"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
New allegations of prisoner abuse by U.S. soldiers
Last Updated Fri, 18 Feb 2005 07:24:44 EST
CBC News

NEW YORK - U.S. army documents show that photos of American soldiers in
Afghanistan posing with hooded and bound prisoners were destroyed after
the Iraqi prison scandal.

They also reveal previously unknown allegations of mock executions and
beatings in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

The documents were released Friday by the American Civil Liberties Union
which requested information about U.S. detainees around the world through
the Freedom of Information Act.

In one of the most serious allegations, an Iraqi prisoner said that U.S.
soldiers beat him with a baseball bat, broke his nose, dislocated his arms
and stuck an unloaded pistol in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

Then he said they forced him to drop an abuse claim in exchange for his
freedom.

Army investigators looked into the man's allegations but were unable to
verify them. They also dismissed other allegations for lack of evidence.

The ACLU says the documents show that what happened in Iraq's Abu Ghraib
prison was not isolated and that the military tried to suppress
information about widespread prisoner abuse.

The Abu Ghraib scandal broke after photographs were made public of Iraqi
detainees being tortured and humiliated by U.S. soldiers. U.S. courts
martial have convicted seven soldiers in connection with the scandal. Two
others are still on trial.

ACLU executive director Anthony Romero says it has become "increasingly
clear" the military was aware of the allegations of torture.

He says "efforts were taken to erase evidence, to shut down investigations
and to humiliate the detainees in an effort to silence them."

The army has not commented.

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Well, of course not.
Beware of any country that has NO abuse complaints. In those countrys, if
they make a mistake they kill the prisioner so that he can't complain.

I believe that these reports are on the edge, possibly over the edge, on the
President's clarification of what torture is acceptable. No permament
damage! Problem in my mind is how many innocents are receiving this
treatment vs real information garnered.