Posted on 10/18/2005 9:18:29 AM PDT by FilmCutter
NEW REVELATIONS BY AMERICAN SOLDIERS OF ABUSE IN IRAQ
FRONTLINE Presents “THE TORTURE QUESTION” Tuesday, October 18, 2005, from 9 to 10:30 P.M. ET on PBS
Boston, MA -- Another American soldier has come forward to reveal abusive interrogation techniques by military personnel in Iraq. Tony Lagouranis, a former Army interrogator at Abu Ghraib and member of a special intelligence team in Iraq, has given FRONTLINE a firsthand account of his involvement in the harsh treatment of prisoners.
“It’s all over Iraq,” Lagouranis told FRONTLINE. “The infantry units are torturing people in their homes. They would smash people’s feet with the back of an axhead. They would break bones, ribs. That was serious stuff.”
Lagouranis’ comments are included in an upcoming FRONTLINE, “The Torture Question,” airing nationally on Tuesday, October 18, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings). The program includes interviews with other interrogators who also say the abuse of prisoners throughout Iraq is more widespread than previously reported.
“Most of the abuses around Iraq are not photographed,” a soldier who requested anonymity told FRONTLINE. “And this makes it even harsher, because around Iraq, in the back of a Humvee or in a shipping container, there’s no camera, and there’s no one looking over your shoulder, so you can do anything you want.”
The Pentagon has said the abuses at Abu Ghraib were the acts of a small handful of soldiers and that the problem has not migrated out into the country. “If it was only the night shift at Abu Ghraib, which it was, it was only a small section of the guards that participated in this. It’s a pretty good clue that it wasn’t a more widespread problem,” said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers in August of this year.
Lagouranis tells FRONTLINE that he was using military dogs to threaten prisoners in Mosul in the spring of 2004. “These are big German shepherds. When I would ask the prisoner a question and I didn’t like the answer, I would cue the handler so the dog would bark and jump on the prisoner,” Lagouranis said. “They wet their jumpsuits because they were so scared, especially because they’d have a blindfold and they can’t figure out—you know, that’s a pretty terrifying position to be in.”
The FRONTLINE documentary airs just as Sen. John McCain’s amendment mandating humane treatment of prisoners passed in the U.S. Senate 90-9. President Bush has threatened to veto an appropriations bill containing the McCain amendment if it reaches his desk.
The amendment came after another American soldier, Capt. Ian Fishback, reported to Human Rights Watch that American troops had engaged in prisoner abuse throughout Iraq. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dismissed Fishback’s allegations as “secondhand.”
“Our interview with Tony Lagouranis is a firsthand account of abuse beyond Abu Ghraib,” said FRONTLINE producer Michael Kirk. “We have off-the-record interviews with many more soldiers telling us the abuse at Abu Ghraib was neither unique nor isolated to the prison, and that it continues throughout the country.”
The allegations come at the end of a film that chronicles how the United States government authorized the use of coercive tactics after the Sept. 11 attacks. The film investigates the government’s use of rendition and alleged abuse at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Abu Ghraib; and throughout Iraq.
“The Torture Question” is a FRONTLINE co-production with the Kirk Documentary Group. The producer, writer and director for FRONTLINE is Michael Kirk. The co-producer is Jim Gilmore. The documentary was edited by Steve Audette. The executive producer for FRONTLINE is David Fanning.
FRONTLINE is produced by WGBH Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided by the Park Foundation and through the support of PBS viewers. FRONTLINE is closed-captioned for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation.
Brought to you by the same team that presendted "The Man Who Knew" and "Rumsfeld's War."
This film is scheduled to run on the Arms Service Network on the 20th.
I hope you watch it - It's why we work so hard on them.
The military needs to prosecute this guy. I have no evidence that anyone else did anything, so right now I would not anticipate prosecuting anyone else -- but this guy needs to be in the stockade ASAP. And since his confession is videotaped, I'm guessing his trial will be short.
Well, just remember that John Kerry testified before Congress to acts that soldiers didn't really do.
What's to prevent anonymous sources from making up whatever they want? Why does this have any value?
That's torture?
Frontline, eh? Lemme guess, Amerika is evil, right? I hate those PBS commies.
War is not pleasant, its aim is to kill people and destroy things. Every soldier, sailor, marine and airman is at risk if information is not obtained. The way to stop the long term death and destruction is to make it so unbearable for the enemy that they will quit.
People get hurt and some die during a war.
Boy! Fontline is pulling out all the stops, recently, to bring down this administration and, quite frankly, America as a superpower.
Perhaps we are still in the throws of a Soviet plot to take down America from within!
We only hope that more of them die than us.
Lagouranis should be arrested immediately. Prisoner abuse is a crime in the military and he seems to be saying he was at least an abbetor if not a participant.
This story yet may prove to be untrue or overstated. PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are liberal front organizations. Historically, they act as if they hate America.
Lagouranis should be arrested immediately. Prisoner abuse is a crime in the military and he seems to be saying he was at least an abbetor if not a participant.
This story yet may prove to be untrue or overstated. PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are liberal front organizations. Historically, they act as if they hate America.
Yes! Why hasn't he been arrested? That would be the best PR move the military could make.
And why wasn't Kerry arrested for his admissions? And if they weren't true, why was he not arrested for lying to Congress?
How few people ask these questions.
***************
You work for Frontline? Did you work on this piece?
Hey FilmCutter, care to respond to the posts? Or did you mean to post this on DU?
Well I guess I thought that the film could speak for itself. I like to explain it as a documentary that looks at the huge tsunami of effort and will that occurred after September 11th and how that lead to the scandals of Abu Ghraib.
This is not a "moore-ish" Bush-bashing film. Watch tonight and tell me what you think.
"the huge tsunami of effort and will that occurred after September 11th...lead to the scandals of Abu Ghraib."
Uh-huh. Nice try with the Barry Goldwater quote.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.