CRESAPTOWN, Md. — Families and neighbors of the soldiers in the Army Reserve unit accused of mistreating inmates in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq said yesterday they do not condone their actions but will continue to support the troops and the war effort.
Becky McClarran, whose son served in the 372nd Military Police Company but was not involved in the prisoner abuse, said she was disturbed by the photographs of prison guards giving the thumbs-up sign and mugging for the camera beside naked and hooded Iraqi detainees.
“But I still support the 372nd,” she said. “They have been through a lot, as every soldier has. … But that doesn’t excuse the actions they took.”
Mrs. McClarran, 52, also criticized news organizations for “over-zealous use” of the photographs and the rush to judge the soldiers, saying the coverage only fuels anti-American sentiment in Iraq.
“It puts our soldiers in harm’s way,” she said.
At Shooters, a bar and grill frequented by guards from the nearby state penitentiary, a military veteran who lost his left leg in the first war in Iraq said he was more disgusted by one-sided news coverage of the war than by the soldiers’ misconduct.
“We got people who are prisoners and they are being tortured in every way, shape and form,” said the 47-year-old veteran who declined to give his name. “Nobody wants to tell the truth about that.”
Some of the photographs appeared first Wednesday during CBS’ “60 Minutes II.”
The story was first reported by the New Yorker magazine in its May 10 issue and was based on a classified, 53-page report completed in February by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba.
Other residents in this western Maryland community, near Cumberland and about 140 miles northwest of the District, said newspapers and TV news reports have sensationalized the prison abuse while downplaying atrocities committed by Iraqi fighters.
Marty D. Hitchins, a 41-year-old machinist for a defense firm near Cumberland whose cousin served as a military policeman with the 372nd in Iraq, said, “I don’t like the way the press runs our guys down but not their guys.”
He said the humiliating treatment was like a “trip to Disneyland” compared with the torture that captured Iraqi President Saddam Hussein inflicted, but that it still was unjustified.
“It wasn’t right what they did,” he said. “They deserve to get whatever punishment is coming to them.”
Six reservists — Staff Sgt. Ivan L. “Chip” Frederick II, Spc. Charles A. Graner, Sgt. Javal Davis, Spc. Megan Ambuhl, Spc. Sabrina D. Harman and Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits — now face prosecution in Iraq. Their charges include conspiracy, dereliction of duty, cruelty toward prisoners, maltreatment, assault and indecent acts.
The Baltimore Sun reported eight other soldiers from the unit face administrative charges, as the investigation widens and military officials call for further investigations.
The abuses became public after Spc. Joseph M. Darby, a military policeman in the 372nd, saw photos of the abuses, wrote an anonymous letter to military officials, then gave a sworn statement, according to the New Yorker.
Most people in Cumberland said they wanted to see the guards brought to justice, but that the actions of a few should not disgrace the entire unit or the rest of the troops.
“I don’t like it one bit,” Richard Morris, a 67-year-old Army veteran and retired cross-country trucker said yesterday afternoon from inside a Four-Star Pizza and Subs on the outskirts of Cumberland.
“People around here don’t do anything like that,” he said. “It made a bad name for everybody.”
Despite the embarrassment, many Cumberland-area residents remains supportive of the troops.
In front of Lewis Easton’s cottage-style home on a rural highway stands a large, inflatable flag with the caption “God Bless America.” Nearby flies an American flag, a Maryland state flag and a black POW-MIA flag.
“I was very surprised,” said Mr. Easton, a 54-year-old Vietnam Marine veteran. “It’s out of character for this area and for the type of guys they are.”
His wife, Debra, said that the soldiers deserve to be punished if they mistreated prisoners. “You cannot treat people like that,” she said.
Mr. Easton interrupted: “We’re not saying they are guilty.”
“This area is very patriotic,” Mrs. Easton said.
President Bush and other U.S. leaders have also publicly condemned the reported abuses.
A prison guard at the Western Correction Institute, just south of Cumberland where some of the Army reservists worked, said guards deserve the benefit of the doubt.
“There are two sides to every story,” he said. “Let’s hear their side.”
Among the unanswered questions are whether the soldiers were adequately trained for such duty and whether the abuse was part of an interrogation process they were ordered to follow at Abu Ghraib — about 20 miles west of Baghdad and known as the torture chamber for prisoners under Saddam.
Staff Sgt. Frederick “never did do anything to hurt anyone,” said his wife, Martha.
Daniel Sivits of Hyndman, Pa., said his son, Spc. Sivits, 24, who faces a court- martial, was not prepared for prison-guard duty.
“Jeremy is not a trained” military policeman, Mr Sivits said. “He is a trained wheeled-vehicle mechanic.”
The mother of Spc. Harman, Robin M. Harman of Lorton, Va., said her daughter was in the process of having an Article 32 hearing in the case. That is the military equivalent of a civilian grand jury probe. Calls by AP to her civilian attorney, Frank Spinner, were not returned.
Capt. Donald J. Reese of New Stanton, Pa., faces administrative charges, said his wife, Sue. She did not know whether he was among the officers whom the Army formally reprimanded Monday.
Spc. Rodney Bird, 24, of Oakland, Md., worked at the prison but was not charged. His wife, Jennifer, 23, also said the actions of a few have disgraced the unit.
“I think it’s awful that they’re over there supposed to be doing their jobs and they’re treating those people like that. I think it’s very bad,” she said.
Cumberland still plans to throw a homecoming party for its Army reservists and hold a Memorial Day celebration in support of the troops in Iraq, said Ed Mullaney, manager of city’s downtown revitalization program.
“This is not a community that would support man’s inhumanity to man,” said Mr. Mullaney, a 60-year-old retired history teacher at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. “But I think the pervasive sentiment here is that we are going to honor our troops, most of whom are honest soldiers out there doing what the president wants them to do.”
• This article is based in part on wire service reports
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