Military report details abuse at Army prison in Iraq, magazine says

NEW YORK -- Iraqi detainees were subject to "sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses" at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, according to a U.S. Army report obtained by The New Yorker magazine.

The internal report detailed such abuses as pouring phosphoric liquid from chemical lights on detainees, pouring cold water on naked detainees and threats of rape, the magazine says in an article for its May 10 issue.

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more: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--prisonerabuse0501may01,0,2334251.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire
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And a link to article

TORTURE AT ABU GHRAIB

by SEYMOUR M. HERSH
In the era of Saddam Hussein, Abu Ghraib, twenty miles west of Baghdad, was one of the world’s most notorious prisons, with torture, weekly executions, and vile living conditions. As many as fifty thousand men and women—no accurate count is possible—were jammed into Abu Ghraib at one time, in twelve-by-twelve-foot cells that were little more than human holding pits.
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General Karpinski, who had wanted to be a soldier since she was five, is a business consultant in civilian life, and was enthusiastic about her new job. In an interview last December with the St. Petersburg Times, she said that, for many of the Iraqi inmates at Abu Ghraib, “living conditions now are better in prison than at home. At one point we were concerned that they wouldn’t want to leave.”

A month later, General Karpinski was formally admonished and quietly suspended, and a major investigation into the Army’s prison system, authorized by Lieutenant General Ricardo S. Sanchez, the senior commander in Iraq, was under way. A fifty-three-page report, obtained by The New Yorker, written by Major General Antonio M. Taguba and not meant for public release, was completed in late February. Its conclusions about the institutional failures of the Army prison system were devastating. Specifically, Taguba found that between October and December of 2003 there were numerous instances of “sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses” at Abu Ghraib. This systematic and illegal abuse of detainees, Taguba reported, was perpetrated by soldiers of the 372nd Military Police Company, and also by members of the American intelligence community. (The 372nd was attached to the 320th M.P. Battalion, which reported to Karpinski’s brigade headquarters.) Taguba’s report listed some of the wrongdoing:

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more:http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040510fa_fact

This is technically a dupe and not really LBN, but because it's an important article by the great Sy Hersh, I'm going to move it to General Discussion instead of locking it outright. I hope you understand...

Thanks! :hi:

:hi:

Everyone was heaping all that abuse on that one gal, because she is prominent in the photos with that stupid smile, I guess.

I think the reason so many women were present was to further humiliate the naked male prisoners, that was part of the torture. My understanding is that this would be very degrading to Muslims. Perhaps thats part of the reason the photos were taken, to broadcast the humiliation

when an Iraqi was getting a woody. This is so sick, I have a hard time believing it 'tis true.

what happened in germany? although not as extreme and tech. some differences we see from these reports that there are us soldiers and civilians willing to murder people for what? because iraqi`s are not humans ? because they were told to do so? because it was ok and they didn`t have to take a moral stand? this goes to the top-rumsfeld and his crew. if bush had any balls he would fire all those involved but he won`t because he doesn`t have any.

it is another sad chapter in the history of the united states army

perhaps rummy and sanchez should be keeping the chimp in chief informed.

This is one hell of an article and I would hope every DUer would read it all in it's entirety.

Military Intelligence has a lot to be desired. Then again look who's running the show. Is the CIA or the FBI any improvement?

How many Americans love FAUX News, MSNBC or CNN, or the fast food restaurant, and George W. Bush?