Personalize News Home Page
Yahoo! News   Tue, Dec 07, 2004
Search for    Advanced
News Home
Top Stories
   Crimes and Trials
Most Popular
Elections
U.S. National
Business
World
Entertainment
Sports
Technology
Politics
Science
Health
Oddly Enough
Op/Ed
Local
Comics
News Photos
Most Popular
Weather
Audio/Video
Full Coverage

Full Coverage
More about
U.S. Military
Related News Stories
Eight US air force officers blamed in academy sex scandal AFP via Yahoo! News (Dec 7, 2004)
Report Slams Air Force on Academy Assaults Reuters via Yahoo! News (Dec 7, 2004)
Top US Army general calls Iraq war an opportunity for US forces AFP via Yahoo! News (Dec 7, 2004)
Opinion & Editorials
Intelligence test at Boston Globe (Dec 7, 2004)
The Security-Industrial Complex Forbes.com via Yahoo! News (Dec 7, 2004)
Feature Articles
It's Not Too Late to Wish Merry Christmas to a GI at Newhouse News Service (Dec 7, 2004)
Sadly Fulfilling Marine's Dream at The Washington Post (reg. req'd) (Dec 7, 2004)
Related Web Sites
U.S. Central Command
Taguba Report on Iraqi Prisoner Abuse
Sworn Statements by Abu Ghraib Detainees
How to Help
Network for Good : US Troops Overseas

News Resources
Providers
· AP
· Reuters
· AFP
· washingtonpost.com
· USATODAY.com
· Los Angeles Times
· Chicago Tribune
· U.S. News & World Report
· NPR
· Reuters Features
· AFP Features
Services
·News Alerts
News Alerts more
Subscribe to alerts for

News via RSS
Top News
Top Stories
U.S. National
World
Politics
Elections
Iraq

All RSS Feeds

 
Top Stories - AP
AP
Memo: Workers Threatened Over Prison Abuse

1 hour, 3 minutes ago
Add to My Yahoo! Top Stories - AP

By PAISLEY DODDS, Associated Press Writer

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - U.S. special forces accused of abusing prisoners in Iraq (news - web sites) threatened Defense Intelligence Agency personnel who saw the mistreatment, according to U.S. government memos released Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites).

Photo
AP Photo

AP Photo Photo
AP Photo
Slideshow Slideshow: Iraq Prisoner Abuse Investigation


Special Coverages
Latest headlines:
· Iraq, Jordan See Threat To Elections From Iran
washingtonpost.com - 13 minutes ago
· Iraq Official Rips Neighbors on Insurgency
AP - 1 hour, 3 minutes ago
· Official: Iraq Needs Stronger Government
AP - 1 hour, 32 minutes ago
Special Coverage

 

The special forces also monitored e-mails sent by defense personnel and ordered them "not to talk to anyone" in the United States about what they saw, said one memo written by the Defense Intelligence Agency chief, who complained to his Pentagon (news - web sites) bosses about the harassment.

In addition, the special forces confiscated photos of a prisoner who had been punched in the face.

Prisoners arriving at a detention center in Baghdad had "burn marks on their backs" as well as bruises and some complained of kidney pain, according to the June 25, 2004 memo.

FBI (news - web sites) agents also reported seeing detainees at Abu Ghraib subjected to sleep deprivation, humiliation and forced nudity between October and December 2003 — when the most serious abuses allegedly took place in a scandal that's remains under investigation.

The release of the ACLU documents comes a day after The Associated Press reported that a senior FBI official wrote a letter to the Army's top criminal investigator complaining about "highly aggressive" interrogation techniques at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay dating back to 2002 — more than a year before the scandal broke at the Iraqi prison.

The memos reveal behind-the-scenes tensions between the FBI and U.S. military and intelligence task forces running prisoner interrogations at Guantanamo and in Iraq as the Bush administration sought better intelligence to fight terrorists and the deadly Iraq insurgency.

"These documents tell a damning story of sanctioned government abuse — a story that the government has tried to hide and may well come back to haunt our own troops captured in Iraq," said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the New York-based ACLU.

The documents were released only after a federal court ordered the Pentagon and other government agencies to comply with a year-old request filed under the Freedom of Information Act filed by the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Physicians for Human Rights, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans for Peace.

A spokesman for U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida, which directs special military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan (news - web sites), declined to comment on specific allegations.

"We take all issues of detainee abuse very seriously and where there is the potential that these abuses could have taken place, we investigate them," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Nick Balice.

Joe Navarro, a retired FBI agent who teaches interrogation techniques to the military and is familiar with interrogations at Guantanamo, said using threats during interrogations only stands to taint information gleaned from the sessions.

"The only thing that torture guarantees is pain," Navarro told AP Tuesday. "It never guarantees the truth."

Many memos refer to Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, whose mission as head of the Guantanamo prison from October 2002 was to improve the intelligence gleaned from terror suspects. In August 2003, Miller was sent to Iraq to make recommendations on interrogation techniques to get more information out of prisoners. He was posted to Abu Ghraib in March 2004.

One FBI e-mail released by the ACLU said Miller "continued to support interrogation strategies (the FBI) not only advised against, but questioned in terms of effectiveness."

Miller left Iraq on Tuesday for a new assignment in Washington, with responsibility for Army housing and other support operations, and could not be reached for comment.

According to the memo from the Defense Intelligence chief, Vice Admiral Lowell E. Jacoby, a special forces task force in Iraq threatened defense personnel who complained about abuses. Some had their car keys confiscated and were ordered not to leave the base "even to get a haircut."

 

Balice refused to describe the task force, which could include Army Rangers, Delta Force, Navy SEALs and other Special Forces' soldiers working with CIA (news - web sites) operatives.

Another June 25 memo describes how a task force officer punched a prisoner in the face "to the point he needed medical attention," failed to record the medical treatment, and confiscated photos of the injuries. The date of the incident wasn't clear as the memo — like others released by the ACLU — have been heavily redacted to remove dates and names.

An e-mail to Thomas Harrington, an FBI counterterrorism expert who led a team of investigators to Guantanamo, records "somewhat heated" conversations in which Pentagon officials admitted that harsh interrogations did not yield any information not obtained by the FBI.

Another December 2003 e-mail notes the FBI's Military Liaison and Detainee Unit, which "had a longstanding and documented position against use of some of DoDs interrogation practices," requested certain information "be documented to protect the FBI."

In the July 14 letter obtained by the AP, Harrington suggested that the Pentagon didn't act on FBI complaints about four incidents at Guantanamo, including a female interrogator grabbing a detainee's genitals and bending back his thumbs, another where most of a prisoner's head was covered with duct tape and a third where a dog was used to intimidate a detainee who later was thrown into isolation and showed signs of "extreme psychological trauma."

The Harrington letter was addressed to Maj. Gen. Donald J. Ryder, the Army's chief law enforcement officer who's investigating abuses at U.S.-run prisons in Afghanistan, Iraq and at Guantanamo. He said FBI officials complained about the pattern of abusive techniques to top Defense Department attorneys in January 2003, and it appeared that nothing was done.

The U.S. military says prisoners are treated according to the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit violence, torture and humiliating treatment. Still, at least 10 incidents of abuse have been substantiated at Guantanamo, all but one from 2003 or this year.

Many detainees at Guantanamo have been held without charge and without access to attorneys since the camp opened in January 2002. The United States has imprisoned some 550 men accused of links to Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime or al-Qaida; only four have been charged.

___

Associated Press writer Vickie Chachere contributed to this report from Tampa, Florida.

___

On the Net:

American Civil Liberties Union: www.aclu.org/torturefoia


Story Tools
Mail to Friend  Email Story
Message Boards   Post/Read Msgs
Printer Version   Print Story  
Ratings: Would you recommend this story?
Not at all 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 Highly

Special Feature

High Tech Holidays
The top 10 gadgets sure to deliver a happy New Year


Prev. Story: House Approves U.S. Intelligence Overhaul  (AP)
Next Story: Iraq Official Rips Neighbors on Insurgency  (AP)

More Top Stories Stories
· Karzai sworn in as first popularly elected Afghan president  (AFP)
· House Approves Intelligence Bill  (washingtonpost.com)
· Saudi al-Qaeda claims Jeddah strike  (USATODAY.com)
· Bush Scores Intelligence Bill Victory  (Los Angeles Times)
· Deal cut to reform U.S. spy agencies  (Chicago Tribune)



Copyright © 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.