An Army investigation has found no systematic abuse of prisoners in Iraq or Afghanistan and says nearly half of the accusations of mistreatment involved detainees “at the point of capture” on the battlefield.
“[Soldiers] face the daily risks of being attacked by detainees, contracting communicable diseases from sick detainees, being taunted or spat upon, having urine or feces thrown upon them and having to treat a detainee humanely who just attacked their unit or killed a fellow soldier,” said the report released yesterday by the Army’s inspector general, Lt. Gen. Paul Mikolashek.
“Despite these challenges, the vast majority of soldiers and other U.S. military personnel continued to do their duty to care for detainees in a fair and humane manner,” the report said.
The investigation, ordered in February, found that of the more than 50,000 enemy military and terrorists detained in Iraq and Afghanistan, there were 94 cases of confirmed abuse orpossible abuse — a fraction of 1 percent.
Of the 94 cases, 45, or 48 percent, occurred at the time of capture when circumstances are the most volatile.
“The point of capture is the location where most contact with detainees occurs under the most uncertain, dangerous and frequently violent circumstances,” the inspector general said.
The Army inspector general portrayed the abuses as sporadic, not systematic. The abuses were committed by a few of the tens of thousands of soldiers deployed to both war theaters since the September 11 attacks on America, the report said.
“We were unable to identify system failures that resulted in incidents of abuse,” the report said. “The abuses that have occurred are not representative of policy, doctrine or soldier training. These abuses should be viewed as what they are — unauthorized actions taken by a few individuals, and in some cases, coupled with the failure of leaders to provide adequate supervision and leadership. These actions, while regrettable, are aberrations when compared to the actions of fellow soldiers who were serving with distinction.”
The report’s conclusions were criticized by some Democrats who maintain that leadership must have condoned the practices.
“In light of the frequently changing, quote, ’rules of engagement,’ as they were called, for interrogations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, it is difficult to believe that there were not systemic problems with our detention and interrogation operations,” said Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat, at a hearing on Gen. Mikolashek’s report before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The report marked the first of two major Army examinations of the prisoner-abuse scandal, which gained wide publicity after the media publicized photos of Army military police abusing Iraqi inmates during interrogations at Abu Ghraib prisoner near Baghdad. The graphic photographs were taken by members of an military police brigade guarding Abu Ghraib. The Army has charged seven soldiers with assault charges and is continuing a criminal investigation that might result in more soldiers being accused of crimes at Abu Ghraib.
A second major investigation aimed at how Army intelligence units handle interrogations is expected to be out soon. Some military police officers have contended they mistreated Iraqis on orders from intelligence officers desperate for information on an Iraqi insurgency that has killed hundreds of U.S. personnel and allies.
The inspector general report did not focus on specific instances of misconduct, but instead looked at Army policies on how to treat detainees and whether the problem stemmed from the top or was the action of individual soldiers, hampered by poor leadership.
The report said the Army must update its prisoner doctrine, which did not anticipate the continuing global war on terror in which thousands of prisoners are held.
“The overwhelming majority of our leaders and soldiers understand the requirement to treat detainees humanely and are doing so,” the report said. “These soldiers understand their obligation to report incidents of abuse when they do occur, and they do so.”
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has said his review of investigative material shows no evidence that senior civilian or military leaders condoned or ordered the abuse.
The report added, “The overwhelming majority of our leaders and soldiers understand and adhere to the requirements to treat detainees humanely and consistent with the laws of land warfare,” the Army inspector general wrote. “Time and again, these soldiers, while under the stress of combat operations and prolonged insurgency operations, conduct themselves in a professional and exemplary manner.”
Of the more than 20 detention camps inspected, the inspector general determined that only Abu Ghraib was unsuitable because it is near an urban population and is under frequent attack by insurgents. He also determined that Army intelligence units lack sufficient interrogators and Arabic translators to do timely questioning, thus requiring the keeping of detainees “longer than doctrinally recommended.”
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