|
Photos of dead iraqi prisoners raise questions { May 7 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/07/politics/07DEAT.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/07/politics/07DEAT.html
May 7, 2004
Photos of Dead May Indicate Graver Abuse
By JAMES RISEN and DAVID JOHNSTON
WASHINGTON, May 6 — Grisly photographs taken at Abu Ghraib prison of two dead men may indicate that the violence at the prison went far beyond degrading treatment of detainees. The Bush administration has provided only limited information about one of the men; the other remains a mystery.
The photographs come from the same collection of pictures that show military guards humiliating other detainees. All of the photographs, including those of the dead men, were taken at Abu Ghraib, according to people who provided them to The New York Times.
One photograph shows the body of a man with a huge head wound. Next to him is a piece of paper with a detainee identification number: 153399.
Pentagon officials have not answered any questions about the identity of that prisoner or the circumstances of his death. However, an internal military report completed in March by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba described the death of prisoner No. 153399 during a riot on Nov. 24, 2003. The Taguba report said that the guards were authorized to use deadly force, but it harshly criticized the handling of the incident.
Among the problems cited were overcrowding, lack of training for guards, poor communication between commanders and soldiers and "the mix of less than lethal rounds with lethal rounds in weapons."
The other unidentified photo shows the body of a man with facial wounds and a bandage under his swollen right eye. He is in an unzipped body bag covered with bags of ice. There is no other information.
Military officials have said they are investigating 10 deaths of detainees, but have not said where any of the deaths occurred and have so far declined to provide any explanation of the photographs or describe the circumstances of the deaths.
The photograph of the man packed in ice appears to match a reference in a diary entry made by Staff Sgt. Ivan L. Frederick, who was a guard at the prison. He is one of six members of a military police unit charged in the abuse cases at Abu Ghraib.
The diary mentioned an incident in November 2003 involving a detainee that Sergeant Frederick described as an "O.G.A. prisoner." That reference to O.G.A., or Other Government Agency, usually meant prisoners under the control of the C.I.A. or other intelligence agencies.
In his diary, Sergeant Frederick wrote of the detainee: "They stressed him out so bad that the man passed away. They put his body in a body bag and packed him in ice for approximately 24 hours in the shower in 1B. The next day the medics came in and put his body on a stretcher, placed a fake IV in his arm and took him away. This O.G.A. was never processed and therefore never had a number."
Since the prisoner abuse scandal broke, the C.I.A.'s inspector general has said he is investigating the involvement of C.I.A. officers and contractors in three deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, including one at Abu Ghraib. In addition, the Justice Department is examining whether anyone violated federal law in cases involving the C.I.A.
Neither of the two photographs appears to fit the description provided by government officials of the death at Abu Ghraib that the agency is investigating. In that case, which occurred in early November 2003, an American official said the detainee slumped over in his chair and suddenly died while being questioned by a C.I.A. officer and a linguist who is a contractor working with the C.I.A.
American officials identified the dead man only by his last name, Jamadi. The officials said his death occurred after he had been captured by Navy Seals, brought to the Baghdad airport and transferred the same day to Abu Ghraib, where he was then questioned by the C.I.A.
Although the C.I.A. interrogated some detainees at Abu Ghraib, the prison was controlled by the United States military, the officials said. Most interrogations there were conducted by military intelligence, while the C.I.A. focused on fewer, "high value" detainees, the officials said.
The C.I.A.'s inspector general is also investigating the death later in November of a former Iraqi general, Abid Hamad Mahawish. He died in western Iraq in November several days after being interviewed by C.I.A. personnel. His death occurred after other American interrogators from other agencies questioned him as well, United States officials said.
The third death under investigation at the C.I.A. occurred in Afghanistan in June 2003. The dead man was named Abdul Wali, a former local commander who had fought against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980's and turned himself in to American forces last June in Asadabad, the capital of Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan. He died while being interrogated by an independent contract employee of the C.I.A.
United States officials say that the C.I.A. notified the Congressional oversight committees of the three deaths when they occurred. The governor of the province, Fazel Akbar, said United States military officials said the man died of a heart attack.
Carlotta Gall contributed reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, for this article.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
|
|
