Bragg MPs proud with improvements at notorious Abu Ghraib prison

[Barrett808]

Members of the military police brigade that took over Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq say they're proud of the job they did cleaning up the facility made notorious when photos of alleged prisoner abuse came to light.

The scandal was just coming to light as members of Fort Bragg's 16th Military Police Brigade were on their way to Iraq in early 2004. This week, 97 members from the brigade headquarters returned to Fort Bragg, proud of how they had improved conditions at the notorious prison in the ensuing year.

"When we got on the ground, we made sure the soldiers knew what to do in contradiction to what was done in the scandal," said Sgt. 1st Class Michael Bostic, the brigade's senior paralegal. "We made sure it didn't happen again on our watch."

The Fort Bragg MPs were left with the job of cleaning up the chaotic prison and dealing with the fallout after the public saw photographs of U.S. soldiers abusing naked, hooded Iraqi detainees.

A report by military investigators cited "numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses" had been inflicted on Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad between October and December 2003.

"We all know a lot of things went wrong there," said Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, the commander of Fort Bragg and the 18th Airborne Corps, of which the 16th MP Brigade is a part. "(The 16th MPs) came in and they cleaned up a lot of the residuals there and put high standards in place to make sure that we were treating those detained in Abu Ghraib appropriately."

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