Pain & Amusement - AG Abuse Was Not Just an Interrogation Strategy, WaPo

[TacticalPeek]

Punishment and Amusement
Documents Indicate Abuse Was Not an Interrogation Strategy

By Scott Higham and Joe Stephens
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, May 22, 2004; Page A01

Prisoners posed in three of the most infamous photographs of abuse to come out of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were not being softened up for interrogation by intelligence officers but instead were being punished for criminal acts or the amusement of their jailers, according to previously secret documents obtained by The Washington Post

Several of the photographs taken by military police on the cellblock have become iconic, among them the naked human pyramid, the hooded man standing on a box hooked up to wires, and the three naked prisoners handcuffed together on the prison floor. The documents show that MPs staged the photographs to discipline the prisoners for acts ranging from rioting to an alleged rape of a teenage boy in the prison.

The documents, which include statements by four of the seven MPs now charged in the abuse scandal, provide several new insights into the unfolding case. For instance, they contain tantalizing hints about the role of military intelligence operating in the shadows of Tier 1A at the prison. One military police officer said in a sworn statement that civilian and military intelligence officers frequently visited Tier 1A at night, spiriting detainees away for questioning out of sight of the MPs inside a "wood hut" behind the prison building. The documents also offer the first detailed account of how the abuse scandal unraveled.

snip

He said that he asked Graner, a Pennsylvania prison guard in civilian life, about the photographs. Graner replied: "The Christian in me says it's wrong, but the corrections officer in me says, 'I love to make a grown man piss himself.' "


more
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46523-2004May21.html

[alittlelark]

1. OMG!!

Too creepy, gotta digest this.

[TacticalPeek]

2. This is proably what McCain said was redacted from the rpt to Congress.

And why Rummy et al were careful to say they had read the "executive summary" of the Taguba report, and not all those prickly details in all the cumbersome appendices. Holding out on Congress and playing dumb under oath is not nice.

:grr:


With this, Chalabi selling us out to Iran, etc. we may be entering the Shock and Awe phase of the deposing of aWol.

[DoYouEverWonder]

27. Please, I don't know if I can stand

much more Shock and Awe? Can we just get this crap over with and depose these traitors?

[leQ]

3. i'm surprised nobody's noticed it yet

that former heads of prisons here in the states that were high on the list of criminally abusiveness institutions, were working at abu ghraib (and i'm sure others). i can't remember where i came across that tidbit, but it seems to explain some things.

[TacticalPeek]

4. They could give lessons.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/WNT/Investigation/iraq_prison_warde...

Wardens Chosen to Establish Iraq Prison System Had Past Abuse Allegations

May 20, 2004 ? A number of former state prison commissioners chosen by the Bush administration to establish a prison system in Iraq left their old posts after allegations of neglect, brutality and inmate deaths, an investigation by ABCNEWS has found.


Last year, the former head of Utah's prison system, Lane McCotter, was hired by the U.S. government to help set up Iraq's new prison system and train guards.

He even led a tour of Abu Ghraib for U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who attended the reopening of the Baghdad prison.

But in 1997, guards at a Utah prison, then under McCotter's charge, made a videotape showing the abuse of Michael Valent, a mentally ill inmate who allegedly would not follow orders.

Inmate Kept in Restraints for Hours

Valent was stripped naked, marched down the halls and, under an approved procedure at the time, placed in a special restraint chair, where he was left for 16 hours.

"By the time he was finally released from that restraint chair, he developed blood clotting and, through a pulmonary embolism, died," said Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson.

more


DU thread - Exporting Abuse

[Judi Lynn]

13. Lane McCotter was chosen to head Abu Ghraib by JOHN ASHCROFT

which I found out in a quick google run after seeing your post. I had no idea Ashcroft has been a part of all of this.....

McCotter] resigned under pressure as director of the Utah Department of Corrections in 1997 after an inmate died while shackled to a restraining chair for 16 hours. The inmate, who suffered from schizophrenia, was kept naked the whole time.....McCotter later became an executive of a private prison company, one of whose jails was under investigation by the Justice Department when he was sent to Iraq as part of a team of prison officials, judges, prosecutors and police chiefs picked by Attorney General John Ashcroft to rebuild the country's criminal justice system....In Utah, in addition to the death of the mentally ill inmate, Mr. McCotter also came under criticism for hiring a prison psychiatrist whose medical license was on probation and who was accused of Medicaid fraud and writing prescriptions for drug addicts.
(snip)

When Mr. Ashcroft announced the appointment of the team to restore Iraq's criminal justice system last year, including Mr. McCotter, he said, "Now all Iraqis can taste liberty in their native land, and we will help make that freedom permanent by assisting them to establish an equitable criminal justice system based on the rule of law and standards of basic human rights."
(snip)

Testimony explains more of Graner's magnetic personality:

Graner married Staci Dean in 1990, after she had become pregnant with the first of their two children. Their marriage ended in 2002 in a bitter divorce. Police were called to the home in March 2001, after the couple had separated. In Fayette County court papers, Staci Graner, who has since remarried and declined to be interviewed, reported that her husband came into the room where she was sleeping and yanked her head by the hair, banged her head against a wall, and tried to throw her down the steps. Criminal charges were not filed.
(snip)

http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/archives/000732.html

[Gloria]

31. Obviously, Bush chose the cream of the crop..............

This is the worst bunch of sickos that have ever held officce.

Where are all the "Christian" leaders on this? Anybody see Falwell around? What's Robertson saying over at his 700 Club?

Morality in the gutter. I expect Kerry to address this issue. If he doesn't I will be very disappointed. Clark seems to be willing to raise the question of what kind of country do we want to be....I expect the same from Kerry.

[SharonAnn]

38. Or was it the cream of the crap?

[DoYouEverWonder]

28. Just imagine what they were doing to American prisoners?

They didn't turn into monsters over night and they were hired because they were so experienced and because they were already good at this sort of thing.

[Chicago Democrat]

5. These latest are the worst yet! WHen ARE THEY GONNA CALL IT TORTURE!

They showed "as much as they could" given the fact that most of it is torture pornographic and absolutely revolting.

[warrior1]

6. this reminds me of a line out of a movie

"We're all gonna die."

FUCK BUSH!

[VolcanoJen]

14. Scarier: The non-movie, real-life-now version: "Bush: We'll All Be Dead."

From the Woodward interview:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0%2C2763%2C1193971%2C00.html

Mr Bush himself comes across in the book as strong on faith but weak on his sense of history. He said he was prepared to "risk my presidency to do what I think is right", and described praying as he walked outside the Oval Office after giving the order to begin combat operations against Iraq on March 19 2003.

But asked how history would judge the war, Bush replied: "History. We don't know. We'll all be dead."

[Cooley Hurd]

18. He finally says something truthful...

He's put us all in danger, much much much more so than we were on 9/10/01...:grr:

[exploited]

22. Another one of his "truthisms"

"Just remember it's the birds that's supposed to suffer, not the hunter."
—Bushit advising quail hunter and New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici, Roswell, N.M., Jan. 22, 2004

http://slate.msn.com/id/76886

[bobbieinok]

37. Roswell NM ????!????!!!!!!

[saigon68]

20. ITS ONLY GOING TO GET BETTER FOR THE CHIMPANZEE

A protester in a mask depicting U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) drags a fellow protester, acting as an Iraqi prisoner, during an anti-U.S. rally in Seoul, May 22, 2004. About 100 demonstrators rallied on Saturday demanding the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq (news - web sites) and criticizing South Korea (news - web sites)'s plan to send additional troops to Iraq. REUTERS/You Sung-Ho

[maddezmom]

24. must read: Is torturing war prisoners a betrayal of U.S. values?

Is torturing war prisoners a betrayal of U.S. values?

By DAVID HORSEY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL CARTOONIST

James Inhofe, the Oklahoma senator from the Neanderthal wing of the Republican Party, may still believe that the only practitioners of degradation and torture in the U.S. military were seven isolated misfits at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison. However, stories suggesting something much different continue to pile up:


Three Iraqi employees of Reuters and one NBC staffer, also an Iraqi, were detained by U.S. forces in January. They claim they were beaten and humiliated in various ways. After three days, they were released without charges.


The former commander at the Guantanamo prison camp, Brig. Gen. Rick Baccus, says he was relieved of his duties because the Pentagon believed he was too soft on the prisoners. His insistence on humane treatment did not please interrogators who wanted to use harsher methods.


Thursday, NBC News reported allegations that, at several secret detention facilities in Iraq operated by Delta Force commandos, torture of prisoners is routine and robust.


Sgt. Samuel Provance, a member of an intelligence battalion stationed at Abu Ghraib, told ABC News the use of torture was not limited to a few renegade MPs. The Army is trying to cover up the fact that abuses are widespread, he said.


~snip~
much much more:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/saturdayspin/174464_bq22.html

[Mechatanketra]

7. And once again, their BS excuses evaporate.

I hope to Bob everyone in a position to speak on this (both the press and the enofficed Dems) grok the full significance of this. It's more than just "Oh, look, more badness." It means the constant refrain the RW thugs have been wrapping themselves in -- "If this results in information that saves even one American life, yada yada" -- isn't even a strawman argument, it's a complete nonsequiter. They weren't even looking for information.

The ugliness of war is as much what it exposes about our soldiers as what it imposes on them. As much as we want to think everyone in uniform is a patriotic hero risking their lives only for the love and defense of their country, I suspect the truth is that the recruiters really don't have a way to distinguish between a patriot and a jackass who just isn't bothered by the thought of shooting people for a paycheck -- and that they don't really care.

[Chicago Democrat]

8. Letter to CNN

Thank you for showing the Washington Post's latest evidence of "abuse". It needs to be shown often and we must have access to even the worst of it. Given the fact that so many prisoners died, why are you still using the Rumsfeld term "abuse". This is clearly torture. Systematic ubiquitous torture with the full knowledge and direction of a chain of command that leads directly to Rumsfeld and George W. Bush. Call it what it is! Torture.

Everyone know it! Tell the truth CNN!

[MsMagnificent]

40. Isn't "Torture" prosecutable by the Geneva Convention?

Even over 'abuse' (If that word is even in the GC)

[Hell Hath No Fury]

9. 'I love to make a grown man piss himself.'

Gosh, all Granber had to do was ask the question, "Who Would Jesus Make Piss Himself"?

And when I think my disgust can't get any deeper...

[saigon68]

21. THIS IS A DRAGUNOV SA RIFLE

Any vets want to comment on what its used for?????????

[TahitiNut]

25. That's a sniper's weapon of choice.

:shrug:

With very good range, it's particularly favored for firing at helicopters and light aircraft as well as Humvee's.

[saigon68]

34. My take also

It's a sweet weapon for the resistance, almost indestructible. 7.62 X 54R works well in a dirty climate. Needs minimal care. Our stuff is more accurate, but what the hell theirs is more reliable. I have seen some pictures of these guys strutting around with long barreled Nagants w/scopes.

[TahitiNut]

36. I think my cousin prefers the Springfield or the M40A1/3.

But (tourist) Americans just don't assume the same living conditions (sand), supply resources (black market), and maintenance "leisure time" as indigenous folks fighting with Fabian tactics.

Also, "our guys" have the luxury of a more "mission-specific" selection of arms, including one that'll fire a round 1-1.5km and hit a 4"d circle. The Springfield is pretty much a weapon for a 170# sack of fluids target with little body armor.

[daleo]

10. Wires are attached with alligator clips I read elsewhere

"In one of the most striking images to surface, a detainee jokingly referred to as "Gilligan" by the MPs was forced to stand on a box of food, with wires connected to his figures, toes and penis.

Harman said she attached the wires to "Gilligan" and told him he would be electrocuted if he fell off the box.

"Why did you do this to the detainee 'Gilligan'?" a military investigator asked.

"Just playing with him," Harman said."

Having a wire attached to your penis with an alligator clip is sexual assault, among other things.

Every day the reports are more and more sickening. I have no doubt that this has disgraced the entire U.S. military in the eyes of the world. It is like the cast of an S and M movie, not an army. The higher command, right up to Bush, encouraged and allowed this behavior. I doubt anyone important will be punished, but at least there is an opportunity to vote Bush out, though he ought to be impeached.

[TacticalPeek]

11. The Association of the Bar of the City of New York - Human rights, prison

This is the group that JAG contacted for help.

This links to their report (pdf, 110 pages):

Human rights standards applicable to the United States' interrogation of detainees
http://www.abcny.org

[Disturbed]

12. War Crimes

BushCo is most likely guilty! The entire lot of them should be tried. Will anyone in this country have the spine to charge them? Does it have to be the Justice Dept or Congress? Can it not be another agency?

[Tellurian]

19. Thats why I think, in addition to the top three, Asscroft should be charge

He should be criminally charged, license revoked, and imprisoned for life..

Asscroft's role in writing and giving the final go ahead approving Gonzales interpretation of the Geneva Convention is pivotal to prosecuting the whole damn gang for corruption of the Constitution they were sworn to protect.

When you think of the severity they enforced on Clinton...there are no words contemptuous enough for Asscroft...

[okcdem]

15. That's about right

Makes you wonder whats going on in U.S. prisons.....

He said that he asked Graner, a Pennsylvania prison guard in civilian life, about the photographs. Graner replied: "The Christian in me says it's wrong, but the corrections officer in me says, 'I love to make a grown man piss himself.' "

Corrections reform is needed in this country. I hope this scandal will also bring attention to what's been going on here at home.

[Alerter_]

26. good point

what is going on inside prisons in the US? This kind of disgusting torture is considered normal?

[maddezmom]

16. kick

[Cooley Hurd]

17. I wonder if this is the "wooden hut" they're talking about?

(read arrow points to building in question)

[Moderator]

23. kick

[dArKeR]

29. Abuse: For Punishment And Fun? - CBS

Prisoners in three of the most infamous photographs of abuse to come out of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were not being softened up for interrogation by intelligence officers, but instead were being posed as punishment for criminal acts or the amusement of their jailers, The Washington Post reports in its Saturday ediitons.

The newspaper cites previously secret documents it obtained.

"Several of the photographs taken by military police on the cellblock have become iconic," the Post says, "among them the naked human pyramid, the hooded man standing on a box hooked up to wires, and the three naked prisoners handcuffed together on the prison floor. The documents show that MPs staged the photographs as a form of entertainment or to discipline the prisoners for acts ranging from rioting to an alleged rape of a teenage boy in the prison."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/30/iraq/main614905.shtml

[dArKeR]

30. Why did the US Soldiers allow a child to be imprisoned with adults and the

boy was raped in the cell with adults? Did the boy have a hood over his head too?

If the Arabs are so shy why would one rape a child in front of other male adults? No other adults stopped this rape?

How could moral and honest 'Whore' reporters publish a story like this without asking common sense questions?

Seems like a Whore Bush story to me.

[dArKeR]

32. Is it possible the prisoners were forced to have anal sex with children

and animals and pictures were taken to blackmail the prisoners?

[Zhade]

35. My understanding is that it was one of "ours" who raped the poor boy.

At least, that's what earlier reports indicated.

In one statement, a prisoner tells how he witnessed a US army translator raping an Iraqi boy, aged somewhere between 15 and 18.

Kasim Mehaddi Hilas, prisoner number 151108, says a female soldier took photographs of the rape. Sheets had been hung to block the prisoners' view, but Mr Hilas says he heard the boy's screams and climbed a door to see what was going on. "The kid was hurting very bad," his statement reads.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=523724

[maddezmom]

33. The Naked Pyramid: 'I Was Laughing at Some of the Stuff' - Sivits

It was the night of Nov. 8, and documents show that seven prisoners were brought into Tier 1 at Abu Ghraib for allegedly starting a riot in the outside tents at the prison compound. The detainees were dragged into piles, stripped and at times hit, according to photos and videos.

Then, soldiers told investigators, someone came up with the idea of placing the naked detainees into a pyramid in the middle of the floor. One detainee after another was put in a crouching position on the floor and a soldier directed the action. One by one they were placed on top of one another, forming a human tower.

The picture, of soldiers grinning behind the pile, is one of the most widely known images of humiliation at Abu Ghraib.

Harman said Graner was placing the detainees into position, and said the entire pyramid lasted 15 to 20 minutes. Sivits said he was surprised by some of what the soldiers were making the detainees do, which later included a string of naked, hooded detainees standing in a line masturbating.
more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46658-2004May21.html

[MsMagnificent]

39. Did you see where that town in PA held a candlelight vigil

for GRANER?!

...singing away at The Star Spangled Banner?


Nothing of course for any of those tortured, raped or killed; some (who knows if all) at the hands of Graner himself!


And some people here actually believe there's no way Bush will win again? ..that Kerry is a shoe-in???

God-dammit this entire country needs MANY more reality checks!