[Media-watch] Reuters NBC Staff abused by US troops in Iraq - reuters - 18/05/2004

[Julie-ann Davies]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=564&e=6&u=/nm/20040518/ts_nm/iraq_reuters_dc_4

Reuters, NBC Staff Abused by U.S. Troops in Iraq
Tue May 18, 2:30 PM ET
By Andrew Marshall
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces beat three Iraqis working for Reuters and
subjected them to sexual and religious taunts and humiliation during their
detention last January in a military camp near Falluja, the three said
Tuesday.

 The three first told Reuters of the ordeal after their release but only
decided to make it public when the U.S. military said there was no evidence
they had been abused, and following the exposure of similar mistreatment of
detainees at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.


An Iraqi journalist working for U.S. network NBC, who was arrested with the
Reuters staff, also said he had been beaten and mistreated, NBC said
Tuesday.


Two of the three Reuters staff said they had been forced to insert a finger
into their anus and then lick it, and were forced to put shoes in their
mouths, particularly humiliating in Arab culture.


All three said they were forced to make demeaning gestures as soldiers
laughed, taunted them and took photographs. They said they did not want to
give details publicly earlier because of the degrading nature of the abuse.


The soldiers told them they would be taken to the U.S. detention center at
Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, deprived them of sleep, placed bags over their
heads, kicked and hit them and forced them to remain in stress positions for
long periods.


The U.S. military, in a report issued before the Abu Ghraib abuse became
public, said there was no evidence the Reuters staff had been tortured or
abused.


Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of ground forces in Iraq (news - web
sites), said in a letter received by Reuters Monday but dated March 5 that
he was confident the investigation had been "thorough and objective" and its
findings were sound.


The Pentagon (news - web sites) has yet to respond to a request by Reuters
Global Managing Editor David Schlesinger to review the military's findings
about the incident in light of the scandal over the treatment of prisoners
at Abu Ghraib.


Asked for comment Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said only:
"There are a number of lines of inquiry under way with respect to prison
operations in Iraq. If during the course of any inquiry, the commander
believes it is appropriate to review a specific aspect of detention, he has
the authority to do so."


The abuse happened at Forward Operating Base Volturno, near Falluja, the
Reuters staff said. They were detained on January 2 while covering the
aftermath of the shooting down of a U.S. helicopter near Falluja and held
for three days, first at Volturno and then at Forward Operating Base St
Mere.


The three -- Baghdad-based cameraman Salem Ureibi, Falluja-based freelance
television journalist Ahmad Mohammad Hussein al-Badrani and driver Sattar
Jabar al-Badrani -- were released without charge on Jan. 5.


"INADEQUATE" INVESTIGATION


"When I saw the Abu Ghraib photographs, I wept," Ureibi said Tuesday. "I saw
they had suffered like we had."


Ureibi, who understands English better than the other two detainees, said
soldiers told him they wanted to have sex with him, and he was afraid he
would be raped.


NBC, whose stringer Ali Muhammed Hussein Ali al-Badrani was detained along
with the Reuters staff, said he reported that a hood was placed over his
head for hours, and that he was forced to perform physically debilitating
exercises, prevented from sleeping and struck and kicked several times.


"Despite repeated requests, we have yet to receive the results of the army
investigation," NBC News Vice President Bill Wheatley said.


Schlesinger sent a letter to Sanchez on January 9 demanding an investigation
into the treatment of the three Iraqis.

The U.S. army said it was investigating and requested further information.
Reuters provided transcripts of initial interviews with the three following
their release, and offered to make them available for interview by
investigators.

A summary of the investigation by the 82nd Airborne Division, dated January
28 and provided to Reuters, said "no specific incidents of abuse were
found." It said soldiers responsible for the detainees were interviewed
under oath and "none admit or report knowledge of physical abuse or
torture."

"The detainees were purposefully and carefully put under stress, to include
sleep deprivation, in order to facilitate interrogation; they were not
tortured," it said. The version received Monday used the phrase "sleep
management" instead.

The U.S. military never interviewed the three for its investigation.

On February 3 Schlesinger wrote to Lawrence Di Rita, special assistant to
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying the investigation was "woefully
inadequate" and should be reopened.

"The military's conclusion of its investigation without even interviewing
the alleged victims, along with other inaccuracies and inconsistencies in
the report, speaks volumes about the seriousness with which the U.S.
government is taking this issue," he wrote.

ABUSE SCANDAL

The U.S. military faced international outrage this month after photographs
surfaced showing U.S. soldiers humiliating and abusing Iraqi detainees at
Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad.

An investigation by Major General Antonio Taguba found that "numerous
incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses were inflicted on
several detainees" in Abu Ghraib.

Seven U.S. soldiers have been charged over the Abu Ghraib abuse and the
first court martial is set for Wednesday.

U.S. officials say the abuse was carried out by a small number of soldiers
and that all allegations of abuse are promptly and thoroughly investigated.