Iraqi Prisoners

Looks like the Army had already been investigating the problems at Abu Ghraib Prison. MS/NBC has published the complete report (quite long) Cherry picking two choice excerpts: bq. The US Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID), led by COL Jerry Mocello, and a team of highly trained professional agents have done a superb job of investigating several complex and extremely disturbing incidents of detainee abuse at the Abu Ghraib Prison. They conducted over 50 interviews of witnesses, potential criminal suspects, and detainees. They also uncovered numerous photos and videos portraying in graphic detail detainee abuse by Military Police personnel on numerous occasions from October to December 2003. Several potential suspects rendered full and complete confessions regarding their personal involvement and the involvement of fellow Soldiers in this abuse. Several potential suspects invoked their rights under Article 31 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and the 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. (emphasis mine) And more: bq. I find that the intentional abuse of detainees by military police personnel included the following acts: * Punching, slapping, and kicking detainees; jumping on their naked feet; * Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees; * Forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions for photographing; * Forcing detainees to remove their clothing and keeping them naked for several days at a time; * Forcing naked male detainees to wear women�s underwear; * Forcing groups of male detainees to masturbate themselves while being photographed and videotaped; * Arranging naked male detainees in a pile and then jumping on them; * 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; * Writing �I am a Rapest� (sic) on the leg of a detainee alleged to have forcibly raped a 15-year old fellow detainee, and then photographing him naked; * Placing a dog chain or strap around a naked detainee�s neck and having a female Soldier pose for a picture; * 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; * Taking photographs of dead Iraqi detainees. Sickening. This report goes on for quite a few pages. This does the present administration a lot of harm. The only good news about it is that an investigation was underway -- I could see wanting to keep this as quiet as possible. The bad news is that we had to learn about it through the media and not a press conference.