25 Prisoners Died While Held by U.S. Forces

[TacticalPeek]

25 Prisoners Died While Held by U.S. Forces
Tue May 4, 2004 04:24 PM ET

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Twenty-five prisoners have died
while being held by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and
two of them were murdered in Iraq by Americans, U.S. Army
officials said on Tuesday.

An Army official said one soldier was convicted of murder in
the U.S. military justice system for shooting a prisoner to death
in September 2003 at a detention center in Iraq, and another
prisoner was killed at the Abu Ghraib jail near Baghdad in
November 2003 by a private contractor who worked as an
interrogator for the CIA.

The soldier was reduced in rank to private and thrown out of
the service but did not serve any jail time, the official said. The
official said the soldier shot the prisoner after the prisoner had
thrown rocks at the soldier, and the soldier was found to have
used excessive force.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said because the CIA contractor was
not in the U.S. military no legal action was taken because of lack of jurisdiction, but Army
officials referred the case to the Justice Department for possible action. The official did
not offer details of this killing.


http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5038799§ion=news

[samsingh]

1. i suspect foul play.

[RPM]

2. Shocker...

Shame on us.

:spank:

[G_j]

3. if this is from U.S. Army officials

then you know there must be more.

[Karenina]

16. Indeed.

This is the number they think they MIGHT have to admit to. You can bet your sweet bippy that if you DOUBLE IT, it would still be a gross undercount.

[maddezmom]

4. half truths - they left out 2 deaths in Afghanistan

or should I say murders.......

[aquart]

5. "Lack of jurisdiction" is reason enough to ban them.

We pay these "contractors," these privateers, out of the American taxpayers pocket, and we "lack jurisdiction"?

This is an outrage.

[GreenArrow]

9. that's the crux of the privatization issue

the more our social institutions, whether utilities, prisons, schools, the military, etc. are privatized, the more we cease to have any say/responsibility as citizens, and yet we still have to pay the bastards. At least our elected and appointed officials have a nominal responsibility to us as citizens, but these contractors, mercenaries, and "entrepreneurs" have none.

[icymist]

25. So, by using privatized contractors the multi-national corporations

trump our rights as citizens of the United States in holding our government accountable for it's actions? These corporate mercenaries can then ignore the Geneva Convention and all other treaties and laws concerning human rights, and the do this IN OUR NAME? I believe that it's time to revoke the rights of corporations, these institutions are not human beings.

[maddezmom]

6. Condi quote: We're in Iraq to liberate a people, to help them," she added.

"The president has told the secretary of defense that he expects people to be held accountable, and that he wants, too, to know that this is not a systemic problem," Rice said.

"In other words, quite apart from the specific cases of those particular photographs, Americans do not dehumanize other people. That is not why we're in Iraq. We're in Iraq to liberate a people, to help them," she added.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5039077§ion=news


That spin is getting old Condi....get some new lines, please.

[Jim Warren]

7. Gitmo?

Makes me wonder what horrors are being kept hidden at Guanatnomo Bay.
Detainees there are not even POWs.

[0007]

10. There were also rumors about Guanatnomo and sadistic

torture and also women were used to incite the prisoners.

[tom_paine]

8. Wow! It must be pretty cool to be one of King George's Hessians

You get to murder at will, whenever, wherever, and no one can stop you or do ANYTHING about it.

I guarantee you this is but the merest tip of a large iceberg.

[Tellurian]

12. Tip of the Iceberg is right...

POW's dying of natural causes? Undetermined cause of death?

Last line in article..

"Investigating one case of sexual assault."

Suuuuure!

[tom_paine]

13. What upsets me perhaps most is the way our military has been turned

into Bad Guys...the Amermacht.

Turned, of course, by the Totalitarian Monsters who have seized our nation.

I am torn. Should they have behaved better than the German Wehrmacht and refused to obey unlawful orders? I don't know and I have mostly feelings of pity for my fellow Servicepeople, in spite of their horrific behavior, exposed and the vast majority which is likely unexposed.

These are the Brave Men and Women who signed on, most of them to Defend the Constsitution and Bill of Rights, but wound up being Imperial Dog Soldiers for the AntiChrist.

Torn. It hurts every time I read of a fellow serviceperson die for no reason, for a lie at best and for the Bushevik Campaign Team, just like it hurt when 200+ airmen and women got blasted by a Scud at the Dhrain Chow Hall in the Gulf War.

But I know many of their actions cannot be excused.

Torn. I am torn in two over all of this and my feelings towards my fellow servicemen and women.

[Tellurian]

15. tom paine.. The soldiers that are being recalled to Iraq...

have plenty to say. They have seen much that has not been disclosed by mainstream news sources. First and foremost, before being drawn into the quicksand of the Iraqi War, the Nat'l Guard soldiers are just like us.

The Rumsfeld recall announced yesterday is visiting dread on most soldiers who felt lucky they returned home unharmed safe and sound. They are opening up to their families telling them of the horrors in Iraq they witnessed and were forced to perform under direct orders by their COs..The understated, Tip of the Iceberg.

This horrific debacle is mushrooming day by day. I see the World placing blame exactly where it belongs, at the feet of the recklessness of the Bush administration. Their sadistic motivation becoming more apparent every day. The control of Iraqi Oil. Promoting themselves as Liberators, when in fact, they are the Oppressors. It was the Bush Administration, once removed, that created Saddam in their own image and likeness, armed and trained him as their US protege.

The statement: "People will ask now what's the difference between Saddam and Bush? Nothing!" Is it in a nutshell. How can FrankenIraq be mirrored any other way?

[Karenina]

18. I dared to say this months ago

and I will dare say it again. *corp will do everything in its power to PREVENT thousands of Americans from returning to their homes to share the sordid tale. The grunts are quite aware of the truth of the matter. THEY are getting their butts shot at daily and are witness to the atrocities being committed. Kids, we MUST be clear the the *cabal that has seized the American government cares NOT A WHIT about anyone outside its closed circle. Da *boys got some nassy toys and they WILL create an excuse to USE THEM if "We the People" don't get REAL SMART, REAL QUICK.

[Tellurian]

23. Thats right! No Witnessess!

[Karenina]

26. DO NOT forget what happened

to the members of Jessica Lynch's unit. Things that make you go hmmm...

[Gothmog]

11. At least two Afghans were killed during questioning

I remember the story about a year ago. Both died from being beaten to death. There was suppose to be an investigation into these deaths.

[tom_paine]

14. Yeah, Heinrich A$$croft will get right on it

With the same speed and fierceness he has prosecuted other Bushfriends such as the Antrhrax Assassin and the Plame Leaker.

Face it, with Fieldmarschall A$$croft on the job we may as well have Pincohet's Enforcers on the job, too.

[G_j]

17. Pincohet's Enforcers

didn't I read there are some mercenaries connected to Pincohet in Iraq?

[fortyfeetunder]

19. Only 25?

Remember, Bush's Murka doesn't think of these people as countable. I think there are lots more unaccounted for.

[maddezmom]

20. WP- Army Has 20 Open Iraqi Prisoner Probes

WASHINGTON - The deaths of 10 prisoners and abuse of 10 more in Iraq and Afghanistan are under criminal investigation, the Army disclosed Tuesday as U.S. commanders in Baghdad announced interrogation changes and the White House reached out to the Arab world to try to blunt a widening and increasingly damaging controversy.

~snip~


Maj. Gen. Donald Ryder, the Army's provost marshal, told reporters there were 10 investigations underway of prisoner deaths - mostly in Iraq - and 10 pending cases involving possible assault of prisoners, including one sexual assault. Also, one prisoner's death was ruled to have been a justified homicide.

Investigations into 12 other detainee deaths that have occurred in Iraq and Afghanistan since December 2002 had concluded that the causes were either undetermined or natural, Ryder said.

The Pentagon does not recognize detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as prisoners of war. The Army's second-ranking officer, Gen. George Casey, was asked at a news conference with Ryder whether that policy might have led soldiers to think they could use excessive force against the detainees.

~snip~


more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2687-2004May5.html

[maddezmom]

21. kick

[Just Me]

22. I view this whole fiasco as a COVER-UP, plain and simple.

This was HIDDEN from Congress and HIDDEN from the American people.

This fuckin' administration has engaged in so many damned cover-ups and have been allowed to get away with every single one; from the energy policy crap, to the medicare cost stuff, to putting dirty air provisions in a clean air act, to the pentagon LOSING a whole helluva lot of money, to their plan for global domination!!!

Why are they being allowed to continually get away with all this shit?

What country do I live in?
What form of government do we have?
Where is the rule of law?

:argh:

[Tellurian]

24. agreed-

Warner, Biden and Holy Joe are media hounds hamming it up in the limelight.

Senators say they were kept in dark about abuse
Hearings planned on report of mistreatment at Iraqi prison

Wednesday, May 5, 2004



Sens. John Warner, left, and Carl Levin talk to reporters after being briefed Tuesday by senior military officials.


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senators from both sides of the political aisle complained Tuesday that Defense Department officials did not inform them about investigations into abuse of Iraqi prisoners.







http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/05/04/congress.abuse/index.html