General: Some abuse at Abu Ghraib amounted to torture

CNN | August 25 2004

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The general who compiled the latest report on the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. military personnel at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison said Wednesday that some of the 44 instances of abuse uncovered in the investigation amounted to torture.

"There were some instances where torture was being used," Maj. Gen. George Fay said in a news conference about the report, which the Pentagon released Wednesday.

The report found that 23 U.S. military intelligence personnel and four contractors working with them could be associated with the abuses, a military official said.

Gen. Paul Kern, the appointing authority for the investigation, said six other military intelligence personnel and two contractors saw the abuses happening but did not report them.

The 23 military personnel in the report will be referred to military authorities for possible charges. One of those named in the report is Col. Thomas Pappas, commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade.

Fay said Pappas was not directly involved in the abuse but that he is being referred for failures in leadership.

Kern said the contractors would be referred to the Justice Department for possible charges.

He said the investigation also found that at least eight "ghost" detainees were kept at Abu Ghraib. They were not registered on official logs and were allegedly moved around the facility and hidden from representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Kern said the CIA has been asked to investigate some of the report's findings, and Fay said the CIA had promised to conduct an investigation into the matter.

The report detailed 44 incidents of abuse, ranging from unlawful stress positions to using dogs in the course of interrogations.

The report also criticized Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq when the abuse took place.

"We did not find Sanchez culpable, but we did find him responsible for the things that happened," Kern said.

He said Sanchez put great emphasis on getting intelligence from prisoners in an effort to stop those who were conducting attacks on U.S.-led coalition forces.