SHOCKING PICTURES SHOW HOW SOLDIERS TREATED IRAQI PRISONERS IN SADDAM'S JAIL

Drudge Report ^ | Apr 30, 2004 | UK DAILY MAIL

[ZULU]

TORTURED, ABUSED AND HUMILIATED - SHOCKING PICTURES SHOW HOW SOLDIERS TREATED IRAQI PRISONERS IN SADDAM'S JAIL Fri Apr 30, 2004 UK DAILY MAIL

FOR decades, Saddam Hussein's infamous Abu Ghraib dungeon was the scene of unspeakable cruelty against Iraqi prisoners.

Now the Americans are in charge - but the torture has continued.

Photographs have emerged showing Iraqis being sexually abused and bullied by their U.S. captors.

One, shown on Page One, depicts a hooded prisoner standing on a box with wires attached to his hands. He was wrongly given to believe that if he fell off the box he would be electrocuted.

The sickening pictures, shown across the U. S. on the CBS network, have outraged Americans and are expected to redouble the fury of Iraqis already pursuing a relentless campaign of death and destruction against the occupying forces, ten more of whom died yesterday. In the words of one leading Marine: 'We'll be paid back for this.'

Screened on the authoritative 60 Minutes news programme, the photograpsh showed male and female soldiers laughing, pointing and giving the thumbs-up sign as they humiliated the PoWs.

The sickening snaps, including shots where jeering soldiers pose next to their helpless and, in many cases, naked prisoners, were taken as trophies - souvenirs to show their friends and family back home.

They came to light only when one of the men involved gave a photo to a soldier from another unit, who was so shocked he took it to his commanders.

Television chiefs said they obtained 12 pictures, but said the army had confiscated 'many, many more'. One shows naked Iraqi prisoners stacked in a human pyramid, with a slur written in English on the skin of one.

Others handed to military investigators show naked Iraqis forced to simulate sex acts, a detainee with wires attached to his genitals and a prisoner attacked by a dog.

The photographs were all taken late last year at Abu Ghraib, where U.S. troops were guarding hundreds of prisoners captured during the Iraqi invasion.

They led to criminal charges against six military policemen who are being court martialled for allegedly abusing about 20 Iraqis.

In addition the military has recommended disciplinary action against seven U.S. officers who helped run the prison, including Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, the commander of the 800 Military Police Brigade, who has been suspended from duty.

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said last night in Baghdad that the investigation began in January when an American soldier reported the abuse and turned over evidence that included photographs.

'That soldier said, "There are some things going on here that I can't live with".'

Kimmitt said he was 'appalled' at the photographs. '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.

'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,' he told CBS.

One of those facing court martial is Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Chip Frederick. He is charged with maltreatment, assault and indecent acts, striking detainees and ordering detainees to strike each other.

Interviewed by telephone on the 60 Minutes programme, he said he would plead not guilty and added: 'We had no support, no training whatsoever, and I kept asking my chain of command for certain things, rules and regulations, and it just wasn't happening.'

60 Minutes also quoted, however, from an e-mail which Frederick reportedly sent to his family, in which he said of Iraqi prisoners: 'We've had a very high rate with our styles of getting them to break; they usually end up breaking within hours.' Kimmitt insisted only a small minority of soldiers were responsible for the abuse.

'Frankly, I think all of us are disappointed by the actions of the few,' he said. 'Every day we love our soldiers but frankly, some days we're not always proud of our soldiers. It's a small, small minority of people we're talking about here, less than a dozen out of the 150,000 who are serving honourably and proudly over here.

'We live by our values. Some of our soldiers every day die by our values and these acts that you see in these pictures may reflect the actions of individuals but by God it doesn't reflect my army.'

The Baghdad prison scandal is disturbingly reminiscent of how the Americans' cruel treatment of prisoners was revealed at Camp X-Ray in Cuba following the Afghanistan conflict by photos showing the hooded captives chained like animals in open-air cages. They were also paraded in orange jump-suits. With the reasons for invading Iraq under increasing scrutiny, this will cause further damage to America's attempts to persuade the rest of the world it was in the right.

Former Marine Lieutenant Colonel Bill Cowan said: "We went into Iraq to stop things like this from happening and here they are happening under our tutelage.

'We will be paid back for this. These people at some point will be let out. Their families, their friends are going to know.

'If we don't tell this story, these kinds of things will continue, and we'll end up getting paid back 100 or 1,000 times over.'

CBS executives received an appeal from the chairman of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, two weeks ago to hold the story because of the dangers of a backlash against soldiers in Iraq from outraged insurgents.

But it was agreed for the photos to be shown this week because other news outlets had obtained similar pictures.

END

[wingster]

Sgt Chip Frederick is a lying piece of Dog-Shiite who is trying to cover his own ass in a vain attempt to escape maximum punichment. I have been in the AF for 22+ years, and trust me -- we are trained every single year in the Law of Armed Conflict, Geneva Convention, Rules of Engagement, and TREATMENT of Prisoners, both Combatant and Non-Combatant

This little pussbag should be prosecuted for War-Crimes, abuse, assault, and whatever else they can pin on him. Then he should be marched out in front of his fellow soldiers and summarily executed.

I would tend to agree with you, but perhaps that's correct. And if so, I agree, he should be held to a very open and public spectacle of a war crimes trial. There's no excuse for it. Have you ever researched this: http://www.prisonexp.org/

[Old Sarge]

Oh, I and a whole bunch of my barracks mates agree with you:

Kill one US troop, waste a dozen of theirs.

Hit one of our convoys, make them lose a parking lot's worth.

Level one of our buildings, reduce a city of theirs to ash.

It would've solved not a few of our current issues. But we're the shooters - we depend on the civilians to tell us where to go, and what to do. And, CINC and SecDef are both civilians.

[wingster]

I'll say this too. I'm a little skeptical since in not one of those photos did I see a unit isignia, or any other identifying mark. For now, until some of this is confirmed by a real and objective source, these people could all be actors in some d-class poly-sci piece of agendized trash. It may not be, but until there's a degree of credibility associated with it I'm still awaiting the details and the extent of the truth here.

[SZonian]

Zulu,

I'm only replying to you but this is to all those calling for the prison commanders head. I can only surmise from the text of the article that she had nothing to do with it, only the one in charge of these folks.

Let's assume the trooper who exposed (no pun intended) this incident went to her first and she ignored it, then I would be calling for her head. Lack of leadership and clear standards are subjective.

But the article doesn't say that, she will be held accountable, but to what extent is it necessary? Essentially her career is over, it's the actual conduct of these soldiers which sickens me.

Commish stated that in the AF we rec'd a lot of MANDATORY training concerning the Law of Armed Conflict, treatment of prisoners, etc. These soldiers would have rec'd the same training prior to being deployed to the country. These are the real criminals in this instance. The commander may have been lacking in her ability to lead, but there were numerous other mid-level officers and senior NCO's who could have taken the lead in this and prevented it. There seems to be a lot of blame to spread around in this one, but it should land squarely on the perpetrators' heads.

JMO

Cheers!

[AmericanInTokyo]

Except that the President, our Commander in Chief, was briefed about this situation apparantly a few days ago or in the last week or so at least, and reports are it has troubled him. And several of them have specifically been put on the track for court martial, with the General relieved. I'd say the military does not do this kind of thing, without some evidence of culpability.

[Howlin]

FGS, I saw the pictures on CBS. Do you think they were fake? The guy on the phone who is involved sure didn't deny they did it.

[Howlin]

but when people are trying to kill you, you lose your sanctity of life convictions in a hurry.

Really? Do you take pictures of yourselves, smiling, giving the thumbs up? Is that how it's done?

[ZULU]

"Oh, I and a whole bunch of my barracks mates agree with you:

Kill one US troop, waste a dozen of theirs.

Hit one of our convoys, make them lose a parking lot's worth.

Level one of our buildings, reduce a city of theirs to ash."

THIS is the language these people understand and appreciate. And it would work.

" we depend on the civilians to tell us where to go, and what to do. "

The civilians should decide whether or not to go to war and when to establish a peace.

They should leave tactics and strategy to the people who best know about it - the military (within reasonable confines of the Geneva Convention - which the military is perfectly capable of administering - as I am sure we will see in this instance.)

[reed_inthe_wind]

Agreed - No excuse for their behavior whatsoever.

The "coincidence" if that is what it is, is a reminder to all Americans that the war on terror, and what is called "the mystery of evil" are at least cousins.

[Howlin]

This was what was reported on CBS; I'm not saying that part is true, I am saying that I saw the pictures and they are disgusting and absolutely inexcusable.

[ZULU]

Well said.

[ought-six]

"Even if you believe every word I have a hard time designating this as TORTURE!"

I quite agree. Humiliation yes, but torture? No way is it even close to torture.

[AntiGuv]

LOL! Good one..

[ZULU]

I'm a great admirer of the Ancient Romans and their tactics and the way they responded.

In short, they believed in the responses you enumerated - the immedaite use of overwheming force against anyone who defied them, and refusal to treat with or negotiate with an enemy in arms.

It worked in WW2.

[Howlin]

Did you see that picture in #16? That's the BEST of them, believe me.

[Khurkris]

"Plus, we got 'blood wings'."

Ditto that. And damn proud to get 'em. From a time when wearing Jump Wings actually meant something more than falling out an airplane.

[OldFriend]

Sheesh, all this whining and gnashing of teeth by our own military.

[cyncooper]

President Bush taking questions in the Rose Garden right now.

Reporter asks about this and the reporter frames it "How do you expect to win hearts and minds with tactics like that", as if it was officially condoned treatment.

Of course President Bush said it is not, he was disgusted to hear the allegations and they will be investigated and dealt with as it is NOT our policy.

[hchutch]

I agree. At the same time, let the investigation run its course.

They seem to be filing some charges, so let;s get all sides of this story, and deal with the matter appropriately. Once all the FACTS are in.

And what could ALSO be interesting is to see who some of these prisoners were. There have been instances where our guys went over the edge, as detailed in this old thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b407bf840f5.htm

I'm going to let the investigators deal with this matter and NOT merely rely on media reports. They tend to be VERY incomplete.

[BJClinton]

Comparing things with what went on in those same prisons under Saddam, right at the beginning of the article, told me all I need to know about the intention of the author.

You beat me to it. Considering the hundreds of thousands murdered, raped and really tortured by Saddam this is nothing. Look at how much of the Muslim world handles law-enforcement...and they want to get their kaffiyahs in a wad over this?