December 21, 2004
PRISONERS

New F.B.I. Files Describe Abuse of Iraq Inmates
By NEIL A. LEWIS and DAVID JOHNSTON

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 - F.B.I. memorandums portray abuse of prisoners by
American military personnel in Iraq that included detainees' being beaten
and choked
and having lit cigarettes placed in their ears, according to newly released
government documents.

The documents, released Monday in connection with a lawsuit accusing the
government of being complicit in torture, also include accounts by Federal
Bureau
of Investigation agents who said they had seen detainees in Guantánamo Bay,
Cuba, being chained in uncomfortable positions for up to 24 hours and left
to urinate and defecate on themselves. An agent wrote that in one case a
detainee who was nearly unconscious had pulled out much of his hair during
the
night.

One of the memorandums released Monday was addressed to Robert S. Mueller
III, the F.B.I. director, and other senior bureau officials, and it provided
the
account of someone "who observed serious physical abuses of civilian
detainees" in Iraq. The memorandum, dated June 24 this year, was an "Urgent
Report,"
meaning that the sender regarded it as a priority. It said the witness
"described that such abuses included strangulation, beatings, placement of
lit cigarettes
into the detainees' ear openings and unauthorized interrogations."

The memorandum did not make clear whether the witness was an agent or an
informant, and it said there had also been an effort to cover up the abuses.
The
writer of the memorandum said Mr. Mueller should be aware of what was
occurring because "of potential significant public, media and Congressional
interest
which may generate calls to the director." The document does not provide
further details of the abuse, but suggests that such treatment of prisoners
in
Iraq was the subject of an investigation conducted by the bureau's
Sacramento office.

Beyond providing new details about the nature and extent of abuses, if not
the exact times or places, the newly disclosed documents are the latest to
show
that such activities were known to a wide circle of government officials.

The documents, mostly memorandums written by agents to superiors in
Washington over the past year, also include claims that some military
interrogators
had posed as F.B.I. officials while using harsh tactics on detainees, both
in Iraq and at Guantánamo Bay.

In one memorandum, dated Dec. 5, 2003, an agent whose name is blanked out on
the document expressed concern about military interrogators' posing as
F.B.I.
agents at the Guantánamo camp.

The agent wrote that the memorandum was intended as an official record of
the interrogators' behavior because, "If this detainee is ever released or
his
story made public in any way, D.O.D. interrogators will not be held
accountable because these torture techniques were done by 'F.B.I.'
interrogators. The
F.B.I. will be left holding the bag before the public." D.O.D. is an
abbreviation for the Department of Defense.

Asked about the possible impersonation of F.B.I. agents by military
personnel, Bryan Whitman, the deputy Pentagon spokesman, said Monday that
"It is difficult
to determine from the secondhand description whether the technique" was
permissible.

The Pentagon did not offer any fresh reaction to the descriptions of alleged
abuse. But it said in response to other recent disclosures that the Defense
Department did not tolerate abusive tactics and that some of the allegations
contained in such documents were under investigation.

The documents were in the latest batch of papers to be released by the
government in response to a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties
Union
and other groups to determine the extent, if any, of American participation
in the mistreatment of prisoners. The documents are the most recent in a
series
of disclosures that have increasingly contradicted the military's statements
that harsh treatment of prisoners happened only in limited, isolated cases.

Anthony D. Romero, the executive director of the A.C.L.U., said the
documents meant that "top government officials can no longer hide from
public scrutiny
by pointing the finger at a few low-ranking soldiers."

Another message sent to F.B.I. officials including Valerie E. Caproni, the
bureau's top lawyer, recounted witnessing detainees chained in interrogation
rooms at Guantánamo, where about 550 prisoners are being held.

The agent, whose name was deleted from the document, wrote on July 29, 2004:
"On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee
chained
hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or
water. Most times they had urinated or defecated on themselves and had been
left
there for 18 24 hours or more."

The agent said that on another occasion, the air-conditioning had been
turned up so high that a chained detainee was shivering. The agent said the
military
police had explained by saying that interrogators from the previous day had
ordered the treatment and "that the detainee was not to be moved."

The agent also wrote: "On another occasion, the A/C had been turned off,
making the temperature in the unventilated room probably well over 100
degrees.
The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next
to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his own hair out throughout
the night."

As in previously released memorandums in the case, F.B.I. officials
expressed their deep concerns about seeing the use of interrogation
techniques that
they are prohibited from using in their own investigations.

The Dec. 5, 2003, memorandum in which an agent frets about the F.B.I. being
left "holding the bag," also asserted that the threats and abuses of one
detainee
did not produce any intelligence that could help thwart an attack. Further,
the memorandum said other bureau officials believed that the harsh
interrogation
techniques would have meant that any chances of prosecuting the individual
were destroyed because the evidence would have to be thrown out in court
because
it was coerced.

The issue of military interrogators' impersonating F.B.I. agents was
especially troubling to bureau officials, according to the memorandums, not
least because
they seem to have been unsuccessful in persuading the military to stop the
practice.

Guantánamo Inmate to Be Freed

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 (AP) - A military review has determined that a second
prisoner held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, is wrongly classified as an enemy
combatant
and will be released to his home country soon, the Navy secretary said
Monday.

Navy Secretary Gordon England refused to provide the man's name or
nationality.

Copyright 2004

Posted 12/21 by Miriam V.