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<font face="arial" size=3><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040510fa_fact">http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040510fa_fact</a></font><font face="arial" size=2>
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</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3><b>TORTURE AT ABU GHRAIB</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
</b> <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3><b>by SEYMOUR M. HERSH</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
</b> <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>American soldiers brutalized Iraqis. How far up does the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>responsibility go?</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
<br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>Issue of 2004-05-10</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
<br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>Posted 2004-04-30</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
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</font><font face="arial" size=3>In the era of Saddam Hussein, Abu Ghraib, twenty miles west of</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Baghdad, was one of the world's most notorious prisons, with torture,</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>weekly executions, and vile living conditions. As many as fifty</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>thousand men and womenno accurate count is possiblewere jammed into</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Abu Ghraib at one time, in twelve-by-twelve-foot cells that were</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>little more than human holding pits. <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>In the looting that followed the regime's collapse, last April, the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>huge prison complex, by then deserted, was stripped of everything</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>that could be removed, including doors, windows, and bricks. The</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>coalition authorities had the floors tiled, cells cleaned and</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>repaired, and toilets, showers, and a new medical center added. Abu</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Ghraib was now a U.S. military prison. Most of the prisoners, however</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>by the fall there were several thousand, including women and teen-</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>agerswere civilians, many of whom had been picked up in random</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>military sweeps and at highway checkpoints. They fell into three</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>loosely defined categories: common criminals; security detainees</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>suspected of "crimes against the coalition"; and a small number of</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>suspected "high-value" leaders of the insurgency against the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>coalition forces. <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>Last June, Janis Karpinski, an Army reserve brigadier general, was</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>named commander of the 800th Military Police Brigade and put in</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>charge of military prisons in Iraq. General Karpinski, the only</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>female commander in the war zone, was an experienced operations and</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>intelligence officer who had served with the Special Forces and in</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>the 1991 Gulf War, but she had never run a prison system. Now she was</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>in charge of three large jails, eight battalions, and thirty-four</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>hundred Army reservists, most of whom, like her, had no training in</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>handling prisoners.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
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</font><font face="arial" size=3>General Karpinski, who had wanted to be a soldier since she was five,</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>is a business consultant in civilian life, and was enthusiastic about</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>her new job. In an interview last December with the St. Petersburg</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Times, she said that, for many of the Iraqi inmates at Abu</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Ghraib, "living conditions now are better in prison than at home. At</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>one point we were concerned that they wouldn't want to leave."</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>A month later, General Karpinski was formally admonished and quietly</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>suspended, and a major investigation into the Army's prison system,</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>authorized by Lieutenant General Ricardo S. Sanchez, the senior</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>commander in Iraq, was under way. A fifty-three-page report, obtained</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>by The New Yorker, written by Major General Antonio M. Taguba and not</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>meant for public release, was completed in late February. Its</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>conclusions about the institutional failures of the Army prison</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>system were devastating. Specifically, Taguba found that between</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>October and December of 2003 there were numerous instances</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>of "sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses" at Abu Ghraib.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>This systematic and illegal abuse of detainees, Taguba reported, was</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>perpetrated by soldiers of the 372nd Military Police Company, and</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>also by members of the American intelligence community. (The 372nd</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>was attached to the 320th M.P. Battalion, which reported to</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Karpinski's brigade headquarters.) Taguba's report listed some of the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>wrongdoing:</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
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</font><font face="arial" size=3>Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>detainees; pouring cold water on naked detainees; beating detainees</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>with a broom handle and a chair; threatening male detainees with</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>rape; allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>cell; sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>stick, and using military working dogs to frighten and intimidate</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>detainees with threats of attack, and in one instance actually biting</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>a detainee. <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>There was stunning evidence to support the allegations, Taguba added</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>"detailed witness statements and the discovery of extremely graphic</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>photographic evidence." Photographs and videos taken by the soldiers</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>as the abuses were happening were not included in his report, Taguba</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>said, because of their "extremely sensitive nature."</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
<br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>The photographsseveral of which were broadcast on CBS's "60 Minutes</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>2" last weekshow leering G.I.s taunting naked Iraqi prisoners who</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>are forced to assume humiliating poses. Six suspectsStaff Sergeant</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Ivan L. Frederick II, known as Chip, who was the senior enlisted man;</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Specialist Charles A. Graner; Sergeant Javal Davis; Specialist Megan</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Ambuhl; Specialist Sabrina Harman; and Private Jeremy Sivitsare now</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>facing prosecution in Iraq, on charges that include conspiracy,</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>dereliction of duty, cruelty toward prisoners, maltreatment, assault,</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>and indecent acts. A seventh suspect, Private Lynndie England, was</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>reassigned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, after becoming pregnant.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>The photographs tell it all. In one, Private England, a cigarette</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>dangling from her mouth, is giving a jaunty thumbs-up sign and</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>pointing at the genitals of a young Iraqi, who is naked except for a</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>sandbag over his head, as he masturbates. Three other hooded and</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>naked Iraqi prisoners are shown, hands reflexively crossed over their</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>genitals. A fifth prisoner has his hands at his sides. In another,</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>England stands arm in arm with Specialist Graner; both are grinning</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>and giving the thumbs-up behind a cluster of perhaps seven naked</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Iraqis, knees bent, piled clumsily on top of each other in a pyramid.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>There is another photograph of a cluster of naked prisoners, again</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>piled in a pyramid. Near them stands Graner, smiling, his arms</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>crossed; a woman soldier stands in front of him, bending over, and</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>she, too, is smiling. Then, there is another cluster of hooded</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>bodies, with a female soldier standing in front, taking photographs.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Yet another photograph shows a kneeling, naked, unhooded male</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>prisoner, head momentarily turned away from the camera, posed to make</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>it appear that he is performing oral sex on another male prisoner,</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>who is naked and hooded.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
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</font><font face="arial" size=3>Such dehumanization is unacceptable in any culture, but it is</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>especially so in the Arab world. Homosexual acts are against Islamic</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>law and it is humiliating for men to be naked in front of other men,</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Bernard Haykel, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at New York</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>University, explained. "Being put on top of each other and forced to</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>masturbate, being naked in front of each otherit's all a form of</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>torture," Haykel said.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
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</font><font face="arial" size=3>Two Iraqi faces that do appear in the photographs are those of dead</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>men. There is the battered face of prisoner No. 153399, and the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>bloodied body of another prisoner, wrapped in cellophane and packed</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>in ice. There is a photograph of an empty room, splattered with blood.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>The 372nd's abuse of prisoners seemed almost routinea fact of Army</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>life that the soldiers felt no need to hide. On April 9th, at an</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Article 32 hearing (the military equivalent of a grand jury) in the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>case against Sergeant Frederick, at Camp Victory, near Baghdad, one</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>of the witnesses, Specialist Matthew Wisdom, an M.P., told the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>courtroom what happened when he and other soldiers delivered seven</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>prisoners, hooded and bound, to the so-called "hard site" at Abu</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Ghraibseven tiers of cells where the inmates who were considered the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>most dangerous were housed. The men had been accused of starting a</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>riot in another section of the prison. Wisdom said:</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
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</font><font face="arial" size=3>SFC Snider grabbed my prisoner and threw him into a pile. . . . I do</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>not think it was right to put them in a pile. I saw SSG Frederic, SGT</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Davis and CPL Graner walking around the pile hitting the prisoners. I</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>remember SSG Frederick hitting one prisoner in the side of its [sic]</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>ribcage. The prisoner was no danger to SSG Frederick. . . . I left</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>after that. <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>When he returned later, Wisdom testified:</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
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</font><font face="arial" size=3>I saw two naked detainees, one masturbating to another kneeling with</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>its mouth open. I thought I should just get out of there. I didn't</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>think it was right . . . I saw SSG Frederick walking towards me, and</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>he said, "Look what these animals do when you leave them alone for</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>two seconds." I heard PFC England shout out, "He's getting hard."</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Wisdom testified that he told his superiors what had happened, and</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>assumed that "the issue was taken care of." He said, "I just didn't</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>want to be part of anything that looked criminal."</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
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</font><font face="arial" size=3>The abuses became public because of the outrage of Specialist Joseph</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>M. Darby, an M.P. whose role emerged during the Article 32 hearing</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>against Chip Frederick. A government witness, Special Agent Scott</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Bobeck, who is a member of the Army's Criminal Investigation</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Division, or C.I.D., told the court, according to an abridged</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>transcript made available to me, "The investigation started after SPC</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Darby . . . got a CD from CPL Graner. . . . He came across pictures</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>of naked detainees." Bobeck said that Darby had "initially put an</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>anonymous letter under our door, then he later came forward and gave</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>a sworn statement. He felt very bad about it and thought it was very</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>wrong."</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
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</font><font face="arial" size=3>Questioned further, the Army investigator said that Frederick and his</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>colleagues had not been given any "training guidelines" that he was</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>aware of. The M.P.s in the 372nd had been assigned to routine traffic</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>and police duties upon their arrival in Iraq, in the spring of 2003.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>In October of 2003, the 372nd was ordered to prison-guard duty at Abu</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Ghraib. Frederick, at thirty-seven, was far older than his</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>colleagues, and was a natural leader; he had also worked for six</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>years as a guard for the Virginia Department of Corrections. Bobeck</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>explained:</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
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</font><font face="arial" size=3>What I got is that SSG Frederick and CPL Graner were road M.P.s and</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>were put in charge because they were civilian prison guards and had</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>knowledge of how things were supposed to be run.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Bobeck also testified that witnesses had said that Frederick, on one</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>occasion, "had punched a detainee in the chest so hard that the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>detainee almost went into cardiac arrest."</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
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</font><font face="arial" size=3>At the Article 32 hearing, the Army informed Frederick and his</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>attorneys, Captain Robert Shuck, an Army lawyer, and Gary Myers, a</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>civilian, that two dozen witnesses they had sought, including General</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Karpinski and all of Frederick's co-defendants, would not appear.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Some had been excused after exercising their Fifth Amendment right;</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>others were deemed to be too far away from the courtroom. "The</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>purpose of an Article 32 hearing is for us to engage witnesses and</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>discover facts," Gary Myers told me. "We ended up with a c.i.d. agent</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>and no alleged victims to examine." After the hearing, the presiding</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>investigative officer ruled that there was sufficient evidence to</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>convene a court-martial against Frederick.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
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</font><font face="arial" size=3>Myers, who was one of the military defense attorneys in the My Lai</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>prosecutions of the nineteen-seventies, told me that his client's</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>defense will be that he was carrying out the orders of his superiors</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>and, in particular, the directions of military intelligence. He</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>said, "Do you really think a group of kids from rural Virginia</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>decided to do this on their own? Decided that the best way to</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>embarrass Arabs and make them talk was to have them walk around nude?"</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>In letters and e-mails to family members, Frederick repeatedly noted</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>that the military-intelligence teams, which included C.I.A. officers</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>and linguists and interrogation specialists from private defense</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>contractors, were the dominant force inside Abu Ghraib. In a letter</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>written in January, he said:</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
<br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>I questioned some of the things that I saw . . . such things as</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>leaving inmates in their cell with no clothes or in female</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>underpants, handcuffing them to the door of their celland the answer</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>I got was, "This is how military intelligence (MI) wants it</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>done." . . . . MI has also instructed us to place a prisoner in an</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>isolation cell with little or no clothes, no toilet or running water,</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>no ventilation or window, for as much as three days.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>The military-intelligence officers have "encouraged and told</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>us, `Great job,' they were now getting positive results and</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>information," Frederick wrote. "CID has been present when the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>military working dogs were used to intimidate prisoners at MI's</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>request." At one point, Frederick told his family, he pulled aside</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>his superior officer, Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Phillabaum, the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>commander of the 320th M.P. Battalion, and asked about the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>mistreatment of prisoners. "His reply was `Don't worry about it.'"</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>In November, Frederick wrote, an Iraqi prisoner under the control of</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>what the Abu Ghraib guards called "O.G.A.," or other government</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>agenciesthat is, the C.I.A. and its paramilitary employeeswas</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>brought to his unit for questioning. "They stressed him out so bad</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>that the man passed away. They put his body in a body bag and packed</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>him in ice for approximately twenty-four hours in the shower. . . .</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>The next day the medics came and put his body on a stretcher, placed</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>a fake IV in his arm and took him away." The dead Iraqi was never</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>entered into the prison's inmate-control system, Frederick</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>recounted, "and therefore never had a number."</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
<br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>Frederick's defense is, of course, highly self-serving. But the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>complaints in his letters and e-mails home were reinforced by two</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>internal Army reportsTaguba's and one by the Army's chief law-</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>enforcement officer, Provost Marshal Donald Ryder, a major general.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Last fall, General Sanchez ordered Ryder to review the prison system</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>in Iraq and recommend ways to improve it. Ryder's report, filed on</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>November 5th, concluded that there were potential human-rights,</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>training, and manpower issues, system-wide, that needed immediate</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>attention. It also discussed serious concerns about the tension</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>between the missions of the military police assigned to guard the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>prisoners and the intelligence teams who wanted to interrogate them.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Army regulations limit intelligence activity by the M.P.s to passive</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>collection. But something had gone wrong at Abu Ghraib.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>There was evidence dating back to the Afghanistan war, the Ryder</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>report said, that M.P.s had worked with intelligence operatives</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>to "set favorable conditions for subsequent interviews"a euphemism</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>for breaking the will of prisoners. "Such actions generally run</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>counter to the smooth operation of a detention facility, attempting</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>to maintain its population in a compliant and docile state." General</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Karpinski's brigade, Ryder reported, "has not been directed to change</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>its facility procedures to set the conditions for MI interrogations,</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>nor participate in those interrogations." Ryder called for the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>establishment of procedures to "define the role of military police</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>soldiers . . .clearly separating the actions of the guards from those</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>of the military intelligence personnel." The officers running the war</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>in Iraq were put on notice.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
<br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>Ryder undercut his warning, however, by concluding that the situation</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>had not yet reached a crisis point. Though some procedures were</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>flawed, he said, he found "no military police units purposely</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>applying inappropriate confinement practices." His investigation was</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>at best a failure and at worst a coverup. <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>Taguba, in his report, was polite but direct in refuting his fellow-</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>general. "Unfortunately, many of the systemic problems that surfaced</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>during [Ryder's] assessment are the very same issues that are the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>subject of this investigation," he wrote. "In fact, many of the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>abuses suffered by detainees occurred during, or near to, the time of</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>that assessment." The report continued, "Contrary to the findings of</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>MG Ryder's report, I find that personnel assigned to the 372nd MP</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Company, 800th MP Brigade were directed to change facility procedures</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>to `set the conditions' for MI interrogations." Army intelligence</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>officers, C.I.A. agents, and private contractors "actively requested</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>that MP guards set physical and mental conditions for favorable</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>interrogation of witnesses."</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
<br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>Taguba backed up his assertion by citing evidence from sworn</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>statements to Army C.I.D. investigators. Specialist Sabrina Harman,</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>one of the accused M.P.s, testified that it was her job to keep</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>detainees awake, including one hooded prisoner who was placed on a</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>box with wires attached to his fingers, toes, and penis. She</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>stated, "MI wanted to get them to talk. It is Graner and Frederick's</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>job to do things for MI and OGA to get these people to talk."</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Another witness, Sergeant Javal Davis, who is also one of the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>accused, told C.I.D. investigators, "I witnessed prisoners in the MI</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>hold section . . . being made to do various things that I would</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>question morally. . . . We were told that they had different rules."</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Taguba wrote, "Davis also stated that he had heard MI insinuate to</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>the guards to abuse the inmates. When asked what MI said he</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>stated: `Loosen this guy up for us.'`Make sure he has a bad</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>night.'`Make sure he gets the treatment.'" Military intelligence made</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>these comments to Graner and Frederick, Davis said. "The MI staffs to</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>my understanding have been giving Graner compliments . . . statements</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>like, `Good job, they're breaking down real fast. They answer every</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>question. They're giving out good information.'"</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
<br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>When asked why he did not inform his chain of command about the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>abuse, Sergeant Davis answered, "Because I assumed that if they were</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>doing things out of the ordinary or outside the guidelines, someone</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>would have said something. Also the wing"where the abuse took place</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>"belongs to MI and it appeared MI personnel approved of the abuse."</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Another witness, Specialist Jason Kennel, who was not accused of</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>wrongdoing, said, "I saw them nude, but MI would tell us to take away</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>their mattresses, sheets, and clothes." (It was his view, he added,</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>that if M.I. wanted him to do this "they needed to give me</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>paperwork.") Taguba also cited an interview with Adel L. Nakhla, a</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>translator who was an employee of Titan, a civilian contractor. He</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>told of one night when a "bunch of people from MI" watched as a group</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>of handcuffed and shackled inmates were subjected to abuse by Graner</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>and Frederick.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
<br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>General Taguba saved his harshest words for the military-intelligence</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>officers and private contractors. He recommended that Colonel Thomas</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Pappas, the commander of one of the M.I. brigades, be reprimanded and</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>receive non-judicial punishment, and that Lieutenant Colonel Steven</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Jordan, the former director of the Joint Interrogation and Debriefing</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Center, be relieved of duty and reprimanded. He further urged that a</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>civilian contractor, Steven Stephanowicz, of CACI International, be</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>fired from his Army job, reprimanded, and denied his security</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>clearances for lying to the investigating team and allowing or</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>ordering military policemen "who were not trained in interrogation</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>techniques to facilitate interrogations by `setting conditions' which</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>were neither authorized" nor in accordance with Army regulations. "He</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>clearly knew his instructions equated to physical abuse," Taguba</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>wrote. He also recommended disciplinary action against a second CACI</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>employee, John Israel. (A spokeswoman for CACI said that the company</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>had "received no formal communication" from the Army about the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>matter.) <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>"I suspect," Taguba concluded, that Pappas, Jordan, Stephanowicz, and</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Israel "were either directly or indirectly responsible for the abuse</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>at Abu Ghraib," and strongly recommended immediate disciplinary</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>action.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
<br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>The problems inside the Army prison system in Iraq were not hidden</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>from senior commanders. During Karpinski's seven-month tour of duty,</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Taguba noted, there were at least a dozen officially reported</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>incidents involving escapes, attempted escapes, and other serious</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>security issues that were investigated by officers of the 800th M.P.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Brigade. Some of the incidents had led to the killing or wounding of</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>inmates and M.P.s, and resulted in a series of "lessons learned"</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>inquiries within the brigade. Karpinski invariably approved the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>reports and signed orders calling for changes in day-to-day</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>procedures. But Taguba found that she did not follow up, doing</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>nothing to insure that the orders were carried out. Had she done so,</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>he added, "cases of abuse may have been prevented."</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>General Taguba further found that Abu Ghraib was filled beyond</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>capacity, and that the M.P. guard force was significantly undermanned</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>and short of resources. "This imbalance has contributed to the poor</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>living conditions, escapes, and accountability lapses," he wrote.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>There were gross differences, Taguba said, between the actual number</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>of prisoners on hand and the number officially recorded. A lack of</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>proper screening also meant that many innocent Iraqis were wrongly</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>being detainedindefinitely, it seemed, in some cases. The Taguba</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>study noted that more than sixty per cent of the civilian inmates at</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Abu Ghraib were deemed not to be a threat to society, which should</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>have enabled them to be released. Karpinski's defense, Taguba said,</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>was that her superior officers "routinely" rejected her</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>recommendations regarding the release of such prisoners.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Karpinski was rarely seen at the prisons she was supposed to be</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>running, Taguba wrote. He also found a wide range of administrative</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>problems, including some that he considered "without precedent in my</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>military career." The soldiers, he added, were "poorly prepared and</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>untrained . . . prior to deployment, at the mobilization site, upon</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>arrival in theater, and throughout the mission."</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
<br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>General Taguba spent more than four hours interviewing Karpinski,</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>whom he described as extremely emotional: "What I found particularly</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>disturbing in her testimony was her complete unwillingness to either</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>understand or accept that many of the problems inherent in the 800th</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>MP Brigade were caused or exacerbated by poor leadership and the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>refusal of her command to both establish and enforce basic standards</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>and principles among its soldiers."</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
<br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>Taguba recommended that Karpinski and seven brigade military-police</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>officers and enlisted men be relieved of command and formally</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>reprimanded. No criminal proceedings were suggested for Karpinski;</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>apparently, the loss of promotion and the indignity of a public</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>rebuke were seen as enough punishment.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
<br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>After the story broke on CBS last week, the Pentagon announced that</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Major General Geoffrey Miller, the new head of the Iraqi prison</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>system, had arrived in Baghdad and was on the job. He had been the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>commander of the Guantánamo Bay detention center. General Sanchez</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>also authorized an investigation into possible wrongdoing by military</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>and civilian interrogators.</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
<br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>As the international furor grew, senior military officers, and</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>President Bush, insisted that the actions of a few did not reflect</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>the conduct of the military as a whole. Taguba's report, however,</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>amounts to an unsparing study of collective wrongdoing and the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>failure of Army leadership at the highest levels. The picture he</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>draws of Abu Ghraib is one in which Army regulations and the Geneva</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>conventions were routinely violated, and in which much of the day-to-</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>day management of the prisoners was abdicated to Army military-</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>intelligence units and civilian contract employees. Interrogating</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>prisoners and getting intelligence, including by intimidation and</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>torture, was the priority. <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>The mistreatment at Abu Ghraib may have done little to further</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>American intelligence, however. Willie J. Rowell, who served for</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>thirty-six years as a C.I.D. agent, told me that the use of force or</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>humiliation with prisoners is invariably counterproductive. "They'll</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>tell you what you want to hear, truth or no truth," Rowell</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>said. "`You can flog me until I tell you what I know you want me to</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>say.' You don't get righteous information."</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
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</font><font face="arial" size=3>Under the fourth Geneva convention, an occupying power can jail</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>civilians who pose an "imperative" security threat, but it must</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>establish a regular procedure for insuring that only civilians who</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>remain a genuine security threat be kept imprisoned. Prisoners have</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>the right to appeal any internment decision and have their cases</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>reviewed. Human Rights Watch complained to Secretary of Defense</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Donald Rumsfeld that civilians in Iraq remained in custody month</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>after month with no charges brought against them. Abu Ghraib had</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>become, in effect, another Guantánamo. <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>As the photographs from Abu Ghraib make clear, these detentions have</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>had enormous consequences: for the imprisoned civilian Iraqis, many</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>of whom had nothing to do with the growing insurgency; for the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>integrity of the Army; and for the United States' reputation in the</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>world. <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3>Captain Robert Shuck, Frederick's military attorney, closed his</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>defense at the Article 32 hearing last month by saying that the Army</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>was "attempting to have these six soldiers atone for its sins."</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>Similarly, Gary Myers, Frederick's civilian attorney, told me that he</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>would argue at the court-martial that culpability in the case</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>extended far beyond his client. "I'm going to drag every involved</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>intelligence officer and civilian contractor I can find into court,"</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>he said. "Do you really believe the Army relieved a general officer</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> </font><font face="arial" size=3>because of six soldiers? Not a chance." <br>
</font><font face="arial" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
</font><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040510fa_fact"><font face="arial" size=3>http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040510fa_fact</a></font><font face="arial" size=2 color="#000080"> <br>
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