Posted on 05/07/2004 11:43:28 PM PDT by dead
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier who shot dead two Iraqis during a riot at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison and fired rubber bullets at inmates said on Friday some force was needed to run a wartime prison.
"A few people would probably say that I jumped at the opportunity on taking a life," said Sgt. Terry Stowe, 44, a National Guardsman with the 870th Military Police Company.
On Friday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld apologized over Abu Ghraib prison abuses in testimony before Congress. A scandal exploded last week with the release of photographs showing abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. servicemen.
"I tried my darndest not to pull the trigger the whole damn time I was there, but when I see my fellow soldiers and my comrades in mortal danger, I'm going to do what I can to save their lives."
Stowe, in an interview with Reuters, justified his actions on the grounds that he was acting to prevent greater violence. A March internal military report prepared by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba has criticized the military's lack of training and other conditions that led to the three deaths in the Nov. 24 riot.
The former security company official, who served at Abu Ghraib from July 2003 to March 2004, said some fellow MPs, as well as officials in Washington, failed to understand the harsh realities of running a prison where a few hundred U.S. guards control thousands of Iraqi prisoners.
"There were many small aspects of violence that were needed when one or two people get too unruly or won't do as they're told," said Stowe, who served in the first Gulf War (news - web sites) before joining the National Guard. "Just to keep the peace we use non-lethal (force) or just tell them: 'Hey, you need to quit.' Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't."
He said the U.S. government had exacerbated difficulties in Abu Ghraib by jailing many Iraqis who did not deserve to be there. He cited one man arrested for stealing a toothbrush and given what he said was a long sentence.
Stowe also blamed the military and politicians in Washington for turning a blind eye to realities in Iraq (news - web sites). "The military chain of command is so uptight with politics, they don't want to know the real deal. Our people are put under so much stress ... they don't know where to turn."
Speaking in Redwood City south of San Francisco where he lives, Stowe cited several times when he used rubber bullets. Once he fired on a crowd of 15 or 20 engaged in a fight that broke out during a soccer game. He said no one was killed, although some prisoners developed welts. One time, he said he fired a rubber bullet at a prisoner who refused to sit down.
"Bang, nonlethal, just give him a little nudge or rubber bullet in the chest saying 'you will do as you're told,"' he said of the incident. "He was not posing a danger but if you let him get away with it he will constantly do it. It's almost like a stepping stone on how far they can push a soldier."
Stowe said once he had twisted the arm of a 14-year-old boy arriving at the prison, bringing him to the ground. He said he was focused on making sure the boy was unarmed.
"I'm not one to bully children, but I will do my job to make sure that anyone who comes in contact with this boy is not stabbed or shot or killed," he said.
HAUNTING RIOT
The Nov, 24 riot still haunts Stowe in his dreams as he replays his shooting of three from a guard tower above the prison yard about 150 feet away. He said other MPs tried rubber bullets and other means without success.
"There were two MPs on the ground in between two compounds where they were getting pummeled by large rocks and bricks and whatever they were throwing," he said. "That's when I wounded the first one to get them to stop, to give them their warning that deadly force is authorized."
"Then the prisoners concentrated on the tower in between the two compounds -- there were two more MPs in that tower," he said. "They were getting pummeled also, and that's when I had to take two more shots." The second two shots were fatal. The prisoner hit by the first bullet survived.
After the incident, the military removed Stowe from the guard tower but he continued working in other parts of the prison. He said he would not change anything about his behavior if he could relive his time at the notorious prison, but acknowledged that he did not always have the best answer.
"Three fourths of everything I did was right," he said. "The other quarter of the time was trial and error. You might be a little excessive today. We were dealing with a lot of stress."
Who would have guessed?
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