Witness says higher-ups condoned prisoner abuse

[Judi Lynn]

Witness says higher-ups condoned prisoner abuse
By The Washington Post

HASH(0x106678c)

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

FORT HOOD, Texas — Army officers and CIA operatives at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison condoned the beatings and humiliation of Iraqi prisoners there and repeatedly praised the enlisted soldiers who abused the inmates, a former guard testified as the first military trial stemming from the prison scandal began Monday.

Pvt. Ivan L. Frederick was called as a prosecution witness in the Army's criminal case against Spec. Charles A. Graner Jr., the alleged ringleader of the abusive guards at Abu Ghraib. But his testimony tended to support a key element of Graner's defense — that he was following orders from officers when he punched and beat the prisoners and forced them to wallow naked in freezing mud outside the prison.

Frederick, a staff sergeant who was demoted to private after pleading guilty to abuse at Abu Ghraib, said he had consulted with six senior officers, ranging from captains to lieutenant colonels, about the guards' actions but was never told to stop. Frederick also said a CIA official told him to "soften up" one suspected insurgent for questioning.

The agent told him he did not care what the soldiers did, "just don't kill him," Frederick testified.
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http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/news/epaper/2005/01/11/a3a_abuse_0111.html

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Posted on Mon, Jan. 10, 2005

Witness: CIA and SEALs beat prisoners during interrogation

SETH HETTENA
Associated Press


SAN DIEGO - Navy SEALs and CIA officials kicked, punched, choked and eye-gouged detainees in 2003 at a U.S. military base in Iraq, a former SEAL testified Monday.

The witness said he saw the "interrogation by means of abuse" take place at Camp Jenny Pozzi, the SEAL base at Baghdad International Airport, in an area the troops called the "sand pit."

He said a prisoner under interrogation by the CIA was abused in October 2003 by two or three SEALs.

On another occasion a month after the interrogation, the witness said, he watched for 10 minutes as SEALs punched, choked and poked their fingers in the eye of Iraqi Manadel al-Jamadi, who also was punched by a CIA official when he didn't answer questions.

Al-Jamadi, a suspect in the bombing of a Red Cross facility in Iraq, died a few hours after he was captured during a joint CIA-special operations mission in November 2003. He died while being interrogated by CIA personnel in the shower room of the Abu Ghraib prison.
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http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/10612961.htm?1c
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(On edit, added related story)

[MrSlayer]

1. No real surprise.

We know this stuff has been going on long before the beginning of this war. Abusive interrogation, death squads and the like have been in our playbook forever. It just never gets this kind of attention and this attention as compared to other things is meager.