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Seymour Hersh: U.S. Knew of Rampant Abuse in Iraqi Prisons
Months Ago
Stadium of Death: Fallujah Residents Bury Their Dead In Aftermath
of Bloody U.S. Siege
Winona LaDuke On Native American Activists Throughout History
Seymour Hersh: U.S. Knew of Rampant Abuse in Iraqi
Prisons Months Ago
We speak with Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Seymour Hersh
about a classified internal U.S. army report he obtained that
reveals systematic torture of at least 20 Iraqi prisoners
who were subjected to "sadistic, blatant, and wanton
criminal abuses" by their U.S. jailers at the notorious
Abu Ghraib prison.
On May 1st, 2003 President Bush, stood before a giant "Mission
Accomplished" sign aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and
declared an end to major military combat operations in Iraq.
One year later, a very different set of images shown around
the world are being described as the pictures that lost the
war.
This past week CBS'"60 Minutes II" broadcast images
showing Iraqi prisoners stripped naked, hooded and being humiliated
and tortured by their U.S. captors. The images quickly exploded
onto the world stage and were shown on television and in newspapers
across the globe.
For months, human rights groups and former prisoners had
complained of mistreatment at detention centers but their
protests were widely dismissed as politically motivated until
U.S. command started an investigation in January.
This week, Pulitzer prize winning investigative reporter
Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker obtained a copy of an explosive
internal Army report that reveals what appears to be systematic
torture of at least 20 Iraqi prisoners by six to 10 U.S. Army
reservists.
The 53-page report, written in February by Maj. Gen. Antonio
Taguba found Iraqi detainees in a cellblock of the notorious
Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad were subjected to "sadistic,
blatant, and wanton criminal abuses" at the hands of
their U.S. jailers. The abuses included sodomizing of prisoners,
pouring cold water and chemicals on naked bodies, threatening
detainees with rape and dog attacks, hitting them with chairs
and broomsticks and locking them in isolation without food,
water or a toilet for three days.
The internal report also found a virtual collapse of the
command structure in Abu Ghraib with Army reservists being
urged by military intelligence and CIA employees to "set
physical and mental conditions for favorable interrogation
of witnesses."
Appearing on three Sunday talk shows yesterday, Chairman
of the Joint Cheifs of Staff Gen Richard Myers said, "Torture
is not one of the methods that we're allowed to use and that
we use. I mean, it's just not permitted by international law,
and we don't use it."
Myers gave conflicting answers when asked if the problems
at Abu Ghraib were systemic throughout detention centers in
Iraq. First he insisted that the instances of mistreatment
were not widespread and were the actions of "just a handful"
of soldiers. But when pressed, he acknowledged that he had
not yet read Taguba's report and left open the possibility
the abuses could be broader.
Myers also acknowledged that he had asked the CBS News program
"60 Minutes II" to delay broadcasting photographs
of the abuses saying it would be particularly inflammatory
at the time. CBS, which was originally scheduled to air the
images on April 14, complied and delayed the broadcast by
two weeks.
Taguba's report has led to a military investigation of the
372nd Military Police Company, which staffed the cellblock.
Seventeen soldiers in the company have been suspended and
six now face court-martial. The woman in charge of Abu Ghraib,
Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, was relieved of her command.
- Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist for
the New Yorker.
Stadium of Death: Fallujah Residents Bury Their Dead
In Aftermath of Bloody U.S. Siege
U.S. forces pull out of Fallujah following a brutal U.S.
siege which killed some 600 Iraqis, wounded 1,000 and left
some 60,000 people displaced. We go to Fallujah to get a report
from Free Speech Radio News' Aaron Glantz who describes dozens
of bodies buried in the city's soccer stadium after US forces
blocked roads heading toward the cemetery.
As the world focused its attention on allegations of torture
and human rights abuses of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of
U.S. forces, violence and bloodshed continued throughout the
country.
A total of 11 U.S. troops were killed in four separate attacks
Sunday. A mortar attack on a US base near Ramadi in al-Anbar
province killed 6 soldiers and wounded 30, many of them seriously,
so that the death toll will probably rise. Another five died
in attacks in Baghdad, Kirkuk and Amara.
April marked the bloodiest month in Iraq since the invasion
with a total of 136 US soldiers killed and over 1,300 Iraqis.
Meanwhile, the former Iraqi general reportedly chosen to
head a new force in Fallujah, Gen. Jasim Saleh, entered the
Sunni town with 200 Iraqi peacekeepers Friday after US forces
pulled out following weeks of bloody fighting. Masked gunmen
in Falluja celebrated the US withdrawal. Marine officers warned
they would give Gen Saleh only a few days to disarm them.
Saleh served in Saddam Hussein's Republican Republican Guard
in the 1980s and later headed Saddam's infantry forces.
But this weekend, Joint Chiefs of Staff chair, Gen. Richard
Myers, contradicted officers on the ground by denying that
Saleh has been given control of Fallujah. Myers told Fox News
that Saleh was still being considered for the position and
he did not believe he would pass the vetting process for taking
command.
For weeks, Fallujah was under a siege by US troops as reports
emerged of a massacre of Iraqis at the hands the US military.
US aircraft and artillery reepeatedly bombarded the town.
Doctors there say at least 600 people were killed and over
1,000 injured. Local hospitals have reported the majority
of the dead are women, children and the elderly. More than
60,000 women and children fled the city during a brief ceasefire
but the US blocked any men of military age from leaving. Dozens
of bodies have been buried in the city's soccer stadium after
US forces blocked roads heading toward the cemetery.
Winona LaDuke On Native American Activists Throughout
History
We hear a speech by longtime indigenous rights activist
Winona LaDuke about past Native American activists, health,
the environment and much more. LaDuke gained nationwide attention
as vice presidential running mate to Ralph Nader on the 1996
and 2000 Green Party tickets.
- Winona LaDuke, speaking at the Boston Women's Fund on
April 30, 2004.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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