CBS to Air U.S. Soldier's Video Diary of Iraq Abuse

myway.com ^ | 5/12/04 | Giles Elgood

[NYC Republican]

An American soldier's video diary showing her disdain for Iraqi detainees who died in her charge is to be broadcast by a U.S. network on Wednesday in a further escalation of the prisoner abuse scandal that has shaken the Bush administration and provoked world outrage.

CBS, which two weeks ago broadcast the first pictures of Iraqi prisoners being abused in Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, said on Tuesday its "60 Minutes II" program would show video footage depicting conditions there and at another U.S.-run prison in southern Iraq called Camp Bucca.

Photographs of Iraqi prisoners being sexually humiliated, threatened by dogs and piled into pyramids as grinning American soldiers look on have been published round the world, dealing a major setback to U.S. attempts to stabilize Iraq.

The Pentagon has said that it has more pictures and video of abuse that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has warned may be even more shocking.

An Islamic Web site said on Tuesday that an American civilian, Nick Berg from Philadelphia, had been beheaded by an al Qaeda leader in Iraq in revenge for the "Satanic degradation" of Iraqi prisoners.

CBS said the home video did not show scenes of abuse but included comments by the soldier, whose name was not revealed to protect her identity, that make clear her dislike for the camp and the prisoners under her control.

"I hate it here," she said on the tape. "I want to come home. I want to be a civilian again. We actually shot two prisoners today. One got shot in the chest for swinging a pole against our people on the feed team. One got shot in the arm. We don't know if the one we shot in the chest is dead yet."

In her video, the soldier described the hazards of Camp Bucca. "This is a sand viper," she said. "One bite will kill you in six hours. We've already had two prisoners die of it, but who cares? That's two less for me to worry about."

The soldier said about three prisoners broke out of the camp every week, but they did not try to escape when she was on duty.

"It's 'cause they are scared of me," she said. "I actually got in trouble the other day because I was throwing rocks at them."

CBS said another soldier spoke of a chaotic situation at Camp Bucca with a dangerously low ratio of guards to prisoners.

Tim Canjar, who was discharged from the military for abusing Iraqi prisoners, said that during one disturbance "at one point, it was me and another soldier guarding. I was watching 535 prisoners on my side ... The prisoners started hitting us."

Fellow soldier Lisa Girman, who was discharged with Canjar, said commanders ignored the problems at Camp Bucca.

She complained of "the ignorance of the chain of command not to listen to the person who was actually on the front line."

Girman's and Canjar's families tried to draw attention to the problems at Camp Bucca last year. They called Rumsfeld's office repeatedly and talked to his staff, but got no response, CBS said. Their letters to the White House and two senators were also unanswered.

Girman and Canjar, and a third soldier, Scott McKenzie, were discharged for punching and kicking Iraqi prisoners. They have vowed to appeal the decision and want the U.S. Congress to investigate.

[NYC Republican]

CBS is trying its darndest to bring our President down.

[NYC Republican]

It'll be shown right after they show the Berg disgrace, in totality. RIIIIIGHT.

[Republican Red]

Call CBS news desk and let them know what how you feel:

212-975-3691

[cake_crumb]

I nastygrammed CBS about this today.

[Travis McGee]

Time to call CBS and "thank" them for providing aid and comfort to our enemies.

Thank them for NIck Berg's murder, while you're at it.

[randog]

...dealing a major setback to U.S. attempts to stabilize Iraq.

Did I oversleep? How did the prison thingy affect our ability to stabilize Iraq? In fact, I watched some serious @ss-kickin' "stabilization" on Fox this morning.

[BillyCrockett]

MAN... whose side is CBS on anyway?!

[gilliam]

maybe it is time to start a general boycott of CBS across the board

[johniegrad]

I think it's time to organize a complete and highly publicized boycott of all CBS programming and of their sponsors. This is getting out of hand.

[Sloth]

she said. "I actually got in trouble the other day because I was throwing rocks at them."

Got in trouble? How can that be? The Demonrats have been telling us that the "torture" is part and parcel of the Bush administration's approach to Iraq -- a systematic corruption within the entire military command structure, reaching straight to the top.

So why would she get in trouble for throwing rocks at prisoners?

[LibFreeUSA]

-"An American soldier's video diary showing her disdain for Iraqi detainees who died in her charge is to be broadcast by a U.S. network on Wednesday in a further escalation of the prisoner abuse scandal that has shaken the Bush administration and provoked world outrage."

Sounds to me like CBS is "aiding and abbetting the enemy"!

[gilliam]

who sponsors Sixty Minutes II?

[monkeywrench]

That's a good question. Rock throwing is very popular in that part of the world.

[T'wit]

As usual, full of weighted language and bias. Ptui.

[zook]

You took the words out of my mouth. Let's put some pressure on sponsors. Tell 'em we're mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore.

[Republican Red]

I'll tape the show so I can fast forward through the show and just take down the names of the sponsors.

I will not watch the show tonight.

I tried watching their morning show this morning and couldn't get though it.

Morning Show was hyping tonights show bigger than NBC hyped Friends last week. It's sweeps month after all.

This mornings sponsors were very across the board: Revlon, Chrylser, Ethan Allen, K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Friskies, Home Depot, Warner Brothers presents Harry Potter, One Touch, Jenny Craig, etc...

[lilylangtree]

Absolutely trying to bring the Prez down even in light of the godawful Berg beheading by islamic crapolas. Long ago mainstream media like CBS' Dan Rather, Tom Brokow and Peter Jennings admitted they were in the business to form public opinion not just report the news. This is a prime example of that, but I believe the more people see the pics of Berg's beheading the alleged prison issue will backfire on the networks. Who wants to feel sympathy for the same type of murderers that cruelly snuffed out Nick Berg's life in a most horrible way?

[an amused spectator]

Hey, you guys got it wrong.

It's "Sedition Minutes II"...

[RetiredArmy]

When is the Communist Broadcasting System going to be hit by a stray Newtron bomb?

[used2BDem]

I do not get CBS here at all so I can't boycott them, but I sure as hell can boycott the sponsors of 60 Minutes II. A list would be most helpful. Thank you!