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04/30/2004 Entry: "More anguish for families."
This article lays out how the families of military in Iraq are tormented by the Iraqi prisoner torture.
For months, members of the 372nd Military Police Company harbored a terrible secret.The Army Reserve unit based near here - whose service in Iraq made many of its members hometown heroes - had boasted six months ago of its credentials for a new security assignment at a prison west of Baghdad.
"We are relying heavily on our soldiers with correctional [officer] experience," said their newsletter, published in the local newspaper. "The regular Army can't touch us with experience."
But months later, the prison detail was disgraced in news reports across the world.
The Army said yesterday that 14 of the 17 soldiers implicated in an investigation of abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison are from the 372nd. They face either criminal or administrative charges.
To the proud reservists and their families, the publication of the allegations - that Iraqi prisoners were tormented and humiliated - was like opening a dark, musty room that had long ago been sealed off.
Among the few who had been hearing reports of the investigation since January was Ivan L. Frederick, 76, a World War II veteran from Mountain Lake Park in far Western Maryland.
His son, Staff Sgt. Ivan "Chip" Frederick, has been recommended for court-martial by a hearing officer. The final decision rests with the top American commander in Iraq.
In neat, handwritten block letters, the son wrote a journal about his Iraq experience and sent a copy to his father.
Sergeant Frederick, who described the abuse Wednesday night on the CBS program 60 Minutes II, says in the journal that he saw Iraqi prisoners placed in intolerable conditions.
"Prisoners were forced to live in damp cool cells," says an entry said to be from January. "MI [Military Intelligence] has also instructed us to place prisoners in an isolation cell with little or no clothes. No toilet or running water, no ventilation or window for as much as three days."
We shouldn't judge the entire military by the actions of the few. Unfortunately, the people of Iraq - and elsewhere throughout the Middle East - probably will.
Replies: 5 people speak up
but Saddam had rape rooms!
Posted by renato @ 04/30/2004 02:23 PM NY
its interesting how everone in the bush regime is saying how upset they are by the PICTURES, mind you, no one is even really admitting that anything has even happened...
the news whores are all talking about how terrible it is that the arab media is making such a big deal of it (after all americans are raped in prison everyday, this is just outsourcing...) why do these arabs hate america so much?
gee i hope the whole torture and rape thing doesnt hurt our attempts at winning their hearts and minds... after all, we dont rape and torture nearly as much as saddam did, these people should be greatfull.
by the way. it would appear that bush is only opposed to gay sex if it is consentual. what if we stopped worrying so much about gays in the military and start worrying about rapists in the military ? (which seems to be a huge problem, not just raping foriegners either)
God Bless 'Merica
Posted by justin @ 04/30/2004 02:38 PM NY
"MI [Military Intelligence] has also instructed us to place prisoners in an isolation cell with little or no clothes. No toilet or running water, no ventilation or window for as much as three days."
but these grunts are being court martialed, while the MI spooks (CIA?) run free?
Failure at the top. Punishment at the bottom.
Posted by fasteddie @ 04/30/2004 02:50 PM NY
what's bush going to do to punish the top? courtmarshal himself? it would be long overdue for desertion....
Posted by justin @ 04/30/2004 03:09 PM NY
From Bartcop:
"CBS showed a lot of disturbing pictures.
"The POWs were stripped and forced to make a pyramid - doggy-style cheerleaders.
"Another was forced to put his face in a fellow POW's crotch while both were naked, and while Americans pointed and laughed, flashed thumbs up and took pictures of them.
"I have conflicting thoughts:
If footage surfaced of *our* captured and naked POWs being forced to blow each other, the nuclear option would *immediately* be put on the table. In my lifetime, no pictures of our captured soldiers have ever appeared like that. There's no telling what the testosterone monkeys would do if they had pressure from the families to *end* that ugly situation right away.
"Can you imagine - can you imagine the hatred that will run thru the Muslin world once those pictures are showed on Al Jazeera over and over and over and over. It proves (to them) that Osama was right - Americans are filthy pigs who deserve to die.
"Way to go, Smirk."
He also gave a pretty good beatdown to an anti-Kerry partisan whore Catholic bishop or two later on.
Posted by Raijin>> @ 05/01/2004 02:49 PM NY
