Iraqi
prisoner abuse
ABC news report - April 2004
Photographs aired by
the network on 60 Minutes II include one showing a prisoner standing on
a box with a hood over his head and wires coming from his hands.
The network says he
was told he would be electrocuted if he fell off.
Other pictures show
nude prisoners lying on each other and simulating oral sex as US troops
point and laugh.
The Deputy Chief of
Military Operations in Iraq, General Mark Kimmitt, called the actions reprehensible.
"We're appalled.
... These are our fellow soldiers, these are the people we work with every
day, they represent us, they wear the same uniform as us, and they let their
fellow soldiers down," Gen Kimmitt said.
"We expect our
soldiers to be treated well by the adversary, by the enemy... and if we
can't hold ourselves up as an example of how to treat people with dignity
and respect, we can't ask that other nations do that to our soldiers."
The program spoke to
one of the six soldiers charged, Army Reserve Staff Sergeant Chip Frederick.
He has been charged
with maltreatment, assault and indecent acts for posing for a photograph
while sitting on top of a detainee, striking detainees and ordering detainees
to strike each other, among other things.
Frederick, a prison
guard from Virginia in civilian life, and his lawyer Gary Myers blamed the
problems at the prison on the atmosphere created by commanders.
"We had no support,
no training whatsoever," Mr Myers told CBS.
Indeed, the army investigation
found a lack of leadership at the prison and concluded soldiers at the prison,
most of whom are reservists, are not trained on rules for handling prisoners
of war under the Geneva Convention.
Videos
Amplify Picture of Violence
Washington Post - Friday, May. 21, 2004; 7:00 AM
watch in the window at the head of the page
Editor's Note: Images in this video may be disturbing because of their violent
or graphic nature.
The edited video excerpt
is from a collection of short digital video files obtained by The Washington
Post. The videos appear to show U.S. soldiers abusing detainees last fall
in Abu Ghraib prison.
In this video, soldiers
are shown apparently attempting to arrange a human pyramid with naked Iraqi
prisoners -- a scene similar to those also shown in previously obtained
photographs.
The video, which was
originally recorded sideways, has been edited to display vertically here
and certain body parts have been obscured. The brightness of the video,
which appeared to have been recorded in low light, was increased as well.
