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<b>Sex abuse alleged at Iraq prison<br><br>
U.S. guards accused of maltreating Iraqis<br><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>By James Risen
(NYT)<br><br>
International Herald Tribune<br><br>
Friday, April 30, 2004 <br><br>
<br><br>
<a href="http://www.iht.com/ihtsearch.php?id=517789&owner=(NYT)&date=20040429192234">http://www.iht.com/ihtsearch.php?id=517789&owner=(NYT)&date=20040429192234</a><br><br>
<br><br>
WASHINGTON: American soldiers at a prison outside Baghdad have been
accused of forcing Iraqi prisoners into acts of sexual humiliation and
other abuses in order to make them talk, according to officials and
others familiar with the charges. <br><br>
<br><br>
The charges, first announced by the military in March, were documented by
photographs taken by guards inside the prison, but were not described in
detail until some of the pictures were made public. <br><br>
<br><br>
Some of the photographs, and descriptions of others, were broadcast
Wednesday night by the CBS News program "60 Minutes II" and
were verified by military officials. <br><br>
<br><br>
Of the six people reported in March to be facing preliminary charges,
three have been recommended for court-martial, a senior Pentagon official
said late Wednesday. The decision on convening courts-martial is now up
to Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the senior American commander in
Iraq. <br><br>
<br><br>
The other grand jury hearings, called Article 32 proceedings under
military law, have been delayed at the request of defense counsel. The
CBS News program reported that poorly trained American reservists were
forcing Iraqis to, among other things, conduct simulated sexual acts in
order to break down their will before they were turned over to others for
interrogation. <br><br>
<br><br>
Charges against the soldiers included assault, cruelty, indecent acts and
maltreatment of detainees, Pentagon officials have said. <br><br>
<br><br>
Gary Myers, the lawyer for one of the enlisted men charged, said in an
interview that the military had treated the six enlisted soldiers as
scapegoats and had failed to address adequately the responsibilities of
senior commanders and intelligence personnel involved in the
interrogations. <br><br>
<br><br>
Top officers at the prison, including a brigadier general, face
administrative review, officials said. They are no longer stationed at
the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. <br><br>
<br><br>
Myers said that the accused men, all from a U.S. Army Reserve military
police unit, had been told to soften up the prisoners by more senior
interrogators, some of whom they believe were intelligence officials and
outside contractors. <br><br>
<br><br>
"This case involves a monumental failure of leadership, where
lower-level enlisted people are being scapegoated," Myers said.
"The real story is not in these six young enlisted people. The real
story is the manner in which the intelligence community forced them into
this position." <br><br>
<br><br>
Myers represents Staff Sergeant Chip Frederick of the U.S. Army Reserve,
who has been charged in the case and who was interviewed by "60
Minutes II." He complained of a lack of training and admitted that
dogs had been used to intimidate prisoners. <br><br>
<br><br>
In one photograph obtained by "60 Minutes II," naked Iraq
prisoners are stacked in a human pyramid, one with a slur written on his
skin in English. In another, a prisoner stands on a box, his head
covered, wires attached to his body. The program said that, according to
the U.S. Army, he had been told that if he fell off the box, he would be
electrocuted. Other photographs show male prisoners positioned to
simulate sex. <br><br>
<br><br>
"The pictures show Americans, men and women, in military uniforms,
posing with naked Iraqi prisoners," states a transcript of the
"60 Minutes II" script, made available Wednesday night.
"And in most of the pictures, the Americans are laughing, posing,
pointing or giving the camera a thumbs-up." <br><br>
<br><br>
"60 Minutes II" said that the army also had photographs showing
a detainee with wires attached to his genitals and another that showed a
dog attacking an Iraqi prisoner. The program also reported that the
army's investigation included a statement from an Iraqi detainee who
charged that a translator hired to work at the prison raped a male
juvenile prisoner. The photographs were taken inside Abu Ghraib prison,
which is infamous as a site where Saddam Hussein had prisoners tortured
while he was in power. <br><br>
<i>The New York Times <br><br>
</i></font><pre>
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