Drudge headline Memo: Workers Threatened Over Prison Abuse

AP ^ | December 7, 2004 | PAISLEY DODDS

[ejdrapes]

Memo: Workers Threatened Over Prison Abuse

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - U.S. special forces accused of abusing prisoners in Iraq threatened Defense Intelligence Agency personnel who saw the mistreatment, according to U.S. government memos released Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The special forces also monitored e-mails sent by defense personnel and ordered them "not to talk to anyone" in the United States about what they saw, said one memo written by the Defense Intelligence Agency chief, who complained to his Pentagon bosses about the harassment.

In addition, the special forces confiscated photos of a prisoner who had been punched in the face.

Prisoners arriving at a detention center in Baghdad had "burn marks on their backs" as well as bruises and some complained of kidney pain, according to the June 25, 2004 memo.

FBI agents also reported seeing detainees at Abu Ghraib subjected to sleep deprivation, humiliation and forced nudity between October and December 2003 - when the most serious abuses allegedly took place in a scandal that's remains under investigation.

The release of the ACLU documents comes a day after The Associated Press reported that a senior FBI official wrote a letter to the Army's top criminal investigator complaining about "highly aggressive" interrogation techniques at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay dating back to 2002 - more than a year before the scandal broke at the Iraqi prison.

[Publius6961]

How does the Defense Intelligence Agency fit into the whole picture, and what, if any, relationship do they have with the State Department?

[Iscool]

I am just beside myself with disgust...How could these soldiers mistreat those murderous, terrorist butchers??? This is BIG news...

[xcamel]

Oh sure... the DIA.... known in most circles as "DUH" or worse.. the "D'OH". These are the folks who made "military intelligence" an oxymoron.

JMNSHO :-)

[CondorFlight]

Hey, why don't we just tell the prisoners that they have the right to remain silent, and to have an attorney, and to be released in 60 days? Better than that, why don't we just forget trying to question them at all?? It's so un-PC.

[Goodgirlinred]

Personally, I don't care that they were humiliated, sleep deprived or naked. Look what they did to the people their fellow terrorists kidnapped! For crying out loud, this is war. If treating them that way gets vital information out of them, then it may save lives. And the ACLU ought to get their big noses out of it. Those prisoners are not Americans, they are terrorists who have sworn to kill us as long as there is breath in their bodies. Those pictures should never have been taken and this story should never have been leaked to the public. I believe the military has always used methods to get information out of prisoners of war that would upset some tender hearted souls who don't have any common sense.

[xJones]

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - U.S. special forces accused of abusing prisoners in Iraq threatened Defense Intelligence Agency personnel who saw the mistreatment, according to U.S. government memos released Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union.

It's Christmas time friends, and that always brings out the ACLU mad dogs, snarling in every direction.

[Logical me]

" U.S. special forces accused of abusing prisoners in Iraq threatened Defense Intelligence Agency personnel who saw the mistreatment, according to U.S. government memos released Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union." What's this, maybe more forged memos. Come on a@@holes, lets get it on again.

[af_vet_rr]

Those prisoners are not Americans

They may not be Americans, but we are. I can see stressed out soldiers taking it out on prisoners, that has probably happened in every war. People get tired, stressed, angry, and want a little payback. I can easily forgive that. Some of these cases have went a little bit too far over into homosexual/sadomasochism territory, and while I can't force my Christian morals on others, I don't have to condone the actions of others, even if they believe they have good reason to do so.

While these don't appear to have crossed into sexually deviant territory, at some point these soldiers may have threatened other servicemembers. I definitely cannot condone that at all. You do not do that to your fellow servicemember unless you have a damn good reason, and so far "trying to keep this a secret so they don't get into trouble" is not a very good reason.

It's also very hard to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people when these kinds of things come out. Look at the first scandal - hundreds upon hundreds who were there were ordered released after everything came out. If they weren't terrorists before they went to those prisons, they sure as hell are going to be pissed off and looking for revenge afterwards.

[Kaslin]

Did you notice this at the end of the article?

On the Net:

On the Net: American Civil Liberties Union: www.aclu.org/torturefoia

[Diverdogz]

Excellent Post.

[LibWhacker]

Everyone in the ACLU should be locked up in Gitmo.

[softengine]

Wow. A voice of reason. I was beginning to have my doubts....tks.

I cannot condone the original Abu-Ghrab abuse, regardless of stress, or whatever. Either we are setting an example, or we are just as low as they are. It disgusts me to think we are just as bad as they are. Some on FR (evidently)think one bad turn makes another bad turn ok. I have to seperate myself from that viewpoint.

[Goodgirlinred]

I am sorry. May be I don't have all of the information on how these people were treated. I thought the problem was that they were sleep deprived, naked, and humiliated and then interrogated afterward. Where does it say anything about homosexual or deviant behavior? And I thought the soldiers were telling the government workers not to blow the whistle.
I would not have us mistreat ordinary Iraqi citizens to harsh POW camps. However, the terrorists, YES! I stand by what I said about them. If I have to see one more picture of a terrorist standing behind an innocent kidnapped victim before they behead him/her I will get back on here and say that we should blow them all to bloody hell!!! And I am a Christian, too. God forgive me for what I just said, but I can't imagine the horror of having one's head severed from one's body with a dull knife while one screams in horror and intense pain.

[af_vet_rr]

Where does it say anything about homosexual or deviant behavior? And I thought the soldiers were telling the government workers not to blow the whistle.

No problem, you just overlooked what I said in my second paragraph: While these don't appear to have crossed into sexually deviant territory, at some point these soldiers may have threatened other servicemembers.

It's late, and easy to overlook things. I was pointing out that on the one hand, they didn't go as far as other scandals in regards to abuse, but on the other hand, they threatened fellow servicemembers (the DIA contains both military and civilian employees). That bothers me more than some of the other stuff that went on.

[Steel Wolf]

I think that malicious mistreatment of prisoners is unprofessional. It's demeaning to us, and unnecessary. Its an easy slide into becoming what you hate the most.

I also think that legitimate and legal techniques are being denied our interrogators. People are so concerned about appearances that they don't care what the law says.

[WritableSpace]

Bump. cause this story went way over without notice

[COEXERJ145]

The ultimate plan is sometime next year or in early 2006 to attempt to impeach President Bush over "prisoner abuse".