttresses both the Bush Administration’s and the Pentagon’s contention that prisoner abuse was neither ordered nor condoned; rather than being endemic prisoner abuses were attributable to the actions of a handful of rogue soldiers, a few “bad apples.”
As the Washington Post reports, Graner had been a corporal but has since been demoted to the rank of specialist. To date, no officer at Abu Ghraib faces criminal charges.
Among the evidence introduced by the prosecution were previously unreleased emails sent to friends and family in which Graner appeared to pride himself on his brutal treatment of inmates.
The prosecution averred Graner’s actions were unjustified, that they were “for sport, for laughs.”
In total, seven soldiers have been charged in the scandal - three have pleaded guilty, three face court-martial. Sergeant Ivan Frederick was given a dishonorable discharge and sentenced to 8 years in prison. Private Lynndie R. England, who is also pictured in the sadistic photographs, infamously smiling and giving a thumbs-up in front of naked, hooded prisoners, is said to be Graner’s girlfriend.
While he chose not to testify on his behalf, Graner plans to address the jury during the sentencing phase, scheduled to begin later today.
November 03, 2004
3rd US Soldier Pleads Guilty in Abu Ghraib Abuse Scandal
At a summary court-martial in Iraq to reduced charges of dereliction of duty for failing to prevent or report the maltreatment, Army Specialist Megan Ambuhl, 30, pleaded guilty to one count of dereliction of duty in connection with the Abu Ghraib Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal, Reuters reports. The deal with prosecutors spared the reservist prison time.
As The New York Times reports, Ambuhl maintained she was primarily “a bystander,” and that the notorious prisoner abuses were carried out by other military guards in her unit.
Ambuhl - who is not pictured in the disturbing photos that alerted the world to the prisoner abuses at the U.S. run detention facility in Iraq - is one of two females charged in the abuses, and the third of seven Army reservists from the Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company to plead guilty to prisoner abuse charges. Two other soldiers from Ambuhl’s reserve unit - Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick and Spec. Jeremy Sivits - previously plead guilty. Frederick was sentenced to eight years in prison after he pleaded guilty to five charges that included assault, committing an indecent act and dereliction of duty. Sivits was sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to maltreating a detainee, conspiracy to maltreat and dereliction of duty.
As The Times reports, Ambuhl was convicted of having “willfully failed to protect Iraqi detainees from abuse, cruelty and maltreatment,” for which she received a reduction in rank to private, and was ordered to forfeit half a month’s pay. Under an agreement with prosecutors, initial charges of conspiracy, maltreatment of detainees and indecent acts were dropped. Ambuhl had faced up to 7-1/2 years in prison if convicted.
October 30, 2004
SEAL Testifies, Admits Role in Abu Ghraib Abuse
As the Associated Press reports, during a military court pre-trial hearing for a member of his Navy Sea-Air-Land (SEAL) unit SEAL Team-7, a Navy commando testified that he and members of his unit were complicit in the mistreatment of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison facility in Iraq, beating a hooded and bound Iraqi prisoner captured during a nighttime raid with the intent to “instill fear.”
The detainee was found dead in the shower a short time after.
Following an Army investigation led by Major General George Fay, the deceased detainee was later identified as Manadel al-Jamadi, a suspect in the bombing of the Baghdad headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The incident drew vast media attention as a human rights outrage, as photographs circulated of the deceased al-Jamadi wrapped in plastic, packed in ice, with blood over his temple and his eyes covered with tape. As it was later discovered, al-Jamadi was a so-called “ghost detainee” - questioned by the C.I.A. but with no notification given to their families, nor access to the Red Cross, nor oversight of any sort of their treatment. Such tactics contravene the Geneva Conventions, which require the Red Cross to have access to all detainees, and that information on those detained be provided to their relatives. Likewise, as international human rights law dictates, detainees must be capable of communicating with attorneys as well as their families.
Testifying under a grant of immunity, the surprise witness was identified only by his rank as a hospital corpsman.
The corpsman said the incident occurred following a November 2003 mission whereby the bombing suspect was captured following a fierce hand-to-hand struggle with the accused SEAL.
Upon subduing al-Jamadi, cuffing him and placing a sandbag on his head, the corpsman said he witnessed the defendant and another SEAL “body slam” al-Jamadi, later witnessing the defendant striking him with the muzzle of his weapon.
The witness said the force was excessive and the detainee did not pose a threat.
He later identified the accused SEAL in one of a series of photographs taken of al-Jamadi with the defendant’s camera. The corpsman likewise identified himself in one of the photos, holding a loaded gun to al-Jamadi’s head.
Neither charges of manslaughter nor murder have been brought against the SEALs in connection with al-Jamadi’s death, although an autopsy concluded the cause of death was attributed to a blood clot in the brain, which an Army report says was probably caused by injuries sustained during his capture. As The New York Times reports, a lawyer for one of the accused commandos said forensic pathologists who reviewed the autopsy report concluded that al-Jamadi’s death was not caused by trauma from a blow to the head.
If charged the defendant - who received the Purple Heart for suffering wounds in Iraq - faces up to 11 years in prison.
In a disciplinary proceeding known as a “captain’s mast,” the corpsman - who for his testimony reached a plea deal that spared him prison time - pleaded guilty to abusing prisoners and disobeying orders. For his role, he will receive 45 days restriction to base, 45 days extra duty, and a reduction in rank.
In total, seven commandos were accused of mistreating prisoners between October 2003 and April 2004 at the Abu Ghraib facility. Whereas the commandos accused were part of an elite group of special operations forces and Central Intelligence Agency operatives hunting insurgents in Iraq, none have been publicly identified.
October 28, 2004
Rights Group: Torture Conditions Persist, Independent Probe Needed to End Abuses
Six months after the world was alerted to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, Amnesty International contends conditions for torture persist in U.S. policy for overseas detentions. On Wednesday, the human rights organization renewed its plea for a comprehensive, independent investigation into “all aspects of the USA’s ‘war on terror’ detentions,” urging an end to the torture of detainees in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
In a 200-page report entitled Human Dignity Denied. Torture and Accountability in the ‘War on Terror,' Amnesty International called for "an independent commission of inquiry into all the (U.S.) interrogation and detention policies.”
“Many questions remain unanswered, responsible individuals are beyond the scope of investigation, policies that facilitate torture remain in place, and prisoners continue to be held in secret detention,” said Dr. William F. Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. “The failure to substantially change policy and practice after the scandal of Abu Ghraib leaves the US government completely lacking in credibility when it asserts its opposition to torture.”
The report delineates patterns of human rights violations that took place in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay. A 12-Point Program forms the basis of the report, reflecting Amnesty International’s key findings on how best to prevent torture. Corresponding with each of the 12 Points, the report illustrates how the U.S. failed to meet basic human rights safeguards under the pretext of ensuring national security, ostensibly contributing to an environment conducive to torture and inhuman or degrading treatment. The report cites in excess of 65 specific recommendations, among which is a plea for President Bush “to make public and revoke any measures or directives that have been authorized by him or any other official that could be interpreted as authorizing 'disappearances,' torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, or extrajudicial executions.”
A week before the presidential elections, UPI reports, Amnesty International criticized the candidates for sidestepping the issue during the campaign, urging them to commit to ending such treatment of detainees.
“In their presidential debates, President Bush and Senator Kerry failed to address the U.S.A.’s treatment of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo and in secret locations elsewhere...Each candidate should now promise that, if elected, he will take prompt action to address this issue head on.”
October 23, 2004
Soldier Sentenced for Abu Ghraib Abuse
Army New Service reports Army reservist Staff Sgt. Ivan L. Frederick II, 38, was sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty on eight specifications involving mistreatment of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison facility in Iraq. Frederick’s sentence is the harshest to be handed down thus far in the Abu Ghraib abuse hearings.
Frederick - a member of the 372nd Military Police Company, who as a civilian also worked as a corrections officer - will also receive a dishonorable discharge and a reduction in rank to private. Six other military policemen have been charged along with Frederick, the most senior of those charged.
As the New York Times reports, Frederick pleaded guilty to eight counts of abusing detainees, describing in graphic detail how he had forced prisoners to masturbate, punched a hooded prisoner, and attached wires to another standing on a box who was made to believe he would be electrocuted if he fell off.
Frederick was found guilty of conspiracy to maltreat detainees, dereliction of duty for failure to protect detainees from maltreatment, assaulting a detainee and committing an indecent act.
As quoted by Army New Service, Frederick said he received little guidance from his brigade and battalion commanders, offering "I didn't think anybody cared about what we did."
"I just didn't have the courage to stop it…I knew what was going on was wrong. I knew my duty was to report it, but I chose not to."
September 13, 2004
Latest Hersh Book Alleges Administration Knew of Detainee Abuses
The New York Times reports that in his latest book "Chain of Command: The Road From 9/11 to Abu Ghraib" (HarperCollins), author and investigative journalist Seymour Hersh asserts that senior White House officials failed to heed repeated warnings of detainee abuse at U.S.-run detention facilities in Iraq and Cuba.
Specifically, Hersh writes that a C.I.A. analyst who visited Guantanamo in 2002 filed a report documenting abuses, drawing the attention of a deputy to National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. In a Chapter Excerpt posted to the publisher’s website, Hersh explains that upon receipt of the "devastating findings" Dr. Rice’s deputy, retired four-star General John A. Gordon
"…was deeply troubled and distressed by the analyst's report, and by its implications for the treatment, in retaliation, of captured American soldiers. Gordon, according to a former Administration official, told colleagues that he thought "it was totally out of character with the American value system," and "that if the actions at Guantánamo ever became public, it'd be damaging to the President." The issue was not only direct torture, but the Administration's obligations under federal law and under the United Nations Convention Against Torture, ratified by the United States in 1994, that barred torture as well as other "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." The C.I.A. analyst's report, in Gordon's view, provided clear evidence of degrading treatment. Things in Cuba were getting out of control."
Yet as The Times article reports, Hersh’s book contends that once the matter was brought to the National Security Advisor's attention, and it was discussed with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, “no significant change resulted.”
In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Dr. Rice denied Hersh’s allegations, averring
“In the fall of 2002, we were made aware that there were some concerns that people might have been held at Guantanamo who didn’t meet the definition of unlawful combatant. There were also early on some concerns about conditions of overcrowding. But nothing that suggested, to my recollection, that there were abuses, anything -- abuses going on at Guantanamo, and certainly nothing that would suggest the kind of thing that went on in Abu Ghraib. What we did when we learned that there might be people who were being held there who didn’t meet the standard is that we went back, we looked at the cases, we put together a process to try and make sure that the right people were being held. So we have worked hard on Guantanamo to improve conditions there, to make sure that the right people are being held. But no, I do not recall being told of anything concerning prisoner abuse.”
Hersh - who won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting of Vietnam’s My Lai massacre - authored a series of exposes for The New Yorker including “Torture at Abu Ghraib” , "Chain of Command" and “The Gray Zone,” describing in vivid detail the abuse of Iraqi detainees by U.S. Military Police at Abu Ghraib. He accuses the Pentagon of implementing a “secret system” to seize and interrogate terrorist leaders. Such furtive system of detention and interrogation Hersh claims, paved the way for prisoner abuses.
In anticipation of Hersh's latest book - released today - the Defense Department issued a statement decrying the “numerous unsubstantiated allegations and inaccuracies which he has made in the past based upon unnamed sources.“ The Pentagon then added “If any of Mr. Hersh’s anonymous sources wish to come forward and offer evidence to the contrary, the department welcomes them to do so.”
September 11, 2004
2nd U.S. Soldier Convicted in Abu Ghraib Abuse Scandal
Reuters reports the first military intelligence soldier to stand trial for participation in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal pleaded guilty to charges of maltreatment and conspiracy to maltreat detainees. He was sentenced to eight months in jail, demoted, and given a dishonorable discharge.
U.S. Army specialist Armin Cruz, 24, of Plano, Texas was assigned to the 325th Military Intelligence battalion at the U.S.-run detention facility in Iraq. The prosecution alleged the intelligence analyst forced naked prisoners to crawl along the floor and then handcuffed the prisoners together.
In May, Army reservist Jeremy C. Sivits plead guilty to four counts of abuse. He was sentenced to a year in prison, and also given a reduction in rank and dishonorable discharge.
As CNN reports, Cruz was named in the recently released Pentagon-led Fay-Jones Commission Report which concluded 2 dozen military personnel either requested, encouraged, condoned, solicited or participated in detainee abuse, or violated established interrogation procedures and applicable laws and regulations for interrogation operations. Additionally, Cruz was identified by a witness during a previous investigation as having taken part in the mistreatment of three prisoners.
Elsewhere CNN reports Cruz entered into a plea bargain, agreeing to testify for the prosecution against at least four or five others in exchange for immunity from his testimony.
Cruz’s attorney issued a statement saying his client was “extremely remorseful ... and he apologizes to the people of Iraq.”
Cruz is the eighth person to be indicted in the abuse scandal, which surfaced in April. Six other enlisted soldiers from the 372nd Military Police Company, an Army Reserve unit based in Cresaptown, Maryland face charges in the scandal, the AP reports.
August 25, 2004
Fay-Jones Commission Report: Failure of Management - Not Policy - Led to Abu Ghraib Abuses
The findings of the Schlesinger report released yesterday identify leadership failures at the top levels of the Pentagon - beginning with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and top brass, descending down the chain of command to officers at the prisons where detainee abuses were carried out - contending such failures fostered the frenetic environment in which the limits of acceptable behavior were stretched, and detainees were abused. In contrast, the latest Pentagon investigation released today places less emphasis on high-ranking accountability and instead focuses on intelligence and contractor culpability, concluding there existed far greater participation in the abuses by military intelligence than had been previously acknowledged.
Established to investigate intelligence activities at Abu Ghraib, the internal Pentagon probe led by Major General George Fay and Lieutenant General Anthony J. Jones focused specifically on the role of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade, the unit that was in charge of interrogations at the U.S.-run prison facility west of Baghdad. As The New York Times reports, the Fay-Jones commission examined more than 9,000 documents and conducted more than 170 interviews during eight investigative trips to Iraq. The resulting Fay-Jones report reveals that the wrongdoing at Abu Ghraib assumed many forms, attributing abuses to a range of issues, from individual misconduct to leadership failures, to over-crowding, lack of resources and accommodations, and hostile war-zone conditions - all impacting the effective operations of the facility and its staff. As such, the report notes that from July 25th 2003 to February 6th 2004 more than 2 dozen military personnel either requested, encouraged, condoned, solicited or participated in detainee abuse, or violated established interrogation procedures and applicable laws and regulations for interrogation operations, concluding there existed a lack of "clear Command and Control of Detainee Operations” at Abu Ghraib.
The report defines abuse as “treatment of detainees that violated U.S. criminal law or international law or treatment that was inhumane or coercive without lawful justification. Whether the Soldier or contractor knew, at the time of the acts, that the conduct violated any law or standard, is not an element of the definition.”
“There is no single, simple explanation for why this abuse at Abu Ghraib happened,” the report states. “The primary causes are misconduct - ranging from inhumane to sadistic - by a small group of morally corrupt soldiers and civilians.”
“Neither Department of Defense nor Army doctrine caused any abuses,” it continues. “Abuses would not have occurred had doctrine been followed and mission training conducted.”
The report implicates 35 military intelligence personnel as well as civilian contractors and identifies at least 44 cases of prisoner abuse. The abuse, the report finds, was conducted on an individual basis and was not officially sanctioned or approved.
“We discovered serious misconduct and a loss of moral values, said General Paul Kern, at a Pentagon briefing to discuss the commission’s findings. “This was clearly a deviation from everything we have taught our people about how to behave.”
The report distinguishes between two categories of abuse at Abu Ghraib: intentional violent or sexual abuse, and abusive actions taken based on misinterpretations or confusion regarding law or policy. Particular abuses cited range from sexual exploitation of teenage prisoners to the use of dogs for intimidation, as general Kern opined, “I think the most horrific one that we found, from my perspective, is the case of where MP dog handlers were subjecting two adolescents to terror from the dogs for the purpose of playing a game between the two dog teams to see how poorly they could get these kids to behave, and that's specifically to see if the could get their bowel movements and their urination to work.”
General Fay stated that there were instances where military intelligence personnel and military police personnel colluded to conduct unauthorized interrogations and inappropriate interrogations, explaining, “a contract interrogator was interrogating a detainee and threatening that detainee with turning that person over to a known military police person that was conducting some physical abuse on that particular detainee. In other words, ‘Answer my questions or I'll turn you back over to the military police person.’”
The names of the soldiers implicated have been forwarded to each soldier’s commander for determination whether the alleged abuser should be court-martialed under the Uniform Code of Military Justice or if other action is appropriate, reports Army Public Affairs, while the names and investigation results of the contractors have been forwarded to the U.S. Justice Department for possible criminal charges under federal laws.
The Army says it is in the process of acting on the report’s recommendations, “including training MI officers in interrogation operations, something currently not included in officer qualification courses. Another recommendation which has also been corrected is the placement of one sole individual responsible for overseeing both detention and interrogation operations.”
“The good news out of the investigation," it continues, "is that the vast majority of MI Soldiers know what is right and what is wrong, and they are choosing to do the right thing in a very difficult environment.”
While both the Schlesinger and Fay-Jones investigations suggest Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld mishandled the occupation, the reports nevertheless fall short of holding the Secretary accountable for the abuses, nor do they subject him to any real censure.
Upon release of the Fay-Jones Investigation, Chairman of the Senate Arms Services Committee John Warner stated, “I do not find any evidence that Secretary Rumsfeld had actual knowledge of these horrific incidents in the prison system that were the direct result of lack of training, lack of supervision by the immediate command.”
“I've worked with him very closely throughout his term as Secretary of Defense. I found him to be a man of integrity, a man who understands accountability” the chairman offered.” The implication remains nevertheless, that Rumsfeld - a former naval officer who Warner submitted “understands the concept of the command” - would ultimately have to assume responsibility for the actions of his subordinates.
Responding to the report, presidential candidate John Kerry called for “accountability from the senior civilian leaders in the Pentagon and in the White House,” reiterating his plea for Secretary Rumsfeld to resign, and for President Bush to appoint an independent commission “to review the entire decision making process that led to these abuses and provide a comprehensive set of reforms so that we can ensure that this never happens again.”
During a White House Briefing Press Secretary Scott McClellan offered the President’s response to the recent findings, stating, “the President believes that those who committed the atrocities at Abu Ghraib should be punished. What occurred there was appalling and it was wrong. Such abuses run counter to our values, and they run counter to our laws. And we also repeatedly said it is important to take a broader look at detainee issues to look at what improvements might be needed to prevent something like what occurred at Abu Ghraib from ever happening again.”
August 19, 2004
Judge Orders Immediate Handover of Detainee Records
The New York Times reports the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was victorious in a nearly 10-month struggle to obtain the abuse records of prisoners held in U.S. custody at overseas military bases and detention facilities, such as those at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib.
In U.S. District Court yesterday, a federal judge ordered the Bush administration to honor the ACLU’s requests, made under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) back in October 2003, culminating in a lawsuit filed in June 2004. The FOIA was passed by Congress in 1966, and allows citizens access to federal records.
Additional plaintiffs in the suit include the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans for Peace. Defendants accused of ignoring the requests and illegally withholding the records include the CIA, the Department of Defense, the Department of State, the Department of Justice and the FBI.
According to a statement posted to the PHR website, the records requested back in 2003 address:
· the abuse or torture of detainees held at Abu Ghraib and other overseas detention facilities, and records of investigations and inquiries into that abuse;
· the deaths of detainees in United States custody, including records of investigations and inquiries into those deaths;
· policies governing the interrogation of detainees in United States custody;
· policies governing the "rendition" of detainees to countries known to use torture; and
· records describing any measures taken by the government to address concerns expressed by the Red Cross.
The court ordered the government to release the documents, or provide explanation for their continued withholding by August 23rd. Any remaining disputes will be resolved at a hearing scheduled for September 9th.
In a release posted to the ACLU website, the group expressed its satisfaction with the ruling, “We’re pleased that the court has ordered the government to produce these critical records that we and others have been demanding for so many months,” said Jameel Jaffer, an ACLU staff attorney. “If the administration has endorsed policies that violate domestic and international law, as appears to have been the case, the public surely has a right to know more about what those policies were and who was responsible for them.”
“In light of the serious abuses that have occurred and the possible involvement of high-ranking officials in condoning or authorizing those abuses, it is critical that these records be released immediately,” said Amrit Singh, a staff attorney with the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project. “We want to know who knew what, when they knew it, and what, if anything, they did about it.”
August 17, 2004
American Lawyer Will Meet With Brit Detainees
According to the BBC, an American lawyer has been given permission to visit some of the men with UK links held in Guantanamo Bay. Brent Mickum is representing Briton Martin Mubanga and former UK residents Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil el-Banna. It will be the first time they have had access to legal representation in the two years they have been held there.
Mr Mickum told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he was concerned about reports former refugee Mr el-Banna was in a "very bad way" psychologically.
A report by three Britons released from the US camp in Cuba earlier this month said Mr el-Banna had been so traumatised by his experiences in captivity that "mentally, basically, he's finished".
August 03, 2004
Female Abu Ghraib Soldier Faces Military Hearing
Reuters reports that the female Army private at the center of the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal appeared before a military courtroom today in Fort Bragg, North Carolina for a preliminary hearing to determine whether she should be court-martialed. Private Lynndie England, 21, was charged by the military back in May with 13 counts of abusing detainees and six counts stemming from sexually explicit photos, among the charges: conspiracy to mistreat Iraqi prisoners, assaulting prisoners, committing acts prejudicial to good order, committing indecent acts, disobeying an order and creating and possessing sexually explicit photographs. Six others from the 372nd Military Police Company have also been charged in the abuse scandal. Specialist Jeremy Sivits has since plead guilty to four counts, including mistreating prisoners and dereliction of duty. He has been sentenced to a year in prison, as well as been demoted and discharged from the Army.
England became the public face of the Abu Ghraib scandal, appearing in many of the infamous photographs that circulated, alerting the world to the abuses at the U.S. run prison facility in Iraq, prompting an international outcry, and embarassing the U.S. military. Among the disturbing photographs England is shown holding a leash around the neck of a detainee, smiling as she points to a hooded, naked detainee’s genitals, and alongside another MP, giving the “thumbs up” sign before a human pyramid of naked detainees.
During today’s hearing Army investigator Paul D. Arthur testified that England and other members of her unit told him that photos of naked Iraqi prisoners piled in pyramids and other humiliating poses were taken while “they were joking around, having some fun, working the night shift.”
If convicted on all charges England - who is seven months pregnant - faces up to 38 years in prison.
Regarding her behavior, England maintains she was just following orders. Suggesting the humiliations were a military intelligence tactic sanctioned by her superiors, her attorneys claim the U.S. government has made England a scapegoat for the incident.
July 28, 2004
Lawsuit Filed Against Abu Ghraib Interrogators
On behalf of four Iraqi detainees who were allegedly abused, and the family of a fifth Iraqi detainee who died after allegedly being tortured, a lawsuit was filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Washington DC accusing two prominent American military contracting firms of directing and participating in the abuse and torture of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib detention facility in Iraq.
The suit was filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA), which allows foreign victims of human rights abuses abroad to sue the perpetrators in U.S. courts.
Filed by a consortium of trial lawyers referred to as the Iraqi Torture Victim Group (ITVG), the suit names CACI International Inc. of Arlington VA. and the Titan Corporation of San Diego - firms contracted out by the U.S. government to provide interrogation services to coalition forces in Iraq.
According to a press release from Atlanta-based firm Edmond & Jones, LLP. - themselves members of the ITVG - the complaint alleges that the interrogators subjected the detainees to a wide range of torture and physical abuse, with accusations including but not limited to: murder, violent physical assaults including being beaten while being held naked and forced to endure cold and the elements, being chained in a cramped position and forced to listen to loud music for sustained periods, being denied food and water for sustained periods, being urinated on, being photographed while naked and other humiliating situations, hearing and seeing other prisoners raped and sexually assaulted, being restrained and then forced to witness family members being beaten.
The ITVG’s allegations are buttressed by the findings of Major General Antonio M. Taguba, whose probe into the 800th MP Brigade’s detention and internment practices in Iraq found failures in leadership were responsible for Abu Ghraib prison abuses, that military police inflicted “sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuse” on detainees, specifically identifying CACI civilian contract interrogators as complicit in the abuse. Among the report’s discoveries was that civilian contractors from CACI set interrogation conditions “which were neither authorized and in accordance with applicable regulations/policy,” contending a CACI contractor in violation of protocol “clearly knew his instruction equated to physical abuse.”
Moreover, last week’s hastily released Detainee Operations Inspections Report - while it attracted much criticism for ostensibly “whitewashing” evidence first presented by Major General Taguba, in contrast arguing that systematic flaws were not responsible for prisoner abuse - nevertheless provides additional support for the ITVG's allegations, as it reveals there was no requirement “for all contract interrogators to receive formal, comprehensive, military-specific interrogator training prior to performing interrogations” in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
According to CNN, attorney and ITVG member Rod Edmond described in graphic detail a client’s ordeal, telling reporters “interrogators put a gun to his head and basically pulled the trigger a couple of times and then threatened to cut off his head if, in fact, he didn't tell them what it is they wanted him to say.”
Edmond then added, “we have one of our clients who clearly describes an incident where he was abused, he had his hood off, and Gen. (Janis) Karpinski, who said she was not aware at all of any of the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, but he says she was actually there and smiling.” General Karpinski - the Army Reserve Brigadier General in charge of the U.S. run prison - was suspended from her duties as Commander of the 800th Military Police Brigade following the 60 Minutes broadcast that alerted the world to the scandal. General Karpinski denied involvement in, as well as prior knowledge of the abuses.
On its website, CACI International Inc. posted a statement denouncing the lawsuit as “slanderous” and “ludicrous,” “frivolous” and “malicious in nature,” claiming its statements are without merit.
“Neither the company nor any of its employees has been charged with any wrongdoing or illegal acts relating to any work in Iraq. The lawsuit filed against CACI is tantamount to an ‘ambulance chasing’ and ‘piling-on’ activity in a blatant attempt to extort financial gain. These falsehoods and inaccuracies demonstrate the utter lack of investigation prior to filing suit by the plaintiffs and their counsel.”
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for the four Iraqis and the widow of the Iraqi who died at the prison.