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Abuse of Iraqi prisoners (last updated September 21, 2004)
Images of U.S. military personnel abusing Iraqi prisoners first shocked the world - and even some members of the Bush administration - in April 2004. Since then, several investigations have substantiated at least 66 allegations of abuse and have led to charges being brought against several military personnel.
Fahrenheit 9/11 blames the prison abuse scandal involving Abu Ghraib prison on the immoral behavior of the U.S. leaders who started the war in Iraq. Whether or not the war itself is immoral, an independent panel has identified specific causes for the scandal such as aggressive but ambiguous interrogation policies, understaffing, and incorrect assumptions about a post-Hussein Iraq.
Details of the abuses
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As of August 2004, an investigation into all current abuse cases found that 66 of about 150 investigated allegations of abuse had been substantiated, and about 150 allegations were still under investigation. Most of the 66 substantiated cases occurred in Iraq, with eight at Guantanamo and three in Afghanistan. There were five reported cases of detainee deaths resulting from abuse by U.S. personnel during investigations, and 23 more cases of detainee deaths still under investigation.
Many of the abuses occurred at the Abu Ghraib prison, a facility that had been infamous during Saddam Hussein's regime for overcrowding and mass executions apparently intended to cull prison populations and inspire fear. U.S. forces used Abu Ghraib themselves to hold detainees as military action in Iraq continued and dramatically increased the number of detainees there in late 2003; one investigation noted that Abu Ghraib's general population more than quadrupled in one month from October to November 2003.
According to a report by Major General Antonio Taguba in May 2004, "numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses were inflicted on several detainees [between October and December 2003]. This systematic and illegal abuse of detainees was intentionally perpetrated by several members of the military police guard force" in the prison. Specific acts of abuse included:
- Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees;
- Forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions for photographing;
- Positioning a naked detainee on a MRE Box, with a sandbag on his head, and attaching wires to his fingers, toes and penis to simulate electric torture
- A male MP guard having sex with a female detainee;
- Using military working dogs (without muzzles) to intimidate and frighten detainees, and in at least one case biting and severely injuring a detainee
Other acts of abuse that were reported and found credible in the Taguba report included:
- Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees
- Beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair;
- Sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick
As of August 2004, an investigation specifically into Abu Ghraib prison found 44 total instances of abuse with 37 military and non-military personnel allegedly involved with abusing prisoners and another 11 personnel allegedly failing to report abuse.
How the abuses came to light
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According to reports, the allegations first came to light in January 2004, when a specialist reported the allegations to superiors. On January 16, 2004, Central Command announced that "an investigation has been initiated into reported incidents of detainee abuse at a Coalition Forces detention facility." On March 20, General Mark Kimmit announced that the "administrative investigation is complete" and that "as a result of the criminal investigation, six military personnel have been charged with criminal offenses to include conspiracy, dereliction of duty, cruelty and maltreatment, assault, and indecent acts with another."
Still, details and photographs of the abuses did not come until April 28, 2004, when CBS News' 60 Minutes II broadcast a report including photographs.
The photographs shocked the world as well as many people in the Bush administration, including President George W. Bush himself, who reportedly criticized Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for not bringing the extent of the abuse to his attention earlier and for Bush finding out about the photos from television.
Bush said on April 30, 2004 that he "shared a deep disgust that those prisoners were treated the way they were treated. Their treatment does not reflect the nature of the American people. That's not the way we do things in America" (transcript on-line here).
Rumsfeld accepted responsibility for the abuses days later. "I am accountable for them. I take full responsibility. It is my obligation to evaluate what happened, to make sure those who have committed wrongdoing are brought to justice, and to make changes as needed to see that it doesn't happen again," he said in a Senate hearing on May 7, 2004, according to prepared remarks (on-line here).
Investigations into underlying causes
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An independent panel chaired by former Nixon, Ford and Carter Cabinet member James Schlesinger found no evidence of a "policy of abuse promulgated by senior officials or military authorities" and found that "no approved procedures called for or allowed the kinds of abuse that in fact occurred." Nevertheless, it faulted senior officials for not adjusting their plans to the growing realization that post-Hussein Iraq was not as stable as had been expected.
"If commanders and staff at the operational level had been more adaptive in the face of changing conditions, a different approach to detention operations could have been developed by October 2003, as difficulties with the basic plan were readily apparent by that time," the Schlesinger panel wrote in its report.
The panel also noted that senior officials should have provided more resources to prison facilities, noting that Abu Ghraib prison housed up to 7,000 detainees in October 2003 with only 90 military police stationed there. The Taguba report from May 2004 noted that the Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca prison facilities were "significantly over their intended maximum capacity while the guard force is undermanned and under resourced. This imbalance has contributed to the poor living conditions, escapes, and accountability lapses at the various facilities."
The panel also said that senior officials should have clarified how new aggressive interrogation policies were to be used. Rumsfeld approved new interrogation techniques that could be used at Guantanamo in December 2002, but rescinded most of them a month later and required his direct approval for the use of the others. Rumsfeld then approved a new set of techniques in April 2003, but again limited the techniques' use to Guantanamo.
Such policies were only meant to be used with al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters in Guantanamo, in part because of a February 2002 decision that such persons were not covered under the Geneva Convention. However, these techniques spread from Guantanamo to Afghanistan and to Iraq. Several different policies were prepared and promulgated, resulting in confusion as to what policies were allowed. The panel noted that "techniques effective under carefully controlled conditions at Guantanamo became far more problematic when they migrated and were not adequately safeguarded." It also noted that "early and consistent guidance from higher levels … was needed and likely would have had a limiting effect" on the abuse incidents that resulted.
Sources: The Independent Panel to Review DoD Detention Operations, Final Report (August 2004) is available on-line here). Transcript of a special Defense Department briefing on results of military intelligence activities at Abu Ghraib prison facility, August 25, 2004, on-line here. Central Command, January 16, 2004 news release, on-line here. Transcript of March 20, 2004 briefing on-line here. Transcript of President George W. Bush's April 30, 2004 comments, on-line here. CBS News' April 28, 2004 broadcast on the prison photos, on-line here.
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