John B. Israel: interrogator at Abu Ghraib prison disputes accussations.

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U.S. Civilian Working at Abu Ghraib Disputes Army's Version of His Role in Abuses
By JOEL BRINKLEY
Published: May 26, 2004

WASHINGTON, May 25 — John B. Israel, an Iraqi-American Christian and one of two civilian contractors implicated in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, returned home to California a few weeks ago and, until Monday, was living quietly with his wife, Rosa.

In an interview on Monday at their home in Santa Clarita, Calif., Ms. Israel said that her husband had not even hired a lawyer.

Mr. Israel, who was born in Baghdad in 1955, was one of three Iraqi-Americans working as translators at Abu Ghraib. The Army report on the abuses described him as "either directly or indirectly responsible for the abuses at Abu Ghraib."

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The Army report said that Mr. Israel's statement of ignorance ran contrary to the testimony of several witnesses. It also said he did not have a security clearance, and recommended that he be disciplined.


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The CACI Corporation employed all of the contract interrogators at Abu Ghraib, including Stephen Stefanowicz, who is the other contractor implicated in the scandal. The Army records show that each CACI employee held a secret or top-secret clearance (though two of them did not answer that question). Eleven of the 29 employees served in the military previously; others held a range of jobs with contractors, and other private companies — even police forces — that would have required a clearance.

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The forms asked the workers if they used aliases, and several offered fearsome ones. Kevin Bloodworth, an Air Force veteran from Great Fall, Mont., who is serving as an interrogator, said he was known as Blood. And Timothy Duggan, an interrogator from Pataskala, Ohio, who said he was 6 feet tall and weighed 225 pounds, offered his alias, Big Dog.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/26/politics/26CONT.html?...