Ali
05-20-2005, 09:28 AM
A U.S. Army investigation has uncovered grisly details of the 2002 deaths of two Afghan men in American custody, The New York Times reported Friday, with a confidential report quoting witnesses as saying both men were repeatedly beaten before their deaths six days apart.
The Times reported it obtained a copy of a 2,000-page confidential report of the Army's investigation into the deaths, which took place at a detention center in Bagram, Afghanistan in December 2002. The Times reported it obtained the report "from a person involved in the investigation who was critical of the methods used at Bagram and the military's response to the deaths."
According to the report, one of the two men — known to the Army only as Dilawar — died after being chained by his wrists to the ceiling of his cell for four days.
During that time, he was interrogated repeatedly, and his legs were beaten so badly that a coroner later said they "had basically been pulpified," the Times reported.
Dilawar was a taxi driver and may have been arrested simply because he drove past an American military outpost with three pasengers shortly after it had been attacked, according to the report. The other three eventually were flown to the American detainee facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they were held for more than a year before being released without being charged, the Times reported.
The second victim, known to the Army as Habibullah, was believed by some American officials to be the brother of a former Taliban commander. He also was shackled by the wrists from the ceiling of his cell, the Times reported, and was beaten by guards and interrogators repeatedly over several days in early December 2002.
He, like Dilawar, was found dead in his cell, still shackled. An autopsy reported there were numerous deep bruises on his body, including one on his left calf that appeared to have been left by the sole of a boot. His cause of death was listed as a clot that blocked the flow of blood to his lungs, and it was possibly caused by leg injuries, the Times reported.
Seven soldiers have been charged so far in the death of Dilawar and investigators have recommended that up to 27 face charges, the Times reported; as many as 15 of those have also been linked to Habibullah's death.
The military report cited by the Times goes into explicit detail about the last hours of both men, indicating they were subject to repeated beatings and humiliation in their last days.
Some of the prison's interrogators were sent to Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison in July 2003, where they took charge of interrogations that included some of the now-widely-documented incidents of abuse there.
The Army initially said both men in Afghanistan had died of natural causes, even though military coroners ruled the deaths homicides. Army officials also claimed the deaths were isolated incidents, but the investigation showed regular abuse of prisoners at the facility, the Times reported.
The report comes at a sensitive time in Afghanistan. There has been an uptick of violence in the country, and on Monday, Newsweek magazine formally retracted a story published last week that said U.S. interrogators of Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo Bay desecrated the Koran.
The publication of the Newsweek story was followed by protests by Muslims around the world and riots that resulted in at least 15 deaths in Afghanistan, and the Bush administration has continued its criticism of the report.
"The report had serious consequences. People have lost their lives," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said earlier this week.
USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-05-20-afghanistan-deaths_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA)
Let's see what Scott has to say about this one.
You fuckers still think the riots are about people being "Good Moslems" overreacting to the desecration of the Qur'an?
Or are people getting sick and fucking tired of what US forces are doing to innocent people in prisons?
I can assure you that if it came to light that a country was detaining and torturing Americans in the the manner described above, that country would be bombed to glass in seconds.
When is somthing going to be done about this rampant evil that's gripping the planet?
Nothing will happen, of course. Scott will deny everything and the press will forget all about it and so will you, while more people get beaten to pulp in custody by bored soldiers (http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/American-torturers-driven-by-boredom/2005/05/20/1116533538564.html).
Like a narrative counterpart to the digital images from Abu Ghraib, a confidential US Army report contains graphic details of widespread abuse of detainees in Afghanistan in 2002 carried out by young and poorly trained soldiers.
The abuse, described along with the details of the deaths of two inmates at the Bagram detention centre, emerged from a nearly 2000-page file of the army's criminal investigation into the case.
The report centres on the death of a 22-year-old taxi driver known only as Dilawar and that of another detainee, Habibullah, who died at Bagram six days earlier in December 2002. But the harsh treatment went well beyond the two deaths.
In some instances, it was directed or carried out by interrogators to extract information. In others, it was punishment meted out by military police guards.
Sometimes the torment seems to have been driven by little more than boredom or cruelty, or both.
In statements to US army investigators, soldiers described one female interrogator with a taste for humiliation stepping on the neck of one prostrate detainee and kicking another in the genitals.
They tell of a shackled prisoner being forced to roll back and forth on the floor of a cell, kissing the boots of his two interrogators as he went. Yet another prisoner is made to pick plastic bottle caps out of a drum mixed with excrement and water as part of a strategy to soften him up for questioning.
Incidents of prisoner abuse at Bagram have previously been reported, but US officials have characterised them as isolated problems that were thoroughly investigated.
Yet the Bagram file includes ample testimony that harsh treatment by some interrogators was routine and that guards could strike shackled detainees with virtual impunity.
According to the report, Dilawar, a taxi driver, had been hauled from his cell around 2 am to answer questions about a rocket attack on a US base.
When he arrived in the interrogation room, his legs were bouncing uncontrollably and his hands were numb.
He had been chained by his wrists to the ceiling of his cell for much of the previous four days.
Dilawar asked for a drink of water, and one of the two interrogators, Specialist Joshua Claus, 21, picked up a large plastic bottle. But first he punched a hole in the bottom, the interpreter said, so as the prisoner fumbled weakly with the cap, the water poured out over his orange prison scrubs. The soldier then grabbed the bottle back and began squirting the water forcefully into Dilawar's face.
A military police guard tried to force the young man to his knees. But his legs, which had been pummelled by US military guards for several days, could no longer bend.
When he was finally sent back to his cell, though, the guards were instructed to chain the prisoner back to the ceiling.
Several hours passed before an emergency room doctor saw Dilawar. By then he was dead, his body beginning to stiffen. It would be many months before army investigators learned a final horrific detail - most of the interrogators believed Dilawar was an innocent man who simply drove his taxi past the US base at the wrong time.
ABUSE WAS TAPED
Abu Ghraib, Iraq Prisoners sexually humiliated, abused and beaten as military police guards videotape and photograph the scenes.
Camp Breadbasket, Iraq British soldiers force Iraqis into humiliating sexual poses and photograph them in degrading positions.
Guantanamo Bay The International Committee of the Red Cross tells the US Government in confidential reports its treatment of detainees is "tantamount to torture".
Afghanistan Human Rights Watch reports that nine detainees are known to have died in US custody, including four cases already determined to be murder or manslaughter
I feel sick after reading this. I am filled with hatred for the people who did these things. How must other people feel when they hear of this? What do you expect them to do? :mad: :mad: :mad:
US report reveals Afghan abuses
Fresh details have emerged of the alleged abuse of prisoners in Afghanistan by US soldiers.
The deaths of two inmates and alleged abuse of others is detailed by the New York Times citing a 2,000-page document leaked from a US army investigation.
US officials have said the incidents were isolated and have been dealt with.
The report says some prisoners were chained to ceilings and that one female interrogator stepped on a man's neck and kicked another in the genitals.
The New York Times said it received the report from a person involved in the US investigation who was critical of the interrogation methods used at the detention centre at Bagram, north of Kabul, and of the subsequent inquiry.
The key issue in the report covers the treatment of two Afghans who died in custody at Bagram in December 2002.
The detainees who died were a 22-year-old taxi driver known as Dilawar and a man called Habibullah.
'Innocent taxi driver'
The New York Times gives a detailed account from the leaked report of their treatment.
Dilawar had been chained to his cell ceiling by his wrists for four days and his legs pummelled by guards when he was brought to be re-interrogated at 0200 hours about an attack on a US air base, it says.
After the interrogation he was returned to be chained up and died before a doctor came to see him.
The report says most interrogators believed him to be an innocent taxi driver who simply drove past at the time of the air-base attack.
In earlier treatment of Dilawar, one soldier told investigators that when the prisoner was beaten: "He screamed out, Allah, Allah, Allah, and my first reaction was he was crying out to his God.
"It became a running joke and people kept showing up to give him a strike just to hear him scream Allah... It went on over a 24-hour period and I would think that it was over 100 strikes."
The US military initially said there was no indication of abuse in the two men's deaths and that interrogation techniques were methods that were "generally accepted".
Only after a later inquiry was it indicated, in October last year, that 27 soldiers faced probable criminal charges.
Seven of these have since been charged. No one has yet been convicted over the deaths of the two men.
US officials point to the detailed investigation into the abuses that has been carried out.
Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita told the New York Times: "What we have learned through the course of all these investigations is that there were people who clearly violated anyone's standard for humane treatment."
Drums of excrement
The New York Times says: "The file depicts young, poorly trained soldiers in repeated incidents of abuse. The harsh treatment... went well beyond the two deaths."
It details sworn statements from soldiers about a woman interrogator who stepped on one prisoner's neck and kicked another in the genitals.
Other reported abuses included a prisoner being forced to kiss the boots of interrogators and another forced to pick plastic bottle tops out of a drum mixed with excrement and water.
One sergeant told investigators that detainees were considered terrorists until proven otherwise and that the Geneva Convention only applied to prisoners of war.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4566159.stm
most interrogators believed him to be an innocent taxi driver who simply drove past at the time of the air-base attackThey fucking KNEW he was innocent, yet they continued.
This is not an isolated incident. This is routine treatment of prisoners in US custody. The fact that they are non-Caucasian is not a coincidence, IMO. This is one of a few stories which actually got out. How many people were routinely tortured, maimed and murdered like this, who we will never hear about?
Jasonikkk I would like to hear your opinion about this.
The Times reported it obtained a copy of a 2,000-page confidential report of the Army's investigation into the deaths, which took place at a detention center in Bagram, Afghanistan in December 2002. The Times reported it obtained the report "from a person involved in the investigation who was critical of the methods used at Bagram and the military's response to the deaths."
According to the report, one of the two men — known to the Army only as Dilawar — died after being chained by his wrists to the ceiling of his cell for four days.
During that time, he was interrogated repeatedly, and his legs were beaten so badly that a coroner later said they "had basically been pulpified," the Times reported.
Dilawar was a taxi driver and may have been arrested simply because he drove past an American military outpost with three pasengers shortly after it had been attacked, according to the report. The other three eventually were flown to the American detainee facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they were held for more than a year before being released without being charged, the Times reported.
The second victim, known to the Army as Habibullah, was believed by some American officials to be the brother of a former Taliban commander. He also was shackled by the wrists from the ceiling of his cell, the Times reported, and was beaten by guards and interrogators repeatedly over several days in early December 2002.
He, like Dilawar, was found dead in his cell, still shackled. An autopsy reported there were numerous deep bruises on his body, including one on his left calf that appeared to have been left by the sole of a boot. His cause of death was listed as a clot that blocked the flow of blood to his lungs, and it was possibly caused by leg injuries, the Times reported.
Seven soldiers have been charged so far in the death of Dilawar and investigators have recommended that up to 27 face charges, the Times reported; as many as 15 of those have also been linked to Habibullah's death.
The military report cited by the Times goes into explicit detail about the last hours of both men, indicating they were subject to repeated beatings and humiliation in their last days.
Some of the prison's interrogators were sent to Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison in July 2003, where they took charge of interrogations that included some of the now-widely-documented incidents of abuse there.
The Army initially said both men in Afghanistan had died of natural causes, even though military coroners ruled the deaths homicides. Army officials also claimed the deaths were isolated incidents, but the investigation showed regular abuse of prisoners at the facility, the Times reported.
The report comes at a sensitive time in Afghanistan. There has been an uptick of violence in the country, and on Monday, Newsweek magazine formally retracted a story published last week that said U.S. interrogators of Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo Bay desecrated the Koran.
The publication of the Newsweek story was followed by protests by Muslims around the world and riots that resulted in at least 15 deaths in Afghanistan, and the Bush administration has continued its criticism of the report.
"The report had serious consequences. People have lost their lives," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said earlier this week.
USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-05-20-afghanistan-deaths_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA)
Let's see what Scott has to say about this one.
You fuckers still think the riots are about people being "Good Moslems" overreacting to the desecration of the Qur'an?
Or are people getting sick and fucking tired of what US forces are doing to innocent people in prisons?
I can assure you that if it came to light that a country was detaining and torturing Americans in the the manner described above, that country would be bombed to glass in seconds.
When is somthing going to be done about this rampant evil that's gripping the planet?
Nothing will happen, of course. Scott will deny everything and the press will forget all about it and so will you, while more people get beaten to pulp in custody by bored soldiers (http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/American-torturers-driven-by-boredom/2005/05/20/1116533538564.html).
Like a narrative counterpart to the digital images from Abu Ghraib, a confidential US Army report contains graphic details of widespread abuse of detainees in Afghanistan in 2002 carried out by young and poorly trained soldiers.
The abuse, described along with the details of the deaths of two inmates at the Bagram detention centre, emerged from a nearly 2000-page file of the army's criminal investigation into the case.
The report centres on the death of a 22-year-old taxi driver known only as Dilawar and that of another detainee, Habibullah, who died at Bagram six days earlier in December 2002. But the harsh treatment went well beyond the two deaths.
In some instances, it was directed or carried out by interrogators to extract information. In others, it was punishment meted out by military police guards.
Sometimes the torment seems to have been driven by little more than boredom or cruelty, or both.
In statements to US army investigators, soldiers described one female interrogator with a taste for humiliation stepping on the neck of one prostrate detainee and kicking another in the genitals.
They tell of a shackled prisoner being forced to roll back and forth on the floor of a cell, kissing the boots of his two interrogators as he went. Yet another prisoner is made to pick plastic bottle caps out of a drum mixed with excrement and water as part of a strategy to soften him up for questioning.
Incidents of prisoner abuse at Bagram have previously been reported, but US officials have characterised them as isolated problems that were thoroughly investigated.
Yet the Bagram file includes ample testimony that harsh treatment by some interrogators was routine and that guards could strike shackled detainees with virtual impunity.
According to the report, Dilawar, a taxi driver, had been hauled from his cell around 2 am to answer questions about a rocket attack on a US base.
When he arrived in the interrogation room, his legs were bouncing uncontrollably and his hands were numb.
He had been chained by his wrists to the ceiling of his cell for much of the previous four days.
Dilawar asked for a drink of water, and one of the two interrogators, Specialist Joshua Claus, 21, picked up a large plastic bottle. But first he punched a hole in the bottom, the interpreter said, so as the prisoner fumbled weakly with the cap, the water poured out over his orange prison scrubs. The soldier then grabbed the bottle back and began squirting the water forcefully into Dilawar's face.
A military police guard tried to force the young man to his knees. But his legs, which had been pummelled by US military guards for several days, could no longer bend.
When he was finally sent back to his cell, though, the guards were instructed to chain the prisoner back to the ceiling.
Several hours passed before an emergency room doctor saw Dilawar. By then he was dead, his body beginning to stiffen. It would be many months before army investigators learned a final horrific detail - most of the interrogators believed Dilawar was an innocent man who simply drove his taxi past the US base at the wrong time.
ABUSE WAS TAPED
Abu Ghraib, Iraq Prisoners sexually humiliated, abused and beaten as military police guards videotape and photograph the scenes.
Camp Breadbasket, Iraq British soldiers force Iraqis into humiliating sexual poses and photograph them in degrading positions.
Guantanamo Bay The International Committee of the Red Cross tells the US Government in confidential reports its treatment of detainees is "tantamount to torture".
Afghanistan Human Rights Watch reports that nine detainees are known to have died in US custody, including four cases already determined to be murder or manslaughter
I feel sick after reading this. I am filled with hatred for the people who did these things. How must other people feel when they hear of this? What do you expect them to do? :mad: :mad: :mad:
US report reveals Afghan abuses
Fresh details have emerged of the alleged abuse of prisoners in Afghanistan by US soldiers.
The deaths of two inmates and alleged abuse of others is detailed by the New York Times citing a 2,000-page document leaked from a US army investigation.
US officials have said the incidents were isolated and have been dealt with.
The report says some prisoners were chained to ceilings and that one female interrogator stepped on a man's neck and kicked another in the genitals.
The New York Times said it received the report from a person involved in the US investigation who was critical of the interrogation methods used at the detention centre at Bagram, north of Kabul, and of the subsequent inquiry.
The key issue in the report covers the treatment of two Afghans who died in custody at Bagram in December 2002.
The detainees who died were a 22-year-old taxi driver known as Dilawar and a man called Habibullah.
'Innocent taxi driver'
The New York Times gives a detailed account from the leaked report of their treatment.
Dilawar had been chained to his cell ceiling by his wrists for four days and his legs pummelled by guards when he was brought to be re-interrogated at 0200 hours about an attack on a US air base, it says.
After the interrogation he was returned to be chained up and died before a doctor came to see him.
The report says most interrogators believed him to be an innocent taxi driver who simply drove past at the time of the air-base attack.
In earlier treatment of Dilawar, one soldier told investigators that when the prisoner was beaten: "He screamed out, Allah, Allah, Allah, and my first reaction was he was crying out to his God.
"It became a running joke and people kept showing up to give him a strike just to hear him scream Allah... It went on over a 24-hour period and I would think that it was over 100 strikes."
The US military initially said there was no indication of abuse in the two men's deaths and that interrogation techniques were methods that were "generally accepted".
Only after a later inquiry was it indicated, in October last year, that 27 soldiers faced probable criminal charges.
Seven of these have since been charged. No one has yet been convicted over the deaths of the two men.
US officials point to the detailed investigation into the abuses that has been carried out.
Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita told the New York Times: "What we have learned through the course of all these investigations is that there were people who clearly violated anyone's standard for humane treatment."
Drums of excrement
The New York Times says: "The file depicts young, poorly trained soldiers in repeated incidents of abuse. The harsh treatment... went well beyond the two deaths."
It details sworn statements from soldiers about a woman interrogator who stepped on one prisoner's neck and kicked another in the genitals.
Other reported abuses included a prisoner being forced to kiss the boots of interrogators and another forced to pick plastic bottle tops out of a drum mixed with excrement and water.
One sergeant told investigators that detainees were considered terrorists until proven otherwise and that the Geneva Convention only applied to prisoners of war.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4566159.stm
most interrogators believed him to be an innocent taxi driver who simply drove past at the time of the air-base attackThey fucking KNEW he was innocent, yet they continued.
This is not an isolated incident. This is routine treatment of prisoners in US custody. The fact that they are non-Caucasian is not a coincidence, IMO. This is one of a few stories which actually got out. How many people were routinely tortured, maimed and murdered like this, who we will never hear about?
Jasonikkk I would like to hear your opinion about this.