Posted on 05/13/2004 8:38:16 PM PDT by saquin
One of the military police officers charged in the abuse scandal at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison has offered to plead guilty and has provided military investigators with a detailed account of how guards humiliated and beat detainees, in one case hitting a prisoner so hard he became unconscious.
Spec. Jeremy C. Sivits, one of the seven members of the 372nd Military Police Company facing charges in the case, told investigators in a sworn statement that other prison guards forced detainees to strip, masturbate and pile on top of one another.
[...]
Sivits told investigators that the abuse would not have happened had higher-ranking members been present. "Our command would have slammed us," he said. "They believe in doing the right thing. If they saw what was going on, there would be hell to pay."
That statement echoes testimony given by one of the initial investigators on the case. During Ambuhl's Article 32 hearing, a session similar to a grand jury proceeding, Tyler Pieron, an Army criminal investigator, said the abuses occurred "after the chain of command had changed shifts and gone home."
Both Sivits and Pieron said that a sergeant first class at one point witnessed an incident and ordered the soldiers to stop. Pieron said he thought the sergeant saw Davis stepping on a detainee.
"They were surprised at how angry he was when he told them to stop," Pieron said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
So we after we now get the truth, I wonder if the Dims will still want Rummy's head. never mind...retorical question...
This must have broken the WaPo reporter's heart to print this.
This was a group of people partying. They had access to these prisoners and decided to have some fun with them. They were not ordered to do any of this. They deserve what's coming to them.
And how about Hackworth getting the photos to the media before the investigation was concluded...what a hack a little patience and the story would have come out..
Thee was a line from the French Constable of the Dauphin at the battle of Agioncourx that is applicable hear.
"Shame! Nothing but shame. Nothing but eternal shame."
Still feel no sympathy for Abu Ghraib inmates, especially not after seeing the Berg pics.
From Henry's St Crispian's Day speech:
"By Jove, I am not covetous for gold, nor care I who doth feed upon my cost. It yearns me not if men my garments wear. Such outward things dwell not in my desires. But if it be a sin to covet honour, I am the most offending sole alive."
I am so grateful to the jihadis that sawed the head from mister Berg. Thank Allah that they didn't put any panties on his head before they cut it off. That would have been an atrocity.
How can you feel that way? The army report said that 60 percent of the inmates being held were there for no reason. The military is curently investigting at least two murders of Prisoners by our troops and looking at 25 others as possible murders. The recent pictures that our congressmen got to look at show even worse abuse.
How should we treat these prisoners? How would you?
I can just hear the newsroom planning session at the alphabet networks tomorrw: "We've done enough prison abuse stories, don't want to bore the people, what can we run instead."
Prisoners being held for "no reason"??? Yah... I'm sure we have nothing better to do over there so people are just rounded up for "no reason" and imprisoned, taking valuable resources to do so. Good grief... you actually buy this?
I've heard of two homicides in custody, one of which was already ruled "justifiable homicide" (self defense) and the other is still pending and under investigation. So what?
It's sorta odd to watch your posts on Iraq... you really enjoy seeing bad news and rejoice in it. Why do you think it would be a good thing to lose this war? I'm actually curious...
I have seen pictures of people, bound hand and foot, being pushed off a 5 story building in Baghdad. Saddam's sadistic torturers had hundreds of other "methods". The prisoners in the particular abu Ghraib cell block where the "shocking" treatment was meted out were supposed to be high level loyalists and Saddam's closest cronies.
It is just possible that some of them were getting a mild hazing compared to what they inflicted on thousands of Saddam's enemies now in Iraq's mass graves.
I believe even the tame report of the Army. What do you believe? Do you care?
Wow, if they get one more witness/plea bargain from another soldier...the remaining guys/gals are going to burn hard and work hard at Leavenworth.
This goes along way in blowing up the "I was ordered to do it"...not that that defense would work but it would be a mitigating factor if proven.
When you absolutely have to get information from a prisoner, the old helicopter ride technique with one of his buddies usually produces results.
Why do I doubt if you would use it even if it could save 1000 American lives?
Oh- And in the interest of full disclosure- I am 100% against this war and always have been. It is hardley a secret on this site.
Hmmmm...was Hack violating the Geneva Convention when he exposed the prisoners to public humiliation?
Hard man huh? Of course how do you know about those 1000 lives? Torture is useless.
I haven't heard any of that.
Honestly, it doesn't matter to me what they might have done. They were treated wrong, and we're better than that. This doesn't make the prisoners any sort of hero, however. That they might be scum of the earth is an interesting sidebar, but it doesn't affect the need to process these cases to the limits of the UCMJ.
'nuf said.
Seems to me that the Army has a pretty good handle on the case, and I see no reason to question the process so far. As violations of policy and law are proved, justice will be meted out. What else should I want?
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