US Army report: US abuse of Afghan prisoners 'widespread'

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" Zepp " <zepp

Fri, 20 May 2005 18:23:27 -0700

Subject:[Zepps_News] US Army report: US abuse of Afghan prisoners

'widespread'

 

 

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,1488919,00.html

 

US abuse of Afghan prisoners 'widespread'

 

Sarah Left and agencies

Friday May 20, 2005

 

Three brothers of Dilawar, who died in US custody 18 months ago, pray at

his grave in Yaqubi, Afghanistan. Photograph: Stringer/Reuters

Three brothers of Dilawar, who died in US custody 18 months ago, pray at

his grave in Yaqubi, Afghanistan. Photograph: Stringer/Reuters

 

 

US soldiers carried out widespread abuse of detainees at the US-run

Bagram prison camp in Afghanistan, according to a confidential US army

report revealed today in the New York Times.

 

Seven soldiers have been charged in connection with abuse at Bagram,

where the paper reports that harsh treatment by some interrogators was

routine, prisoners were shackled in painful fixed positions, and guards

could strike shackled detainees with virtual impunity.

 

The army document highlights the deaths in detention of Dilawar, a

22-year-old taxi driver who most interrogators had believed to be

innocent, and another inmate, Habibullah. The two men died within six

days of each other in December 2002.

 

The New York Times carries a graphic account of Dilawar's torture and

death. His legs were beaten so badly that he could not bend them to

kneel, and he was chained for days by his wrists to the roof of his

cell. When he asked for a drink of water during his final interrogation,

one US interrogator punched a hole in a water bottle, handed it to

Dilawar and tormented him as the water poured away before he could

drink, according to an interpreter present at the time.

 

After the interrogation, guards chained Dilawar again to the roof of his

cell, where he was found dead by a doctor several hours later, the paper

reported.

 

The details of prisoner abuse at Bagram follow the notorious photographs

of torture at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and reports that the US has

routinely handed some terrorism suspects over to third countries with

far harsher reputations for torture, a practice known as 'renditions'.

 

The New York Times said it had obtained the army report from someone

involved in the investigation who was critical of the methods used at

Bagram and the military's response to the deaths. The paper reported

that the investigation revealed young, poorly trained soldiers in

repeated incidents of abuse.

 

" What we have learned though the course of all these investigations is

that there were people who clearly violated anyone's standard for humane

treatment. We're finding some cases that were not close calls, " the

Pentagon's spokesman, Larry Di Rita, told the paper.

 

In sworn statements to army investigators, soldiers described

mistreatment ranging from a female interrogator stepping on a detainee's

neck and kicking another in the genitals to a shackled prisoner being

made to kiss the boots of interrogators as he rolled back and forth on

the floor of a cell, according to the newspaper.

 

Another prisoner was made to pick plastic bottle caps out of a drum

filled with a mixture of excrement and water to soften him up for

interrogation, the report said.

 

The New York Times said that in October the army's criminal

investigation command concluded that there was probable cause to charge

27 officers and enlisted personnel with criminal offences in Dilawar's

case, while fifteen of the same soldiers were also cited for probable

criminal responsibility in Habibullah's case. No one has been convicted

in connection with either death.

 

Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel John Skinner said the army

document detailed by the New York Times demonstrated how seriously the

US military considered allegations of abuse.

 

" Any incident is unacceptable, and when there are allegations we

investigate them, " he said, adding that 28 people had been implicated in

the report and seven charged. " The wheels of justice are turning, as

they should be. "

 

Lt Col Skinner said that today there were more than 10 major lines of

inquiry looking into all aspects of detention, alongside increased

oversight, improved training and improved facilities. Notwithstanding

those improvements, the policy from the beginning had been the humane

treatment of detainees, he added.

 

" 99.99% of our military members are upholding our standards every single

day in a difficult and dangerous situation, " he said. Where they don't,

he added, there will be consequences.

 

 

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