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May 2003 was an uncomfortable time in Iraq. The President of the United States had just announced that combat operations were complete and force levels were beginning to be reduced, following the defeat of the Iraqi army in the field. But the vacuum that had been created by the toppling of the Ba'athist regime of Saddam Hussein had not been filled - and clearly the people needed some form of leadership after 35 years of one-party rule. That vacuum was made more severe by the removal of the Iraqi army and police, resulting in an outbreak of lawlessness that was...

A senior US military officer said that new pictures showing apparent abuse of Iraqi prisoners did not accurately reflect the good work done by the thousands of American soldiers in Iraq. But General Mark Kimmitt acknowledged in an interview with al-Jazeera television that some people would use the photos to tarnish the image of America's military. Kimmitt, a senior US Central Command officer, spoke on the pan-Arab television network a day after the US military launched a criminal investigation into photographs that appear to show US Navy SEALs in Iraq sitting on hooded and handcuffed detainees, and photos of what...

The U.S. military has launched a criminal investigation into photographs that appear to show Navy SEALs in Iraq sitting on hooded and handcuffed detainees, and photos of what appear to be bloodied prisoners, one with a gun to his head. Some of the photos have date stamps suggesting they were taken in May 2003, which could make them the earliest evidence of possible abuse of prisoners in Iraq. The far more brutal practices photographed in Abu Ghraib prison occurred months later. An Associated Press reporter found more than 40 of the pictures among hundreds in an album posted on a...

The Congressional Abuse Excuse By Irwin N. Graulich May 18, 2004 Shame on the 20 or so American soldiers who abused, or rather humiliated Iraqi prisoners. What is truly ironic is that in New York City, there are many UN officials who are paying East Side women in brownstones upwards of $500 an hour to be put on a leash or have women's underwear placed over their heads. Overwhelmingly, the world has not focused quite as much on the terrorism directed against the soldiers or the kidnapping of civilians. Instead, they obsess over the 20 miscreants, while disregarding the 134,980...

First, please read Senator Inhofe's statement on the floor of the Senate: First of all, I regret I wasn't here on Friday. I was unable to be here but maybe it's better that I wasn't because as I watch this outrage -- this outrage everyone seems to have about the treatment of these prisoners -- I have to say, and I'm probably not the only one up at this table that is more outraged by the outrage than we are by the treatment. The idea that these prisoners -- you know, they're not there for traffic violations. If they're in...

First, we put the abuses of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib in proper context. One meaning of this story is to demonstrate that we are in a battle between two civilizations. Ours is a modern one, in which people who violate civilized standards on treatment of prisoners will be prosecuted and punished. On the other side is a barbaric civilization, in which graft, torture and mass murder are not only not punished, the perpetrators are praised and supported. No one should doubt at this point that we face a conflict as clear as that between the Romans and the Goths....

In a few weeks, George Bush will travel to Omaha Beach for the 60th anniversary of D-Day. The image of the American soldier of that "Greatest Generation" is of a selfless and heroic liberator of Europe. It is the image of the soldier we cherish, the ideal we honor with the new memorial on the Mall. Unfortunately, the image of the American soldier the world has seen this week is that of the jailers of Abu Ghraib humiliating hooded and naked Iraqi prisoners of war in their cellblock. Though this was degraded conduct, it does not compare in evil to...

"Instead of apologizing for the actions of troops who have been dispatched to a Middle Eastern hellhole half-a-world-away to keep the wolf from our door, the Bush administration should get off the defensive and begin to put this over-hyped episode in perspective."

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has offered his "deepest apologies" to Iraqi inmates mistreated by US troops. Mr Rumsfeld told Congress he bore responsibility for the issue. But he strongly denied the Pentagon had not taken "swift, corrective" action - and ordered an inquiry on the handling of the abuse by his department. Mr Rumsfeld said only when he saw the abuse photos on Thursday - and there were many more than those aired - did he realise how grave the situation was. Faced by calls to step down he said: "Needless to say, if I thought I could not...

Mr. Abd spoke with no particular anger at the American occupation, though he has seen it closer than most Iraqis. In six months in prisons run by American soldiers, in fact, he said most of them had treated him well and with respect. "Most of the time, they wouldn't even say, `Shut up,' " he said. That changed in November...when punishment for a prisoner fight at Abu Ghraib degenerated into torture. That night, he said, he and six other inmates were beaten... ...an American military investigator came to visit him. He showed Mr. Abd the pictures and said he needed...

We are in danger of losing something much more important than just the war in Iraq. We are in danger of losing America as an instrument of moral authority and inspiration in the world. I have never known a time in my life when America and its president were more hated around the world than today. I was just in Japan, and even young Japanese dislike us. It's no wonder that so many Americans are obsessed with the finale of the sitcom Friends right now. They're the only friends we have, and even they're leaving. This administration needs to undertake...

Wife: Soldiers in Iraqi Abuse Case Are Scapegoats Tue May 4, 2004 10:45 AM ET By Sue Pleming WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. soldiers accused of abusing Iraqi prisoners were following orders and are being used as scapegoats to protect their superiors, the wife of one of the soldiers and the lawyer for another said Tuesday. Martha Frederick defended her husband, a soldier who faces prosecution for the abuse of Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. " He was told to do these things and when he did them he thought that he was doing them in the sense...

U.S. soldiers stacked Iraqi prisoners in a human pyramid, and attached wires to one detainee to convince him he might be electrocuted, according to photographs obtained by CBS News which led to criminal charges against six Americans. CBS said the photos, to be shown Wednesday night on "60 Minutes II," were taken late last year at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, where American soldiers were holding hundreds of prisoners captured during the invasion and occupation of Iraq. In March, the U.S. Army announced that six members of the 800th Military Police Brigade faced court martial for allegedly abusing about 20...

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...

THE young mum who uncovered the Iraqi PoW sex snaps scandal said last night: “I felt sick to the stomach at those pictures.” Kelly Tilford, 22, called police after developing a film in her photo shop. The shocking pictures — revealed by The Sun yesterday — showed male Iraqis apparently forced into sexual positions by their British captors. In another a prisoner was suspended by rope from a fork-lift truck driven by a laughing Brit. Fusilier Gary Bartlam, 18, of Tamworth, Staffs, is being grilled by the Army’s top criminal investigator — amid fears the scandal is the tip of...