"If they let their feet or hands drop they were slapped and shouted at. Ahmad said he was forced to insert a finger into his anus and lick it. He was also forced to lick and chew a shoe. For some of the interrogation tissue paper was placed in his mouth and he had difficulty breathing and speaking. Sattar too said he was forced to insert a finger into his anus and lick it. He was then told to insert this finger in his nose during questioning, still kneeling with his feet off the ground and his other arm in the air. The Arab interpreter told him he looked like an elephant.The above was taken from an account given by three Reuters employees who were detained back in January of 2004 by American forces and held for downing an American helicopter.
Read more about this mess, if you're not completely disgusted/tired of it by now, at EditorandPublisher.com.
Oh yeah and according to a May 19, 2004 article at CNN.com, Gen. John Abizaid, the chief of U.S. forces in the Middle East, told the Senate on May 19, 2004 that "there was no pattern of prisoner abuse by American troops."
Read that article at CNN.com.
Last but not least, there are reports coming out of Iraq that an American gunship fired on a wedding party, killing more than 40 people. The AP claims that they shot video tape of a truck that carried the bodies from the wedding. Thanks to the bodies being piled on top of one another (at least one missing a head) an exact count was impossible.
Read more about this at My Way News.
UPDATED 5/20/4 11:15am: This attack has been justified by US forces as a planned attack on an insurgent safe house. They're saying that the wedding was a cover for smuggling in fighters from outside the country to help fight US forces.
Read more about USMil excuses for firing on a wedding at CNN.com.
From EditorandPublisher.com:
From CNN.com:Exclusive: Shocking Details on Abuse of Reuters Staffers in Iraq
By Greg Mitchell
Published: May 19, 2004 1:35 PM EST
NEW YORK In the wake of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, Reuters revealed on Tuesday that three Iraqis working for the company, and another Iraqi journalist working for NBC News, were seized for no reason in early January by the U.S. military and taken to a prison near Fallujah where they were subjected to physical and sexual abuse, among other forms of mistreatment. The U.S. military has denied the accusations.
E&P today obtained from Reuters a report submitted to the company's senior editors in mid-January, less than two weeks after the journalists were detained, by Bureau Chief Andrew Marshall, who had interviewed the three staffers separately. The Reuters employees are Salem Ureibi, who has worked for the company since 1991, mainly as a cameraman; Ahmad Mohammad al-Badrani, who has worked with Reuters on a freelance basis since July 2003, shooting video; and Sattar Jabar al-Badrani, a driver.
Marshall observed in his report, "It should be noted that the bulk of their mistreatment -- including their humiliating interrogations and the mental and physical torment of the first night which all agreed was the worst part of their ordeal -- occurred several hours AFTER I had informed the 82nd Airborne Division that they were Reuters staff. I have e-mail proof of this."
Here are excerpts from Marshall's report:
"When the soldiers approached them they were standing by their car, a blue Opel. Salem Uraiby shouted 'Reuters, Reuters, journalist, journalist.' At least one shot was fired into the ground close to them.
"They were thrown to the ground and soldiers placed guns to their heads. Their car was searched. Soldiers found their camera equipment and press badges and discovered no weapons of any kind. Their hands were cuffed behind their backs and they were thrown roughly into a Humvee where they lay on the floor. ...
"After half an hour to an hour they were transferred to a larger armored vehicle. Ahmad and Sattar (along with NBC stringer Ali who I have yet to formally interview) were thrown on the floor under the seats. ...
"Once they arrived at the U.S. base (this was FOB Volturno near Fallujah) they were kept in a holding area with around 40 other prisoners in a large room with several open windows. It was bitterly cold. They were given one blanket between two. All were interrogated separately at different times and the worst treatment they suffered was on the first night when for several hours (they believe it was from around midnight until dawn) all of them were put in a room together and subjected to hours of abuse.
"Bags were alternately placed on their heads and taken off again. Deafening music was played on loudspeakers directly into their ears and they were told to dance around the room. Sometimes when they were doing this, soldiers would shine very bright torches directly into their eyes and hit them with the torches. They were told to lie on the floor and wiggle their backsides in the air to the music. They were told to do repeated press ups and to repeatedly stand up from a crouching position and then return to the crouching position.
"Soldiers would move between them, whispering things in their ear. Ahmad and Sattar did not understand what was whispered. Salem says they whispered that they wanted to have sex with him and were saying "come on, just for two minutes."T hey also said he should bring his wife so they could have sex with her. ...
"Soldiers would whisper in their ears "One, two, three..." and then shout something loudly right beside their ear. All of this went on all night. ... Ahmad said he collapsed by morning. Sattar said he collapsed after Ahmad and began vomiting. ...
"When they were taken individually for interrogation, they were interrogated by two American soldiers and an Arab interpreter. All three shouted abuse at them. They were accused of shooting down the helicopter. Salem, Ahmad and Sattar all reported that for their first interrogation they were told to kneel on the floor with their feet raised off the floor and with their hands raised in the air.
"If they let their feet or hands drop they were slapped and shouted at. Ahmad said he was forced to insert a finger into his anus and lick it. He was also forced to lick and chew a shoe. For some of the interrogation tissue paper was placed in his mouth and he had difficulty breathing and speaking. Sattar too said he was forced to insert a finger into his anus and lick it. He was then told to insert this finger in his nose during questioning, still kneeling with his feet off the ground and his other arm in the air. The Arab interpreter told him he looked like an elephant. ...
"Ahmad and Sattar both said that they were given badges with the letter 'C' on it. They did not know what the badges meant but whenever they were being taken from one place to another in the base, if any soldier saw their badge they would stop to slap them or hurl abuse.
"The four were moved about half way through their detention to another camp. Because they had totally lost track of time by this stage all are hazy about exactly when this was. But according to an e-mail I received on the morning of Sunday January 4 from Captain Ryan Derouin, my point of contact at FOB Volturno who I had met in person there the day before, they were transferred at around 0900 local time on January 4 to the 3rd Brigade Detention Facility at St Mere, next to the Volturno base, for 'further processing.'
"When they were leaving the first base, soldiers were laughing and saying 'Cuba, Cuba.' Ahmad and Sattar say that they were initially cuffed and had bags placed over their heads and made to lie on the ground with barbed wire all around them. They were told that if they raised their heads or touched the barbed wire it would be very dangerous for them.
"Ahmad and Sattar say that when they were finally taken into the second base, they were treated better. They were given adequate bedding and their interrogation sessions were less intense. Ahmad says at one point he was allowed to rest in a warm and comfortable tent.
"Salem, Ahmad and Sattar say that their detention ended when the numbers they were assigned were called out. ..."© 2004 VNU eMedia Inc.
From the AP and My Way News:General: No pattern of abuse at prisons
New images of Abu Ghraib abuse found
Wednesday, May 19, 2004 Posted: 1:22 PM EDT (1722 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The chief of U.S. forces in the Middle East told a Senate panel Wednesday there was no pattern of prisoner abuse by American troops.
But Gen. John Abizaid said preliminary findings by the Army's inspector general cite problems in training and organization and recommend "very specific changes."
"I specifically asked the [inspector general] of the Army, did he believe that there was a pattern of abuse of prisoners in the Central Command area of operation?" Abizaid testified. "And he looked at both Afghanistan and Iraq, and he said no."
Pentagon investigators have found a new disc of images documenting the abuse of inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, Sen. John Warner, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, announced during the hearing.
"I'll soon advise the committee on the conditions under which -- and the timing -- it can be viewed," said Warner, R-Virginia.
Abizaid and Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of American and coalition troops in Iraq, were the main witnesses at the hearing. Also testifying was Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, the officer in charge of prison operations there.
Sanchez said he put the prison under the command of a military intelligence brigade in November to improve the facility's defenses after a series of mortar attacks in late 2003. But he said responsibility for running the prison remained under a military police brigade.
He warned senators that "this awful episode at Abu Ghraib must not allow us to get distracted" from the war against insurgents in Iraq.
"The honor and value systems of our armed forces are solid and the bedrock of what makes us the best in the world," Sanchez said. "There has been no catastrophic failure, and America's armed forces will never compromise their honor."
He denied a published report that he approved the use of sleep deprivation, excessive noise and intimidation in one case, saying, "I never approved the use of any of those measures ... in the 12 and a half months that I've been in Iraq."
Photographs of U.S. troops mistreating naked, hooded prisoners at Abu Ghraib, near Baghdad, surfaced in April. Members of Congress were given the chance last week to review the Pentagon's full collection of photographs and video, which several lawmakers said were more graphic than those previously made public.
The Army has been investigating the abuses since January. Seven soldiers -- all members of an Army reserve military police company -- have been charged in the case, and six officers have received career-ending reprimands.
One soldier, Spc. Jeremy Sivits, pleaded guilty in a court-martial held Wednesday in Baghdad and was sentenced to a year's confinement. (Full story)
But some of the soldiers facing charges have said they were acting under orders from military intelligence personnel at the prison.
Reports of male detainees being abused by being stripped naked and forced to wear female underwear began to surface in December 2003, but senior officicials said had "collective disbelief" that such activities could be undertaken by U.S. military, according to two senior officers familiar with the investigation.
It was not until January that a soldier made a direct report of misconduct, prompting Sanchez to order a criminal investigation.
CNN's Barbara Starr contributed to this report.© 2004 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.
From CNN.com:U.S. Reportedly Kills 40 Iraqis at Party
May 19, 1:43 PM (ET)
By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A U.S. helicopter fired on a wedding party early Wednesday in western Iraq, killing more than 40 people, Iraqi officials said. The U.S. military said it could not confirm the report and was investigating.
Lt. Col Ziyad al-Jbouri, deputy police chief of the city of Ramadi, said between 42 and 45 people died in the attack, which took place about 2:45 a.m. in a remote desert area near the border with Syria and Jordan. He said those killed included 15 children and 10 women.
Dr. Salah al-Ani, who works at a hospital in Ramadi, put the death toll at 45.
Associated Press Television News obtained videotape showing a truck containing bodies of those allegedly killed.
About a dozen bodies, one without a head, could be clearly seen. but it appeared that bodies were piled on top of each other and a clear count was not possible.
The Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television reported that more than 20 people were killed and 10 injured in the attack.
Iraqis interviewed on the videotape said partygoers had fired into the air in a traditional wedding celebration. American troops have sometimes mistaken celebratory gunfire for hostile fire.
"I cannot comment on this because we have not received any reports from our units that this has happened nor that any were involved in such a tragedy," Lt. Col. Dan Williams, a U.S. military spokesman, wrote in an e-mail in response to a question from The Associated Press.
"We take all these requests seriously and we have forwarded this inquiry to the Joint Operations Center for further review and any other information that may be available," Williams said.
The video footage showed mourners with shovels digging graves. A group of men crouched and wept around one coffin.
Al-Ani said people at the wedding fired weapons in the air, and that American troops came to investigate and left. However, al-Ani said, helicopters attacked the area at about 3 a.m. Two houses were destroyed, he said.
"This was a wedding and the (U.S.) planes came and attacked the people at a house. Is this the democracy and freedom that (President) Bush has brought us?" said a man on the videotape, Dahham Harraj. "There was no reason."
Another man shown on the tape, who refused to give his name, said the victims were at a wedding party "and the U.S. military planes came... and started killing everyone in the house."
In July 2002, Afghan officials said 48 civilians at a wedding party were killed and 117 wounded by a U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province. An investigative report released by the U.S. Central Command said the airstrike was justified because American planes had come under fire.© 2002-2004 My Way
U.S.: Iraqi 'safe house' attacked
Witnesses say wedding guests were killed
Thursday, May 20, 2004 Posted: 12:18 PM EDT (1618 GMT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. attack on an Iraqi desert village that witnesses said killed dozens of wedding guests was "no accident," but a targeted strike on a safe house for fighters attempting to enter the country from Syria, a U.S. general said Thursday.
But an Iraqi official said the account of the witnesses appears to be correct, saying the U.S. may have mistaken celebratory gunfire from the wedding for an attack.
Iraqi witnesses shown in a video from The Associated Press said at least 20 people were killed and another five were critically wounded early Wednesday when planes fired on a wedding celebration in a western Iraqi village near the Syrian border.
U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, a coalition military spokesman in Baghdad, said the target was a safe house for smuggling foreign fighters into Iraq from Syria.
"We had specific intelligence that showed foreign fighters infiltrated into Iraq," Kimmitt said. "You and I both know these people have been responsible for many of the problems in Fallujah, many of the bombs that we see inside this country. So, as a coalition, we have a responsibility to attack foreign fighters."
A senior coalition official said Wednesday that as many as 40 people were killed in the attack.
Kimmitt said Thursday that ground troops returned fire when they were fired upon, and found evidence to support their suspicions after the firefight.
"We picked up many weapons," Kimmitt said. "We picked up over 2 million Iraqi dinar. We picked up satellite communication devices. We picked up foreign passports. So, we believe that the target location was that of a foreign fighter sanctuary, and we took the appropriate obligatory actions as the coalition in the Iraqi security forces to ensure the people of Iraq stay safe."
A Pentagon spokesman told CNN, "Our report is that this was not a wedding party."
But Iraqi Governing Council Mahmoud Othman said "the story of the local people looks to be correct."
"When there is a wedding, people shoot in the sky," Othman said. "Probably the Americans thought this was some shooting at their helicopter and they shot back and made that mistake."
"When you look at the photo, you see children killed," Othman said. "They don't look like terrorists, some of them are children."
The AP video showed at least a dozen bodies, including small children, wrapped in blankets for burial as they were unloaded from a truck. Men with picks and shovels were digging graves in the video.
Witnesses and U.S. military sources identified the village as near Qa'im, which maps show is on the Iraqi side of the Syrian border, along the Euphrates River.© 2004 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.
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