Tuesday, May 04, 2004

Your Tax Dollars at Work

Excerpts from Maj. Gen. Taguba report on the conditions in Abu Gharib. From the LA Times via Empire Notes.

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 box [of meals ready to eat], 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 [military police] 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.

In addition, several detainees also described the following acts of abuse, which under the circumstances, I find credible based on the clarity of their statements and supporting evidence provided by other witnesses:

Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees.

Threatening detainees with a charged 9-millimeter pistol.

Pouring cold water on naked detainees.

Beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair.

Threatening male detainees with rape.

Allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell.

Sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broomstick.


There's plenty more if you can stomach it.