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US Military Policeman Describe Abuse of Prisoners
When a fresh crop of detainees arrived at Abu Ghraib prison one night in late October, their jailers set upon them. The soldiers pulled seven Iraqi detainees from their cells, "tossed them in the middle of the floor" and then one soldier ran across the room and lunged into the pile of detainees, according to sworn statements given to investigators by one of the soldiers now charged with abuse. He did it again, jumping into the group like it was a pile of autumn leaves, and another soldier called for others to join in. The detainees were ordered to strip and masturbate, their heads covered with plastic sandbags. One soldier stomped on their fingers and toes."Graner put the detaineeâs head into a cradle position with Granerâs arm, and Graner punched the detainee with a lot of force, in the temple," Specialist Jeremy C. Sivits said in his statements to investigators, referring to another soldier charged, Specialist Charles A. Graner Jr. "Graner punched the detainee with a closed fist so hard in the temple that it knocked the detainee unconscious. He was joking, laughing,like he was enjoying it. He went over to the pile of detainees that were still clothed and he put his knees on them and had his picture taken." .... The soldiers knew that what they had done was wrong, Specialist Sivits told investigators, at least enough to instruct him not to tell anyone what he had seen. Specialist Sivits was asked if the abuse would have happened if someone in the chain of command was present. "Hell no," he replied, adding: "Because our command would have slammed us. They believe in doing the right thing. If they saw what was going on, there would be hell to pay." The evening began with Staff Sgt. Ivan L. Frederick II casually telling Specialist Sivits to join him where the detainees were held. They escorted the detainees from their holding cells and piled them up. "Graner told Specialist Wisdom to come in and `get him some.â Meaning to come in and be part of whatever was going to happen," Specialist Sivits told investigators, referring to Specialist Matthew Wisdom. "A couple of the detainees kind of made an ahh sound as if this hurt them or caused them some type of pain when Davis would land on them," he said. Sergeant Javal C. Davis responded by stepping on their fingers or toes, Specialist Sivits said, and the detainees screamed. The platoon sergeant standing on a tier above the room heard the screams and yelled down at Sergeant Davis to stop, surprising the other soldiers with the anger in his command, Specialist Sivits said. But within two minutes, the platoon sergeant left, and the soldiers resumed the abuse. "Next Graner and Frederick had the detainees strip," Specialist Sivits said. "Graner was the one who told them to strip in Arabic language." The detainees hesitated. Specialist Graner and Sergeant Frederick took them aside and instructed them again. Specialist Graner told them to sit. "I do not know what provoked Graner," Specialist Sivits said, "but Graner knelt down to one of the detainees that was nude and had the sandbag over his head" and punched the detainee unconscious. .... Sergeant Frederick was standing in front of another detainee. "For no reason, Frederick punched the detainee in the chest," Specialist Sivits said. "The detainee took a real deep breath and kind of squatted down. The detainee said he could not breathe. ... Frederick and Graner then tried to get several of the inmates to masturbate themselves .... Staff Sergeant Frederick would take the hand of the detainee and put it on the detaineeâs penis, and make the detaineeâs hand go back and forth, as if masturbating. He did this to about three of the detainees before one of them did it right." "After five minutes, they told him to stop. Specialist Graner then had them pose against the wall, and made one kneel in front of the other, Specialist Sivits said, "So that from behind the detainee that was kneeling, it would look like the detainee kneeling had the penis of the detainee standing in his mouth, but he did not. Specialist Sabrina Harman and Private England "would stand in front of the detainees and England and Harman would put their thumbs up and have the pictures taken." .... He [Sivits] described another night when a dog was set upon a detainee, and another when a detainee was handcuffed to a bed. "Graner was in the room with him," he said. "This detainee had wounds on his legs from where he had been shot with the buckshot." Specialist Graner, he said, would "strike the detainee with a half baseball swing, and hit the wounds of the detainee. There is no doubt that this hurt the detainee because he would scream he got hit. The detainee would beg Graner to stop by saying `Mister, Mister, please stop,â or words to that effect." ... Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-05-14 |
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