[News] Abuse at Unlisted U.S.-run Prisons in Iraq

Fri Sep 24 08:56:52 EDT 2004

Abuse, Torture and Rape Reported at Unlisted U.S.-run Prisons in Iraq
by Lisa Ashkenaz Croke, 
<http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=1029>The 
NewStandard
http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=1029

Huntington Woods, Michigan, September 23 - American legal investigators 
have discovered evidence of abuse, torture and rape throughout the US-run 
prison system in Iraq. A Michigan legal team meeting with former detainees 
in Baghdad during an August fact-finding mission gathered evidence 
supporting claims of prisoner abuse at some 25 US-run detention centers, 
most of them so far not publicly mentioned as being embroiled in the Iraq 
torture scandal.

"That list was something that we came back with -- we only knew of three 
prisons going there," investigator Mohammed Alomari told The NewStandard, 
referring to the few detention centers in Iraq where concerns over 
treatment of prisoners have already been raised publicly.

The list includes some actual prisons, such as Al-Salihiya Prison in 
Baghdad, the notorious prison in Abu Ghraib, and a prison at Camp Bucca, a 
Coalition-built POW camp in the southern port city of Um-Qasr. Other 
detention centers have been established at military bases, such as the US 
Military compound at Al-Dhiloeia, north of Baghdad; a US base outside 
Fallujah; and the Hilla military compound, a joint US-Polish base where 
Alomari said he has recently been informed of allegations against US and 
Polish personnel.

"Nobody talks about it. All everyone talks about is Abu Ghraib because of 
the pictures," said Alomari. "But in these other places, there's tons of 
acts of torture, abuse, rape."

During an interview with Alomari and attorney Shereef Akeel, TNS reviewed 
documentation the men accumulated covering 53 separate cases of former 
detainees alleging gross mistreatment at the US-run prisons in Iraq. All of 
the witnesses have been vetted, said Akeel, their presence at various 
detention centers corroborated by official, US military-issued paperwork 
and identification information.

Some of the plaintiffs allege US captors committed severe abuses against 
them as recently as this summer, challenging the widely-held assumption 
that the military has put an end to the violations.

A steady stream of reports from a contact in Iraq has kept new cases 
crossing Akeel's desk almost daily since the team returned from Iraq over a 
month ago. Cases raised since the team's return stateside will be verified 
and investigated in the future.

Akeel says he learned of the horrible conditions and practices at Abu 
Ghraib almost a month before the rest of the American public, when a man he 
calls "Saleh" came into his Huntington Woods, Michigan office with an ID 
bracelet from Abu Ghraib and a horrific story of his rape and abuse at the 
infamous US-run prison.

"I said, 'Abu what?'" recalled Akeel. "I didn't even know about Abu Ghraib. 
I couldn't believe it. I mean, I didn't -- it was so outlandish.

"Then the pictures came out," Akeel said.

While many of the detention centers where Akeel's clients say abuses took 
place were established under Saddam Hussein, most appear to be facilities 
put to use as prisons during the US-led occupation.

A group called the Committee for the Release of Hostages and Detainees in 
Iraq (CROHDI), a Saddam-era human rights group based in Scotland, counted 
over 50 known prisons and detention centers in Iraq. CROHDI's list includes 
the airport near the Al-Habbaniya Resort Island and various places now used 
as military bases where the American investigative team uncovered cases of 
prisoner abuse last month.

Shortly after the invasion in 2003, the US Army established Camp Cropper, a 
massive, mostly outdoor facility located at Baghdad International Airport. 
Camp Cropper was mentioned in a Red Cross report leaked to the press last 
spring and received some press attention after the US military banned 
Amnesty International from visiting prisoners there last summer.

During their trip, the American investigators heard accounts of abuse from 
former Camp Cropper and Abu Ghraib detainees, but also from released 
inmates held at another airport camp in Baqouba, an hour Northeast of Baghdad.

Since returning, Alomari says that they have learned of prison abuse at the 
airport at Al-Habbaniya Resort Island located an hour west of the city, and 
at an airport camp in the Northern city of Mosul.

The majority of detention centers where former inmates allege American 
soldiers and contractors committed acts of abuse were found in and around 
Baghdad, most of them buildings that had been converted into prisons. 
Students living at Mustansiriya University Student Housing were "kicked 
out," said Alomari, and US troops reportedly turned the dorms into a 
detention center. Other such facilities were reported on the grounds of the 
Akai Pharmaceutical Company Compound, the Palace of Conferences located 
across from the Al-Rasheed hotel, the Scania transportation depot and the 
Al-Sijood Palace in Baghdad.

Tikrit is the only other city listed with multiple prisons where former 
inmates have so far reported abuses to the American investigators. First 
enclosed with barbed wire at the end of the war, Tikrit's neighboring 
villages were similarly imprisoned in the weeks leading up to Hussein's 
capture, when residents say they woke one morning to find that the US 
military had enveloped their villages in barbed wire and set up checkpoints 
during the night.

Detention centers in Tikrit reportedly include one of Saddam Hussein's 
Presidential Palaces, Uday Hussein's former horse stables, and the 
US-confiscated Tikrit Elementary School. All of these appear to be newly 
established prisons, as none appear on CRODHI's list of known centers of 
incarceration.

As the vice president and media director for the non-profit Focus on 
American & Arab Interests & Relations (FAAIR), Alomari had been traveling 
in and out of Iraq since December, giving seminars on American democracy to 
Iraq's academic and political leaders. "I came back about mid-June and 
about a week later Shereef [Akeel] called me," said Alomari. "He told me he 
wanted to go to Iraq; he wanted to investigate these cases."

Akeel had teamed up with attorneys in Philadelphia and New York to work 
with the Center for Constitutional Rights in bringing a lawsuit against 
private security firms Titan Corp and CACI International. The class action 
suit accuses the US firms of violating the Alien Tort Claims Act and the 
Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) by engaging in 
illegal abuse and torture of detainees with the goal of securing lucrative 
government contracts.

In fact, despite a recent military report recommending criminal charges be 
filed against at least two Titan employees contracted as translators at Abu 
Ghraib prison, the US Army has awarded a six month "bridging contract" to 
the San Diego-based security firm to continue providing translators and 
interpreters after its current contract ends this month. The Associated 
Press reports that the new contract could bring Titan as much as $400 million.

Both Titan and CACI have repeatedly denied allegations that their personnel 
have been involved in any illegal activity or wrongdoing. They have said 
the lawsuit against them is unfounded and have stood by specific employees 
accused of

Akeel says the discovery of gross mistreatment at over two dozen prisons 
controlled by the US military is "another piece of the puzzle," and could 
strengthen the legal team's case. Pieces have been put into place with the 
declassified sections of three military reports investigating prison abuse 
in Iraq. Though the findings have been limited to activities at Abu Ghraib, 
Akeel says they still provide evidence of private contractors at both firms 
engaging in crimes against former detainees.

The legal team's next move is to fit former detainees' descriptions of 
assailants and prison release papers with names and photographs of Titan 
and CACI employees contracted to the prisons. It is not yet known if Titan 
or CACI workers were contracted to the majority of the prisons where 
detainees allege abuse took place.

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