Posted on 04/28/2004 12:09:08 PM PDT by Kennesaw
Abuse Of Iraqi Prisoners Probed
April 28, 2004
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt tells Dan Rather he is "appalled" by what happened in a Baghdad prison.
"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." Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt
Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Chip Frederick, one of the soldiers now facing court martial, described to Rather what he saw in the Iraqi prison.
(CBS) A few weeks ago, the U.S. Army announced that 17 soldiers in Iraq had been removed from duty, and six of them were facing court martial for mistreating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, the infamous prison where Saddam Hussein and his henchmen tortured and executed Iraqis for decades.
60 Minutes II has obtained photographs of what was happening in Abu Ghraib. The photos show American soldiers mistreating Iraqi prisoners.
In his Wednesday morning briefing, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said the photographs may be shown in Dan Rather's exclusive report on 60 Minutes II, Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
The discovery of the photographs by the Army led to an investigation which concluded that there were problems at the prison from the general in charge of the prison, to the military police guarding the prisoners. An investigation into abuse claims started in January, after a U.S. soldier came forward with allegations and evidence of abuse.
Kimmitt, in an interview conducted by satellite from Baghdad, told Correspondent Dan Rather: "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....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."
Kimmitt says even though charges have been filed against the six soldiers, a more general investigation continues into how prisoners are interrogated at the prison. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One of the soldiers who is now facing court martial, Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Chip Frederick, described to Rather what he saw in the Iraqi prison.
"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," he said.
Frederick is 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 wrote home to his family about the treatment of prisoners. He said in an e-mail: "We helped getting them to talk with the way we handle them. We've had a very high rate with our styles of getting them to break; they usually end up breaking within hours."
The pictures 60 Minutes II obtained show an Iraqi prisoner who, according to the U.S. Army, was told to stand on a box with his head covered and wires attached to his hands. That prisoner was told that if he fell off the box, he would be electrocuted. In another photograph, prisoners' bodies were stacked in a pyramid - one body had a slur written in English on his skin.
Despite the charges against American soldiers, Kimmitt says Americans shouldn't lose faith in the military – since the investigation is focused on a small number of soldiers, and doesn't reflect the conduct of the vast majority of U.S. forces.
"Frankly, I think all of us are disappointed by the actions of the few," says Kimmitt. "Every day we love our soldiers but frankly, somedays 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 honorably and proudly over here....The Army is a values-based organization. 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."
That said, there's also no excuse for American television networks propagandizing in favor of terrorism. This kind of story should be on the back pages of the local newspaper of the people involved, while telling the story of the court marshal of the perp.
There's no reason for a major American network to tell this story, except to promote John Kerry and promote Anti-Americanism.
I hope people realize that this is the same story line that Kerry came into the public awareness in 1971 as spokesman for the VVAW.
I think the whole point of this is CBS saying "See? John Kerry is right. Our GI's haven't changed from Vietnam. They're still war criminals." So-called mainstream media sucks.
Good point.
What they have apparently been accused of is a long way from "barbaric".
This kind of thing can happen when leadership breaks down.
American self criticality is our strength, despite the media. Train 'em up. Move forward.
Ever onward the good!
Excuse me, but I have the sense that this General Officer is talking just a bit too much. I read the article, and CBS as usual reports with glee any sort of dissent and criticism of our Troops.
Somehow they always seem to find willing people who seem to not be concerned with the long term ramifications of their un thought out remarks.
This General has erred in speaking with CBS about such matters.
Yeah, I heard that John F'n Kerry tortured and brutally killed the enemy. Oh yeah, it was Kerry himself who said so! Barbarian.
Abuses let slide lead to worse abuses - as in My Lai in Vietnam.
This story belongs on the front page of newspapers. The prosecution and publicizing of these crimes tells the world that we do not condone US soldiers torturing and degrading prisoners.
I hope the Army takes pride in the prosecution, and makes sure the sentences mean something.
Promote and give medals to the whistle-blowers.
Kerry's claims of routine US atrocities in Vietnam had plausibility, given the Army's failure to initiate investigation into the My Lai massacre.
Here the Army has initiated the investigation into and prosecution of torture, reducing the plausibility of claims of routine US atrocities in Iraq.
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