[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [SRRTAC-L:13816] WSJ reveals confidential Red Cross repor

[Al Kagan]

Someone mentioned this report at the meeting tonight.

>From: "Kathleen de la Pena McCook" <kmccook at tampabay.rr.com>
>To: SRRT Action Council <srrtac-l at ala.org>
>Date: Sat, 08 May 2004 08:35:43 -0400
>Subject: [SRRTAC-L:13816] WSJ reveals confidential Red Cross repor
>Reply-To: srrtac-l at ala.org
>Priority: normal
>X-Virus-Scanned: Symantec AntiVirus Scan Engine
>X-MailScanner: Found to be clean, Found to be clean
>Sender: owner-srrtac-l at ala.org
>X-MailScanner-Information: Please contact the ISP for more information
>
>WSJ reveals confidential Red Cross report on torture by American
>Troops. The Red Cross says these reports should be kept confidential,
>but somebody leaked it to the WSJ. This is the full article....
>
>Red Cross Found Widespread Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners; Confidential
>Report Says Agency Briefed U.S. Officials On Concerns Repeatedly
>
>David S. Cloud, Carla Anne Robbins and Greg Jaffe.ÝWall Street
>Journal.Ý(Eastern edition).  New York, N.Y.:ÝMay 7, 2004.ÝÝpg.ÝA.1.
>
>WASHINGTON -- A confidential and previously undisclosed Red Cross
>report delivered to the Bush administration earlier this year
>concluded that abuse of prisoners in Iraq by U.S. military
>intelligence personnel was widespread and in some cases "tantamount
>to torture."
>Among other allegations, the report says prisoners were kept naked in
>empty calls at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison; that male prisoners there
>were forced to wear women's underwear; that prisoners were beaten by
>coalition forces, in one case leading to death; and that coalition
>forces fired on unarmed prisoners multiple times from watchtowers,
>killing some of them.
>
>Overall, the 24-page report, based on International Committee of the
>Red Cross inspections and interviews in Iraq from March to November
>2003, alleges that prisoners in intelligence interrogations were
>subjected to harsh and often brutal treatment as part of a regular
>practice of trying to "obtain confessions and extract information."
>
>The February report, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, presents a
>portrait of prisoner treatment in Iraq that is at odds with
>statements
>by administration officials that abuse wasn't condoned by military
>commanders and was limited to a handful of low-ranking soldiers.
>
>Instead, the report says, information gathered by the ICRC "suggested
>the use of ill-treatment against persons deprived of their liberty
>went beyond exceptional cases and might be considered a practice
>tolerated by" coalition forces.
>
>Pentagon officials declined comment, saying that they had a
>confidentiality agreement with the ICRC that prevented them from
>discussing the report. The head of the Geneva-based agency's
>delegation in Washington, Christophe Girod, last night said he
>couldn't comment on the report, which he said was "confidential" and
>intended only for the U.S. and its coalition partners.
>
>The ICRC did acknowledge yesterday that it had documented prisoner
>abuse at Abu Ghraib, and said it had been working with U.S. officials
>to correct the problem before the scandal broke. "The American
>authorities took very seriously all our recommendations," Nada
>Doumani, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red
>Cross,
>while not providing a copy of the report, told the Associated Press
>from Amman, Jordan.
>
>It could not be learned last night whether senior Bush administration
>officials read the ICRC report, or whether it had played a role in
>the
>investigations of prison abuse that officials began earlier this
>year.
>The U.S. Army, which was in regular contact with ICRC about its
>allegations, launched an inquiry into conditions at Abu Ghraib
>inquiry
>on Jan. 14, the day after photos of abused prisoners were passed up
>the chain of command. Some of the photos have become public in the
>last week, stirring anger at the U.S. around the world and spurring
>new questions about the war and occupation.
>
>A State Department official said last night that he couldn't say when
>Secretary of State Colin Powell first saw the report. But he noted
>that the ICRC had been making recommendations and raising concerns
>for
>a long time, and that Mr. Powell and other administration officials
>had been aware of that.
>
>U.S. officials said yesterday that problems with detention procedures
>were discussed in several high-level administration meetings this
>year. The ICRC report specifies that its findings were made available
>to the U.S. as part of a "bilateral and confidential dialogue."
>
>A spokesman for U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. troops in
>the Middle East, said the command had not received the report.
>
>The report says Red Cross official repeatedly briefed U.S. officials
>about their concerns regarding prisoner mistreatment beginning just
>after the war ended in May and continuing until the report was
>completed in February.
>
>In mid-October, ICRC officials visited a section of Abu Ghraib where
>they witnessed "the practice of keeping persons completely naked in
>totally empty concrete cells in total darkness, allegedly for several
>consecutive days," the report says.
>
>Upon witnessing the treatment in the prison, which included making
>male prisoners parade around in women's underwear, ICRC officials
>complained to the military intelligence officer in charge, who
>explained that the practice was "part of the process," the report
>says.
>
>Despite the ICRC's October inspection and warning of abuse at Abu
>Ghraib in October 2003, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told
>reporters earlier this week that the allegations of guards sexually
>humiliating and abusing inmates at the facility didn't surface until
>Jan. 13, three months after the ICRC complained of the problem to
>military officials in Iraq.
>
>In another episode detailed in the report, nine men were arrested by
>coalition forces in the city of Basra last September and taken to
>offices formerly used by the Iraqi intelligence service. There,
>according to allegations gathered by the ICRC, they were "beaten
>severely by [Coalition Forces] personnel."
>
>One of those arrested, 28-year-old Baha Daoud Salim, died. "His co-
>arrestees heard him screaming and asking for assistance," the report
>says.
>
>His death certificate, prepared by coalition forces, listed "cardio-
>respiratory arrest-asphyxia" as the condition leading to death, but
>said the cause of death was "unknown," the report says. An eyewitness
>description of the body reported a broken nose, several broken ribs
>and lesions on the face consistent with a beating, it notes.
>
>The report also documents eight instances in which coalition forces
>guards opened fire -- in some cases from watchtowers -- on unarmed
>prisoners, killing seven of them and wounding as many as 20. "These
>incidents were investigated summarily by the coalition forces," the
>report states, noting that in all cases the coalition determined that
>"a legitimate use of firearms had been made."
>
>The ICRC, however, disagreed, saying that in all cases "less extreme
>measures could have been used to quell the demonstrations," according
>to the report. In one case, a prisoner throwing stones was shot
>through the chest by a guard in a watchtower. The military said the
>shooting was justified. The ICRC, however, said the shooting "showed
>a
>clear disregard for human life and security" of prisoners.
>
>The ICRC does not typically publicly release the findings of its
>inspections, a policy that the organization says is critical for it
>to
>gain access to prisons, hospitals and other facilities in war zones.
>Disclosure of the report's details could well raise questions about
>the ICRC's policy of maintaining confidentiality even in the face of
>such abuse.
>
>The report does document cases in which ICRC complaints achieved
>changes in practices. In May 2003, it says, after a memo detailing
>200
>allegations of mistreatment was given to Rear Adm. James Robb, non-
>Iraqi detainees were no longer forced to wear wristbands that read
>"terrorist."
>
>The report notes that "ill-treatment during interrogation was not
>systematic, except with regard to persons arrested with suspected
>security offenses or deemed to have an intelligence value." Treatment
>of prisoners in military intelligence custody improved if they
>cooperated, the report says. It notes that when prisoners were
>transferred to facilities under control of military police, treatment
>also generally improved.
>
>Last July, the ICRC sent the U.S. a report detailing 50 allegations
>of
>prisoner abuse at the military intelligence section of Camp Cropper,
>at Baghdad International Airport. Detainees were subjected to a
>variety of techniques aimed at pressuring them, the report says.
>
>They included soldiers "taking aim at individuals with rifles,
>striking them with rifle butts, slaps and punches and prolonged
>exposure to the sun." One prisoner claimed he was "urinated on,
>kicked
>in the head, lower back and groin, force-fed a baseball, which was
>tied into the mouth using a scarf and deprived of sleep for four
>consecutive days."
>
>
>------------------------


-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu