Guest guest Posted September 10, 2004 Report Share Posted September 10, 2004 > L > Fri, 10 Sep 2004 06:51:01 -0700 > Prison Scandal: Army Says > C.I.A. Hid More Iraqis Than It Claimed > > > <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/10/politics/10abuse.html?hp> > > PRISON SCANDAL > Army Says C.I.A. Hid More Iraqis Than It Claimed > By ERIC SCHMITT and DOUGLAS JEHL > > Published: September 10, 2004 > > ASHINGTON, Sept. 9 - Army jailers in Iraq, acting at > the Central > Intelligence Agency's request, kept dozens of > detainees at Abu Ghraib > prison and other detention facilities off official > rosters to hide them > from Red Cross inspectors, two senior Army generals > said Thursday. The > total is far more than had been previously reported. > > An Army inquiry completed last month found eight > documented cases of > so-called ghost detainees, but two of the > investigating generals said in > testimony before two Congressional committees and in > interviews on > Thursday that depositions from military personnel > who served at the > prison indicated that the real total was many times > higher. > > " The number is in the dozens, to perhaps up to 100, " > Gen. Paul J. Kern, > the senior officer who oversaw the Army inquiry, > told the Senate Armed > Services Committee. Another investigator, Maj. Gen. > George R. Fay, put > the figure at " two dozen or so, " but both officers > said they could not > give a precise number because no records were kept > on most of the C.I.A. > detainees. > > Under the Geneva Conventions, the temporary failure > to disclose the > identities of prisoners to the Red Cross is > permitted under an exemption > for military necessity. But the Army generals said > they were certain > that the practice used by the C.I.A. in Iraq went > far beyond that. > > The disclosure added to questions about the C.I.A.'s > practices in Iraq, > including why the agency took custody of certain > Iraqi prisoners, what > interrogation techniques it used and what became of > the ghost detainees, > including whether they were ever returned to > military custody. To date, > two cases have been made public in which prisoners > in C.I.A. custody > were removed from Iraq for a period of several > months and held in > detention centers outside the country. > > Another question left unanswered on Thursday was why > Col. Thomas M. > Pappas, the military intelligence officer who > oversaw interrogations at > the prison, agreed to let C.I.A. officers use the > prison to hide ghost > detainees. The Army report said that when Colonel > Pappas raised > questions about the practice, a top military > intelligence officer in > Baghdad at the time, Col. Steven Boltz, encouraged > him to cooperate with > the C.I.A. because " everyone was all one team. " > > Still, General Kern said Colonel Pappas should have > challenged the > practice. " If I was instructed to hold a C.I.A. > detainee in a U.S. Army > facility that I owned, I would make sure that he > abided by our rules, > not someone else's rules, " General Kern told the > House Armed Services > Committee. " If that didn't happen, I would have > asked for a very clear > explanation. " > > Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has > acknowledged that in one case, > acting at the request of George J. Tenet, then the > director of central > intelligence, he ordered military officials in Iraq > in November to hold > a man suspected of being a senior Iraqi terrorist at > Camp Cropper, a > high-level detention center, but not to register > him. That prisoner, > sometimes called Triple-X, had initially been held > at a secret site > outside Iraq by the C.I.A., intelligence officials > said, but was > returned to the country after government lawyers > concluded that as an > Iraqi, he should be held inside the country. > > For several months, Triple-X was later left > unaccounted for within the > military detention system inside Iraq, the Pentagon > has acknowledged. At > least one other prisoner in Iraq, a Syrian, was > initially removed from > the country and held on a Navy ship before being > returned to Abu Ghraib > last fall, military official have said. Intelligence > officials have not > said whether all of the prisoners held in Iraq by > the C.I.A. were later > handed over to military custody. > > In his testimony on Thursday, General Fay said > C.I.A. officials in > Baghdad and at the agency's headquarters in Langley, > Va., refused his > request for information several times, eventually > telling him they were > doing their own inquiry of the matter. > -- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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