Early Iraq Abuse Accounts Met With Silence

AP on Yahoo!News ^ | 5/8/04 | CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent

[johnb838]

This is the worst one I've read yet.

[jimbo123]

How many American soldiers have been killed since the photos hit the press? Looks like the majority of these cowardly jihadists have fled back to Syria because they're afraid of appearing on Al Jazeera, buck naked with an American MP holding them on a leash.

[Grampa Dave]

Please post the NY Slimes article from 17 January that shows this is a total lie. The Army was moving on this back then. People were discharged and punished for such behavior.

[EGPWS]

the Red Cross disclosed it had repeatedly demanded last year that U.S. authorities correct problems in the detention centers.

OK Red Cross, since you have become a political entity instead of a humanitarian relief organization, then perhaps you should take a crash course and brush up on your diplomacy!

[GrandmaPatriot]

There was a pattern and a system," Pierre Kraehenbuel, the Red Cross operations director, said in Geneva.

Pierre??? Anyone think there might just be an agenda here to help this story along?

[johnb838]

I hope this is all untrue... some of it sounded a little too plausible for my comfort.

[walden]

Take it with a grain of salt. Investigations are on-going, I'm sure these allegations will be looked into.

My conclusion from the last 3 years of observing Arab culture is that these are the most messed up people I've ever seen-- they're whiners, they're victims, they're attention-seekers, they're not too connected to facts, reason, logic, etc.. The U.S. military, on the other hand, is the exact opposite of all of those things. I read the Taguba report-- the military is on the case, and was LONG before the press decided that now was the time to try to take out Bush and clear the way for Kerry.

Cheer up. The U.S. never loses a war unless we decide to, in which case we get exactly what we deserve.

[Grampa Dave]

Ooops sorry about that. Risk, for some reason your ping was not showing up the posts to me list.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1131946/posts

---

January 17, 2004

Inquiry Ordered Into Reports of Prisoner Abuse
By ERIC SCHMITT



ASHINGTON, Jan. 16 — The top American commander in Iraq has ordered a criminal investigation into allegations that detainees at the sprawling Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad have been abused by American forces, military officials said Friday.

A statement by the military command in Baghdad gave no details about the scope or severity of the incidents, saying only that Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the senior American officer in Iraq, had directed an inquiry into the latest in a string of reported abuses of prisoners.

"The release of specific information concerning the incidents could hinder the investigation, which is in its early stages," the statement said.

A senior Pentagon official said authorities had been alerted to the possible abuse of detainees in the past few days and were taking the allegations "very seriously."

The American-led occupation is holding thousands of suspected insurgents and criminals at Abu Ghraib, a large prison west of Baghdad that was notorious during the rule of Saddam Hussein for overcrowded cells and torture chambers.


The inquiry ordered by General Sanchez is expected to add fuel to allegations by Amnesty International and many former detainees that the American captors have treated prisoners harshly or abused them in certain cases.

Earlier this month, three Army reservists were discharged for abusing prisoners at Camp Bucca, a detention center near Basra, in southern Iraq. In late December, Brig. Gen. Ennis Whitehead III determined that the three soldiers had kicked and punched prisoners or encouraged others to do so.

Late last year, Lt. Col. Allen B. West, a battalion commander in the Fourth Infantry Division, was allowed to resign from the Army after he fired a pistol near a suspected supporter of insurgents during an interrogation in August to frighten him into giving up information about impending attacks against allied soldiers near Tikrit. Colonel West has defended his actions as necessary to protect his troops.

In addition, the Marine Corps has charged eight Marine reservists in the death of an Iraqi prisoner near Nasiriya last June. Two of the eight marines face charges of negligent homicide, while others face lesser charges, Marine officials said.

---

This article shows that the liars at AP did zero research or ignored what was happening to stop this abuse.

The date on this article was 17 January 2004.

Where were Senators mcAinal, Hildebea$t and Orca Kennedy for the close to 5 months since this was published in the leading newspaper of America?

They were cooking up this latest stew to throw out when it was an advantage to them.

[CWOJackson]

Met with silence...or treated in balance?

[EGPWS]

How many American soldiers have been killed since the photos hit the press?

I'm sure if you just go to the mainstream press you can find out how many have been killed.

Just don't get a paper cut paging through the papers reporting of "American atrocities" in your search for it to finally find a 1" by 1" block in the bottom right corner on page 23D below a low interest used cars sale add!

[jimbo123]

The key point is that the photos have saved American lives. Those dirty jihads are now scared of appearing on Al Jazeera, buck naked with an female American GI holding them on a leash. So they're running back to Syria. They're not going to take a chance at being captured by the Americans.

[LibLieSlayer]

"My conclusion from the last 3 years of observing Arab culture is that these are the most messed up people I've ever seen-- they're whiners, they're victims, they're attention-seekers, they're not too connected to facts, reason, logic, etc".

This sounds exactly like the definition within Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, covering the iterations of the word "dim-o-Rat"!

I agree with you concerning the Military being on top of this from day one. We have the finest Military EVER known to man, and that goes for every Branch and sector! A handful of juvenile idiots will NOT be allowed to destroy our fighting machine, or our spirit. I am more motivated for the defeat of terror, than I have ever been before. It would seem that Osama has “mis-underestimated” our will once again!

GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS, and Damn our ENEMIES (both DOMESTIC, and FOREIGN)!

LLS

[cwb]

You better make than a woman MP, which I'm sure makes it 10x worse for the little terrorists.

I wish one of these accused women would just stand up and say..."Yes, I abused these male chauvenist pigs. After the way they've treated the women in this country for centuries, it was time for them to get a taste of their own medicine and see how it feels to be terrorized and treated like a sex toy."

Oh, boy...would that put the liberal media in a predicament. Heck, it could even be a new psychological disorder...something like "post-traumatic woman's rage syndrome," caused by centuries of repression and treatment like second class citizens:)

[EGPWS]

Those dirty jihads are now scared of appearing on Al Jazeera, buck naked with an female.

I just can't change my mindset of jihads being scared of, or concerned about personal degradation, when they will place themselves in a position, and they have, to die for a meaningless cause.

I don't see personal humiliation as an issue for them.

I do however see them promoting their anti-American agenda by expounding their concerns for personal humility in a political fashion.

And lo and behold, we have people in power within our own country promoting anti-American agendas for a different purpose.

I see an indirect and disgraceful anti-American alliance forming between Jihad's and people in power within our country!

[Peach]

What a lie this entire article is!

There was a NYT article posted on FR this morning about the abuse - dated January of this year!

[Sacajaweau]

I don't condone any of those soldiers actions.

However, I see absolutely no reason for the publication for the photos except for their shock value and the political agenda of the media.

The matter was reported, investigated and action was taken.

As far as the Taguba report, I think you will find things on his "to do" list were done before the report even came out. He mentioned the pictures as being in the Criminal Division File as Criminal charges WERE PENDING ALREADY.

As far as Rummy resigning: You don't fire a CEO of a 1,000,000 employee company. You fire the 12 lousey employees.

Within the Iraqi population, there are a bunch of lying, stinking, stealing dudes who robbed their own towns, their own museum and kill their own for a few bucks. It's their way of life. And there's a lot of them. How do you tell the good ones from the bad ones? Good people cooperate, bad people do their own thing. The problem is: There's too many crazy Iraqis with guns who get paid by the bullet that takes down an American. But we'll do the job and thank our soldiers, because personally, I think we're a hell of a lot safer because we took out Saddam

[jnarcus]

worst? how in what sense...this is just more drivel. The congress and the press slept through the initial annoucements by the armed forces of the results of various investigations and now that they smell blood in the water they are circling like sharks...

[MizSterious]

This story is so bogus! Fer cryin' out loud, stories appeared in the NYT and elsewhere months ago. The Pentagon has been on this case since January, at least.

[conservative in nyc]

The spin begins.   Expect more of this in the days and weeks to come.  It's going to get ugly.

As far as I can tell, this is a sloppy article that conflates dates, times and places, if you believe the timeline set forth in the Taguba Report. It's not totally bogus, but pretty close: 

The Taguba Report describes two sets of investigated prisoner mistreatment cases --- one at Camp Bucca in May 2003 (no CBS pictures, but AP complaints in October 2003), another at Abu Ghraib in late October and November 2003(CBS pictures).   BG Karpinski was ultimately in command the soldiers in of both places.  Soldiers from the same 320th MP Battalion were implicated in both places.     

According to the report, the offenses "originally occurred at Camp Bucca in May 2003. . . . The Bucca cases were set for trial in January 2004 and were not finally disposed of until 29 December 2003."  i.e.  Charges were being looked into by the military and the offenders copped a plea.  Perhaps someone who is familiar with the UCMJ can tell us whether 6 months is typical for lag time between investigation and trial in a war zone. It sounds reasonably quick to me.

The nominal commanding officer of the battalion, LTC (P) Philabaum was ultimately suspended of his duties on January 17, 2004.  According to the report, he was in Kuwait, allegedly with BG Karpinski's permission, for two weeks when the most blatant abuses at Abu Ghraib allegedly occurred.  A different commander from a different battalion, LTC Ronald Chew, was allegedly in charge at that time, although General Taguba couldn't find any orders suspending LTC (P) Philbaum or placing LTC Chew in command OR any notification BG Karpinski's superiors (which was "without precedent in [his] military career.")

BG Karpinski tried to claim that because the Camp Bucca offenders got off easy ("So, the system communicated to the soldiers the worst that's gonna happen is, you're gonna go home"), the soldiers and civilian contractors in Abu Ghraib thought they had free license to mistreat prisoners.  General Taguba didn't buy that argument because "almost every witness testified that the serious criminal abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib (BCCF) occurred in late October and early November 2003." -- i.e. BEFORE any plea bargain.  By the way, it's not clear from the report whether the soldiers who copped a plea were honorably or dishonorably discharged. Wanna take a wild guess? 

See the Taguba Report, generally Part III, Paragraphs 13 & 16: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1131971/posts#28

The AP, CBS, and most of the rest of the media just don't get it ---- they are not omnipotent whistleblowers.  They didn't necessarily learn of any alleged abuses first --- perhaps the people who are closer to the source already knew.  Not every press inquiry is entitled to a response, especially in time of war. Just because there was no response doesn't mean that charges were not being looked into.  It very well may have been that answering the inquiry would have compromised an ongoing investigation and placed it in jeopardy.  That very well may have happened to the AP's inquiry last October.

[JasonC]

"humiliated by American guards. None mentioned the sexual humiliation"

It is generally humiliating to be a prisoner.

"They don't respect old or young. They humiliate everybody"

In other words, Iraqi cultural niceties are not observed, and everyone is simply treated same way, as a prisoner.

"Women guards especially were verbally abusive, with obscene invective"

In other words, they swear like sailors and call the prisoners names, in order to assert control. Just like any drill sergeant would with his or her own soldiers. But to Iraqi men, unused to this from women, it seemed shocking. Some "torture".

"insulting our sisters and parents. It was very hard to accept"

Schoolyard taunts from NCOs to privates are "very hard to accept", if your normal attitude toward women is to beat them if they look at you funny.

"like children, showing off their muscle"

The horror, the horror. The guards show off to intimidate prisoners, to get them to behave. The prisoners consider it humiliating, because they'd like to rip their heads off and can't. Some torture.

"guards struck one man at Camp Cropper with an "electric stick" because he was slow carrying water"

In other words, someone "fell out" of a line and a guard used a stun gun to subdue him.

"tied his hands and put him in the sun"

The horror, the horror. Why, surely prisoners who try to escape should be able to roam about freely without restraints. And while the guards have to pull long days of duty under the hot sun, prisoners are entitled to rest in the shade at all times. Makes one wonder, has anyone ever worked in a field in Iraq?

"such lesser infractions as shouting to the next tent or stealing food"

That is, starting fights and theft from other prisoners - which should be tolerated as perfectly allowed.

"He was stubborn, so they hit him, and he spent three days in the hospital"

Being fed, perhaps?

As for being hit or dogs, "Prisoners regularly rose up in protest or riots" - left conveniently for a little lower down in the article. When this happens, the guards are supposed to turn over the prison to them? Or shoot them all? Or are they supposed to put down the riot with less than lethal force, e.g. by hitting people or using stun guns or using dogs?

"Up to 8,000 are believed still held"

We've got 5-10 times as many in jail here, per capita.

"after Americans searching his car found a weapon, a common item for Iraqis"

Just any weapon? No. SOP is to allow men one AK, but not to allow anything more than that. Did he have a pistol, or an AK? Or did he have an RPG or a hand grenade?

"never given enough water for drinking and washing"

Yeah, everyone in Iraq usually has all the water they want, all the time. It is a desert.

"we were chanting, so they kept food from us"

You want sugar, you act in an orderly manner. That would seem obvious enough.

An old man died. Of course that never happens except in prison. Why it is torture.

"Innocent women were kept for months in the same clothes"

Why yeah, that is the worst they saw. Outrageous isn't it? Right up there with the shredders and the lions. They didn't even let them shop at Neiman Marcus.

"He angrily tried to cross the razor wire ringing his tent, 'and they shot him in the shoulder'"

Darwin award. Yes, you get all riled up and go charging across the wire, you will get shot. He was lucky it was in the shoulder.

"the U.S. system hardly compared"

Yep, the honest report in the article is that there is no comparison, conditions were fine under us and appalling under the old regime.

Then they say it "meshed" with confidential stuff they haven't seen. Which somebody else says they saw (third or fourth hand by now?). Which was talking about another place entirely.

"The Americans took action on some issues but not others"

In other words, we let the confidential ICCR in and they tell us what they see, and we listen to it, and we act on it. We don't take orders from them, but they have access and their statements are attended to.

Sorry, there is nothing here to support the attempted insinuation, that widespread torture and abuse of human rights in the norm in US prisons in Iraq. That is clearly what the article wants to say, but it can't get the actual evidence to say it.