White House tells UN torture panel of 29 deaths in custody

[UpInArms]

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/61612-print.shtml

All US government employees are prohibited from torturing detainees, White House staff told a UN panel questioning US compliance with international human rights law.
The US delegation, making its first appearance before the UN Committee Against Torture in six years, addressed of issues ranging from Washington's interpretation of the absolute ban on torture to its interrogation methods in prisons such as Abu Ghraib, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

<snip>

Charles Stimson, the US deputy assistant secretary of defence, said the United States had failed in its duty to protect detainees in Iraq.
"We feel terrible about what happened to these Iraqi detainees," Stimson said. "We didn't do that and that was wrong."

<snip>

The US delegation told the committee that mistakes had occurred in the US treatment of detainees in the war against terror, and that 29 detainees had died in US facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan from what appeared to be abuse or other violations of US law.

Andreas Mavrommatis, who chaired the session, said the US investigations would be more convincing if they were conducted by an independent judge or lawyer.

...more...

[C_U_L8R]

1. deaths ???

more like sadistic cold blooded murder

[marmar]

2. If the U.S. government claims there are 29 deaths....

the actual number is exponentially higher. This is what the "Shining City on the Hill" has become. A beacon of human rights violations and hypocrisy. When I hear the Star Spangled Banner these days, I just hang my head in shame.

:cry:

[struggle4progress]

3. They seem to be using nearly the numbers ACLU FOIA'd last Fall:

U.S. Operatives Killed Detainees During Interrogations in Afghanistan and Iraq (10/24/2005)
... According to the documents, 21 of the 44 deaths were homicides. Eight of the homicides appear to have resulted from abusive techniques used on detainees, in some instances, by the CIA, Navy Seals and Military Intelligence personnel. The autopsy reports list deaths by "strangulation," "asphyxiation" and "blunt force injuries." An overwhelming majority of the so-called "natural deaths" were attributed to "Arteriosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease" ... The ACLU has previously released autopsy reports for two detainees who were tortured by U.S. forces in Bagram, Afghanistan, believed to be Mullah Habibullah and an Afghan man known as Dilawar ...
http://www.aclu.org/intlhumanrights/gen/21236prs20051024.html

Autopsy reports reveal homicides of detainees in U.S. custody
http://action.aclu.org/torturefoia/released/102405/

As ACLU appears to note, there have been other cases. In some instances, the US and Iraqi autopsies disagree:

Published on Friday, May 28, 2004 by the Los Angeles Times
Suspicion Surrounds Death of Iraqi Scientist in U.S. Custody
by Alissa J. Rubin
BAGHDAD — The death certificate issued by the U.S. military indicated that a prominent Iraqi government scientist in American custody for nine months had died of natural causes. Doubtful, his family ordered an independent autopsy, which concluded that blunt-force injury caused the 65-year-old man's death ... http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0528-07.htm

Abuse of prisoners has been coupled with poor autopsy practices and subsequent loss of evidence:

Command's Responsibility: Detainee Deaths in U.S. Custody in Iraq and Afghanistan
... At the base commander’s order, a clerk .. dragged Hatab by his neck to an outdoor holding area .. Hatab’s body, covered by sweat and his own feces, slid over the sand. Hatab was then left on the ground, uncovered and exposed in .. the sun. He was found dead .. after midnight ... The treatment of Hatab’s body did not improve after his death. A Navy surgeon .. testified that .. at the morgue: “It kept slipping from my hands so I did drop it several times.” The U.S. Army Medical Examiner .. acknowledged that Hatab’s body .. was stored in an unrefrigerated drawer ... In fact, testimony .. later .. indicated that a container of Hatab’s internal organs was left exposed on an airport tarmac for hours; in the blistering Iraqi heat, the organs were destroyed. Hatab’s ribcage and part of his larynx were later found in medical labs in Washington, D.C. and Germany, due to what the Medical Examiner, Colonel Ingwersen, described as a “miscommunication” ... Hatab’s hyoid bone .. was never found, and Colonel Ingwersen testified that she couldn’t recall whether she removed the bone from the body during .. autopsy ... http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/us_law/etn/dic/hatab.asp

Of course, none of this is accidental ...

<edit: accuracy>

[Rose Siding]

4. March 16, 2005, AP: Report: 108 Died In U.S. Custody

(AP) At least 108 people have died in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan, most of them violently, according to government data provided to The Associated Press. Roughly a quarter of those deaths have been investigated as possible abuse by U.S. personnel.

The figure, far higher than any previously disclosed, includes cases investigated by the Army, Navy, CIA and Justice Department. Some 65,000 prisoners have been taken during the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, although most have been freed.

The Pentagon has never provided comprehensive information on how many prisoners taken during the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have died, and the 108 figure is based on information supplied by Army, Navy and other government officials. It includes deaths attributed to natural causes.

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:Xu74qoa5jEwJ:www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/16/terror/main680658.shtml+number+of+prisoners+detainees+killed+in+custody+by+United+States&hl=en&start=10