NYT: In Abuse, a Picture of G.I.'s Ill Prepared and Overwhelmed

In Abuse, a Picture of G.I.'s Ill Prepared and Overwhelmed
By DOUGLAS JEHL and ERIC SCHMITT
Published: May 9, 2004

WASHINGTON, May 8 — The orders that sent most of the 320th Military Police Battalion to Iraq came on Feb. 5, 2003, as part of the tide of two-week-a-year soldiers being called up from the National Guard and the Army Reserve in preparation for war.

In theory, the battalion's specialty was guarding enemy prisoners of war, a task that was expected to be a major logistical problem. In fact, an Army report said few of the 1,000 reservists of the 320th had been trained to do that, and fewer still knew how to run a prison. They were deployed so quickly from the mid-Atlantic region that there was no time to get new lessons.

"You're a person who works at McDonald's one day; the next day you're standing in front of hundreds of prisoners, and half are saying they're sick and half are saying they're hungry," remembered Sgt. First Class Paul Shaffer, 35, a metalworker from Pennsylvania. "We were hit with so much so fast, I don't think we were prepared."

The battalion — including insurance agents, checkout clerks, sales people and others — ultimately would follow a grim trajectory into the episodes of prisoner abuse that have shocked the nation. The soldiers found themselves in charge of Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq at a time when the increasing rage of the anti-American insurgency, along with the desperation of American commanders to glean intelligence, magnified the pressures on the unit. This account of the troubled battalion is based on interviews with soldiers, their relatives, military commanders and Army reports.

Within days of the American invasion of Iraq, the 320th was in Kuwait, and the unit moved swiftly into southern Iraq, first to a prisoner of war camp overseen by British troops and then to a sprawling barbed-wire American camp in the desert. Known as Camp Bucca, the American camp was home to a legion of Iraqi prisoners.

"We were supposed to be the experts on this, but all we knew is what we learned in our summer camp," said Scott McKenzie, 38, of Clearwater, Pa., a sergeant first class who has since been discharged from the service. "We never learned how to deal with a riot, what to do when we were being assaulted."

(more)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/09/international/middleeast/09PRIS.html

Someone posted this article yesterday:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/chitribts/20040508/ts_chicagotrib/formanyiraqisabusesettlesopinionofus&cid=2027&ncid=1480

<In fact, neither of the Army's two battalions trained in confinement have ever been assigned to Iraq, the report notes. One is in Afghanistan (news - web sites), and the other is in Kuwait.

By comparison, says Detlev Vagts, a Harvard international law professor and expert on the , Allied occupation of Germany after World War II, the U.S. planned far in advance for assuming a role as prison masters if needed.

"They had already started preparation of American troops to take control of Germans by the summer of 1942," two years before the Allied invasion of Western Europe, Vagts said. "We trained interpreters. We had specialist teams who came in early and immediately began sorting out arrangements with police forces ."

"That's why we hear them on their way to the cemetery saying, `Revenge, revenge,'" he said. <snip>

Bah humbug, tooth to tail, contractors, f**k the Conventions, said Cheney, Rumsfeld and Feith.

NYSlime warmongering rag of a scandal sheet covering its warmongering ass.

Takes NO training to not torture other people. Only a modicum of character and some semblance of order in the ranks.

Fuck these delusional excuse makers. They make me sick.

The Bush administration from day one said that it would not allow US citizens to be tried for war crimes, essentially exempting itself from international protocols. Clearly the administration felt that they would reserve the right to use torture as they saw fit.

to administer this torture, and to reward the troops for doing sol

I think they deliberately trained the troops to do this.

There is no other explanation. These troops were trained to do these things. They obviously were and did go along with this as part of their military training.

and it is reprehensible, I do not care what romatic visions anyone wants to bestow upon these troops.

They =were trained to be animals and barbarians. They had no compunctions to resist, except for those who blew the whistle--and we do not still know who it was that is responsible for releasing this information and these pictures and all the pictures that are to come.

Our troops are trained barbarians--but they only went there for a couple of weekends.
they were NOT full time.

Right?

Just like some people become cops to drive fast and carry a gun, there are people who are in the armed forces because they can shoot and hurt people. I'm sure the majority of soldiers are very respectable people....but then there are these fucks.

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You can count on Judy and her fellow liars at the Screw York Times to lie for thier Nazi masters.

Göebbels never had it so good!

. . . to know right from wrong?

Are our soldiers so without ethics that they really have to be told, "You know, it's probably not a good idea to put a doggie leash on a naked prisoner and mock him as he grovels on the floor."

Jeez.

FROM A POORLY RUN CORRUPT MILITARY.

I agree with Hackworth--we never should have been there in the first place.

And Lynndie and her Dog Leash--- Its apparent this creature had no ability to think for her self---


wait until the 7 start singing and Gen Karpinski too---military scapegoats all.

and they want to start the draft?, ya right!

Gotta have your blue latex gloves on when you torture people.

having seen it several times now, is the
kindness in the hands of the prisoners as
they touch one another in juxtaposition to the
inhuman glee on the faces of their torturers.
Hands, to me, express the nature of the soul.
The prisoners in this picture, through their hands
convey great kindness towards their fellow victims,
while the hands of the male perpetrator are gloved,
thus conveying a complete disconnect from
the humanity of his victims.
Just an observation from an artist/visual learner P.O.V....
BHN

I had not seen it that way, being repulsed by the facial expressions of the torturers. Now that you point it out, it is obvious that the prisoners are taking what care they can of each other.

nice identifier/visual learner.

What a juxtaposition.

I've never been so ashamed of being an American.

The two photos, one with Lynnie and her dog leash and the other one stacked high with Iraqis and a women in the middle or back of the bodies.
I believe these photos were taken after the Military Intelligence and or the CIA got through with their interrogations and torture for the day.

The MP's and military personel then played with their new toys after the prisoners had been broken down and were docile to anything.

These tortured prisoner were easily led into these positions for creative prize winning photos for which Abu Ghraib was in competition with other U.S. prisons in Iraq and for souvenirs to be shown back home in beer drinking parties with war telling stories.

I'll bet at least one RW pundit says it...

It paints a very clear picture of the rampant incompetence and disregard in planning the post-invasion occupation.

It's just shocking. It's vivid, it's upsetting, and although the article does not take it "easy" on the soldiers and officers involved in these horrors, I think the thrust of the article urges one to take this issue directly to the President of the United States.

The President, and the President alone, is responsible for POLICY. What happened in Abu Ghraib and other prisons in Iraq is the direct result of utter disregard and ignorance of the post-invasion realities. This is what happens when you leave the decision-making to ideologues like Wolfowitz and his kind. This is the result. THIS is the fault of the American President.

Just as a small, tiny example of incompetence... initially, 2,000 prisoners were held in Abu Ghraib; that number jumped to 7,000 by September of 2003, and while troops were rotating out, no troops were rotating in to replace the soldiers at Abu Ghraib. The well-being of 700 prisoners was entrusted to six soldiers who worked 16-hour days in 120 degree temperatures. Six guards per 700!! And, the soldiers (most of whom were reservists) were woefully unprepared for their duties to begin with.

Again... these horrors are the direct result of incompetence at the highest level. The highest level is that of the Commander-in-Chief, and it is time we placed the blame at his feet. Sure, Rumsfeld did a horrible job of planning the occupation, but "policy" is not the responsibility of the Secretary of Defense.

BUSH OUT NOW. There are no other options. The credibility of our nation depends on it.

I'd get me the best damn liberal lawyer and have that lawyer rage against the administration and the right-wing hate culture. Said lawyer could say...." listen to what these young people have been listening to, look at how the administration twisted the facts so that they really thought they were fighting 9-11 terrorists, look how ill-prepared they were." I'd have quotes from every right wing tv/radio commentator, and from Cheney,Bush and the whole corrupt bunch.

They probably won't do it, because they are just as brainwashed and twisted as these "soldiers".

For instance, it explains WHY the photos were taken, which was a FAQ around here this past week, also points out the timeline, and the chain of command, or lack thereof.

I thought it was interesting to note they can pin point the exact time the photos were taken, 2 to 4 am when nobody was likely to be around, and that Fredrick and Grainer, as prison guards in civilian life were defferred to by the the rest of troops

From the troubling last paragraph of this excellent article:

Nearly a year ago, when her troops assumed their prison duty at Abu Ghraib, the Army made a promise. When it reopened Abu Ghraib last June, soldiers hung a sign at the gate that proclaimed: "America is a friend of all the Iraqi people."

Yes, that, and Arbeit Macht Frei. :grr: :mad: :grr:

Meyers is working overtime to keep the lid on this. According to MSNBC the "PICTURES
AREN'T EVEN IN DC YET"

What a Freaking LIE. They could send a Giga bite of data in 2 seconds for heaven sakes ---do
they believe we are that STOOPID ??

NeoCon Fucking liars posing as Generals



Next week or the week after next the NEOCON Generals plan to let a few select congressMEN
see them..

Then after the congressMEN go on TV with their usual outrage statements THE PENTAGON
will decide what to do next.

I hope the DINOS and others keep the heat on these CRIMINALS IN UNIFORM

this slogan should be painted on the entrance portal of every of the pentagon torture camp

It all boils down to this: If you are not shocked, appalled, and disgusted by these photos and what has gone on in the name of this country, you have no soul. You are doomed to eternal damnation, or at least a long, dark, and cold dirt nap. Jesus wept for good reason.

There is absolutely no excuse or justification for any of this behavior. Any human with an iota of the decency they were born with knows it is wrong to treat people this way. I can't imagine a more horrifying disgrace to this nation, but I'm sure I'll presented to it in the coming weeks.