[Media-watch] US Navy investigating more detainee abuse - Dallas News - 3/12/2004

[Julie-ann Davies]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/stories/120404dnintiraq.da4ba.html

 Navy investigating more detainee abuse
Pictures appear to show raid aftermath, SEALs sitting on prisoners


08:54 PM CST on Friday, December 3, 2004

Associated Press


CORONADO, Calif. - The U.S. military has launched a criminal investigation 
into photographs that appear to show Navy SEALs in Iraq sitting on hooded 
and handcuffed detainees, and photos of what appear to be bloodied 
prisoners, one with a gun to his head.



Some of the photos have date stamps suggesting they were taken in May 2003, 
which could make them the earliest evidence of possible abuse of prisoners 
in Iraq. The far more brutal practices photographed in Abu Ghraib prison 
occurred months later.

An Associated Press reporter found more than 40 of the pictures among 
hundreds in an album posted on a commercial photo-sharing Web site by a 
woman who said her husband brought them from Iraq after his tour of duty. It 
is unclear who took the pictures, which the Navy said it was investigating 
after the AP furnished copies to get comment for this story.

These and other photos found by the AP appear to show the immediate 
aftermath of raids on civilian homes. One man is lying on his back with a 
boot on his chest. A mug shot shows a man with an automatic weapon pointed 
at his head and a gloved thumb jabbed into his throat. In many photos, faces 
have been blacked out. What appears to be blood drips from the heads of 
some. A family huddles in a room in one photo and others show debris and 
upturned furniture.

"These photographs raise a number of important questions regarding the 
treatment of prisoners of war (POWs) and detainees," Navy Cmdr. Jeff Bender, 
a spokesman for the Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, said in a 
written response to questions. "I can assure you that the matter will be 
thoroughly investigated."

The photos were turned over to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, 
which instructed the SEAL command to determine whether they show any serious 
crimes, Cmdr. Bender said Friday. That investigation will determine the 
identities of the troops and what they were doing in the photos.

Some of the photos recall aspects of the images from Abu Ghraib, which led 
to charges against seven soldiers accused of humiliating and assaulting 
prisoners. In several of the photos obtained by the AP, grinning men wearing 
U.S. flags on their uniforms, and one with a tattoo of a SEAL trident, take 
turns sitting or lying atop what appear to be three hooded and handcuffed 
men in the bed of a pickup truck.

A reporter found the photos, which since have since been removed from public 
view, while researching the prosecution of a group of SEALs who allegedly 
beat prisoners and photographed one of them in degrading positions. Those 
photos, taken with a SEAL's personal camera, haven't been publicly released.

Though they have alarmed SEAL commanders, the photographs found by the AP do 
not necessarily show anything illegal, according to experts in the laws of 
war who reviewed photos at AP's request.

Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps prosecutor and judge who teaches at the 
United States Military Academy, said the images showed "stupid" and 
"juvenile" behavior - but not necessarily a crime.

John Hutson, a retired rear admiral who served as the Navy's Judge Advocate 
General from 1997 to 2000, said they suggested possible Geneva Convention 
violations. Those international laws prohibit souvenir photos of prisoners 
of war.

"It's pretty obvious that these pictures were taken largely as war 
trophies," Mr. Hutson said. "Once you start allowing that kind of behavior, 
the next step is to start posing the POWs in order to get even better 
pictures."

At a minimum, the pictures violate Navy regulations that prohibit 
photographing prisoners other than for intelligence or administrative 
purposes, according to Cmdr. Bender, the SEALs spokesman.

__________________

JA- Note to MW: There is an associated press photo on the webpage, although 
the site requires registration, showing: " An Iraqi prisoner is shown having 
his picture taken at gunpoint. This photo and others were found on a 
commercial photo-sharing Web site. A woman said her husband brought them 
from Iraq after his tour of duty. The photos appear to have been taken in 
May 2003. "