Guantanamo abuses highlight Abu Ghraib failures

AP , SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO
Saturday, May 08, 2004,Page 6

One prisoner was pepper-sprayed. Another was hit repeatedly with a clock radio. A third was hosed down by a guard.

Swiftly and quietly, investigators dealt with three formal complaints of prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where some 600 men are being held for alleged ties to Afghanistan's fallen Taliban regime or to the al-Qaeda terror network, military officials told reporters on Thursday.

Two of the guards were demoted in rank and a third was acquitted in a court martial, according to Raoul Duany, a civilian spokesman for the US Southern Command in Miami. Action was taken quickly to prevent the type of scandal plaguing US officials in Iraq, he said.

The first complaint surfaced in September of 2002 when an Army reserve specialist was accused of spraying a detainee with a fire hose. The detainee allegedly threw food and water at the passing guard who worked in the sprawling Camp Delta prison camp in eastern Cuba.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/05/08/2003154611

Fallujah native Abdul-Qader Abdul-Rahman al-Ani, his left elbow wrapped in bandages, his right forearm bound in a cast, recounted how he was beaten by soldiers who picked him up last month. The soldiers tied him and two others arrested with him to a tree and sodomized them one after the other, he told journalists.
"I ask President Bush," he said. "Does he agree with this? If he agrees with this he is a bastard."
But as the 47-year-old al-Ani repeated his story, he was interrupted by Jabber al-Okaili, a member of one of the human rights groups that organized the gathering. "He's lying," al-Okaili shouted. "He's a liar!"
Al-Ani was rushed into an office, where al-Okaili and others unwound the bandage on his left arm and found the elbow unscarred and healthy. They then cut off half of the cast on his forearm, even as al-Ani insisted, "By God, it's true, everything I say is true."
"All his papers were forged," al-Okaili, of the Free Iraq Institute, said after al-Ani left the building. "Who knows why he did this. Maybe he was paid by former members of Saddam Hussein's regime."
"There are people who try to exploit the situation," said Adel al-Allami, of the Human Rights Organization of Iraq. "We have to be very careful and very precise in our facts. This is a very sensitive issue."
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1078&dept_id=151021&newsid=11616754&PAG=461&rfi=9

London, Jan 20, IRNA -- Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram has revealed
that Britain has paid out an average of pnds 2,700 (dlrs 4,8000) in
compensation for each Iraqi civilian death that allegedly involved UK
forces since the end of combat operations.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2004/01/iraq-040120-irna01.htm

Amnesty International has demanded an impartial and independent inquiry into Baha's death and the mistreatment of the other Iraqi prisoners, but the Ministry of Defence is attempting to keep its investigation within the Army. Two soldiers originally arrested in connection with Baha's death have since been released - and Baha Mousa's family is outraged. "We are going to sue the British Army in London," his brother Alaa says. "They gave us $ 3,000 in compensation, then said we could have another $ 5,000 - but they wouldn't accept responsibility for his murder.
http://www.serve.com/pfc/pmcbride/pmc040104is.html

"We get lots of people coming into our offices in a very angry mood, showing us scars and bruises and telling us all kinds of stories about what happened to them in US custody," said Adil Allami, the head of the compensation committee at the IRHA. "But then, when we ask them to put it all on paper, they say, ‘What is the point? Who will ever believe us?’" But, significantly, he added: "Now, as a result of these pictures, we are expecting a lot more people to make official complaints as they know they will be taken seriously."
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=528552004

The person who busted the "faker" is Jabber al-Okaili of the Free Iraq institute.
This organization, to the best of my knowledge,
HAS NEVER BEEN HEARD OF BEFORE THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED.
The closest link to this group, so far, is Radio Free Europe.

To address the second widespread misconception about RFE/RL, that we are solely engaged with Europe: the facts are otherwise. About half of the countries to which we broadcast are in Asia. And they, too, desperately need what RFE/RL offers.
<snip>
I'm going to skip over Iraq, where we broadcast in Arabic and Kurdish, for two reasons. First, I think it's safe to say that everyone in this room is well aware of what's going on there. Second, to my enormous regret, the Administration's FY05 budget calls for the termination of Radio Free Iraq at the end of this fiscal year. It is now up to Congress to decide whether to acquiesce or continue funding it to the tune of $2.2 million a year. Whatever the outcome, I am delighted with what RFI has accomplished in its five years; the latest research shows that a whopping 34.4% of Iraqis listen to us each week.
<snip>
As you can see, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has as much to do with Asia as it does with Europe. In fact, since we are funded by the government, our priorities as an organization largely track its priorities, and right now the biggest priority of the government is combating terrorism. That's why I always have to laugh when people claim that RFE/RL is a relic-especially since 19 of our 28 broadcast languages are directed at predominantly-Muslim populations.
http://www.rferl.org/about/speeches/060504.asp

"The Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based Conservative think tank, published a piece in response to the foreign policy mess and suggested the launch of a surrogate propaganda broadcast service against Iraq. On February 5, 1998, James Phillips and James Anderson presented the paper 'Air Strikes Are Necessary To Weaken, Discredit, and Punish Saddam Hussein,' in which they urge U.S. congress to 'mount a psychological warfare campaign through a Radio Free Iraq...'
"The idea quickly gained support from the Republican-led Congress, which held hearings on U.S. foreign policy towards Iraq and heard directly from Iraqi National Congress (INC) head Ahmed Chalabi about the strength of U.S.-sponsored opposition radio. On March 23, 1998 U.S. Senate approved Bill S.1768 - adding a US$5 million grant for Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) under the State Department authorization bill that was earmarked for the new Radio Free Iraq.

"Allegedly without much consultation with local authorities, RFE/RL immediately drew up plans to base the new surrogate broadcasting service from their main office in Prague, Czech Republic. The opposition in the Czech parliament, sensing political gain, denounced the plans on grounds that it would invite terrorism into the country.
http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Radio_Free_Iraq

Covert operations were defined as "all activities ... conducted or sponsored ... against hostile foreign states or groups or in support of friendly foreign states or groups but which are so planned and executed that any US Government responsibility for them is not evident to unauthorized persons and that if uncovered the US Government can plausibly disclaim any responsibility for them." (9)
http://www.btinternet.com/~rrnotes/psywarsoc/fleaf/rfe.htm