Hollywood will have a field day with this. I'll bet the screenplay is in the works. Those poor, poor terrorists freedom fighters.
Posted on 07/27/2005 6:28:11 PM PDT by Indy Pendance
DENVER (AP) - A National Guardsman testifying at a hearing for U.S. soldiers accused of killing an Iraq general said he saw classified U.S. personnel beat prisoners with a sledgehammer handle and mock the general's death, according to a transcript.
The transcript, obtained by The Denver Post, includes an exchange during the hearing that suggests the CIA was involved.
Sgt. 1st Class Gerold Pratt of the Utah National Guard said he saw unidentified U.S. personnel use the 15-inch wooden handle to hit prisoners.
"They'd ask you a question, and if they didn't like it, they'd hit you," he said, according to the transcript obtained this week by the Post under a court order. Pratt testified at the hearing in March.
The hearing will determine whether three soldiers from Fort Carson will stand trial for the death of Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush during an interrogation in 2003.
The soldiers have denied wrongdoing and say commanders sanctioned their actions.
Most identifying information in the transcript was redacted, but one exchange suggests CIA involvement. "To your knowledge, SFC Sommer did not accompany any of these CIA folks?" defense attorney Capt. Michael Melito asked Pratt.
A CIA spokeswoman who declined to give the Post her name would not comment.
Pratt - who had run logistics at the detention facility near Qaim, a city in Iraq's western desert - said he recalled an official mocking the prisoners he was beating.
"Well, particularly after the general was killed. I don't remember the exact words, but he was mocking the fact that the general died," Pratt testified.
The Army said Mowhoush died of asphyxiation from chest compression. Documents in the case said he was killed with an electrical cord, and a Pentagon investigation reportedly says a soldier sat on Mowhoush as he was restrained headfirst inside a sleeping bag.
Previous testimony indicated the Iraqi general's body was badly bruised and he may have been severely beaten two days before he was suffocated.
Charged with murder are Chief Warrant Officer Jefferson Williams, Spec. Jerry Loper and Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer, who was not part of the hearing. Final charges are pending against the fourth accused soldier, Sgt. 1st Class William Sommer.
The hearing officer has forwarded the case report, and Fort Carson's commander, Maj. Gen. Robert Mixon, will make the final decision on whether the soldiers will be court-martialed.
The soldiers could get life in prison without parole if they are convicted of murder.
Williams' attorney, William Cassara, said he was sure other officials were involved in prisoner abuse.
"I have no doubts that other government agencies used methods of interrogation that were much worse," Cassara said.
Makes you wonder......
Larry Johnson's Group (VIPS) Called On CIA Employees To Leak Secrets To Hurt Bush
Valeri Plame was the secret warden of Abu Ghraib!
When this story finally breaks, and it's bigger than watergate, we're going to see a lot of I42's fingerprints involved. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Mmmm yeah. "Classified".
There was a blonde in stockings and a trench coat, and another guy who was wearing a Nazi uniform. He used this folding coat-hanger thing that doubles as a weapon... He was smoking too. Cloves, probably, or "rose" cigarettes.
Hollywood will have a field day with this. I'll bet the screenplay is in the works. Those poor, poor terrorists freedom fighters.
Yes, it is bigger than Watergate (an eavesdropping operation). What we've got in leak after leak, and in foreign affairs (e.g. Agent Blame sending her peacenik husband on an anti-Bush errand), are clear efforts by CIA and FBI personnel that amount to a failed coup d'etat.
They didn't see the Pakistan and Indian nuclear tests coming. They didn't see 9/11 coming. Heck, CIA Agent Larry Johnson wrote an op-ed in July of 2001 saying that terrorism was on the decline and that we were safe from radical Islamists.
They botched the Iraq WMD intel, too.
But they've all got enough time on their hands that they can leak to press...or even *create* incidents such as beating prisoners at their own hands.
Out of control. However, it's nice to see this sort of thing come to light, especially as we reorganize and kick out the bad apples from the CIA and FBI.
Any good interrogator would have made sure that no National Guardsman, or anyone else, was witness.
If 'they' didn't like asking the question, why didn't 'they' just stop asking them?
Sounds like a prat all right.
What if there was a scandal and no one gave a damn?
"Classified U.S. personnel?" In my almost thirty years in uniform I don't recall ever referring to personnel as "classified." Documents, yes. People, no. Something is fishy here. This sounds like something made up by a private with a vivid imagination.
I read that, if you have a link handy, please post it.
They botched the Iraq WMD intel, too.
And are trying to blame it on this president who was only in office for 8 monthes prior.
Maybe we'll be able to bring back treason convictions.
Wouldn't bother me if they beat them to death.
The libs started it. Now they want to cover it up. The media is trying hard to help them.
My first thought before I finished reading the article, was that someone was ticked because they either were demoted to an E1 type status, or were passed up for promotions. Sounds like the second.
Bigger sticks please.
Not without pictures involving young women and nudity. Otherwise, this will fade.
They have “Secret” tattooed on their forehead and feet, walk around wearing only giant yellow folders, can’t leave base.
Personally, I think we should have shipped thousands of old NYC phone books to Iraq, right on the heels of invasion - but that's just me. I am very old fashioned regarding matters involving interogation of captured enemy fiends. The good old Patton school.
Bravo Foxtrot Delta
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