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'26 criminal homicides in US military custody'
At least 26 prisoners have died in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002 in what US military investigators have concluded or suspect were acts of criminal homicide, the New York Times reported today.
Citing military officials, the paper said the killings took place both inside detention centres and in other locations, including at the point of capture in often violent battlefield conditions. Only one of the deaths took place at Abu Ghraib, the Iraqi prison at the centre of an abuse scandal involving US troops.
Army and navy officials told the New York Times that in 18 of the cases investigators had closed their inquiries and either recommended them for prosecution or referred them to other agencies for action. Eight further cases were still under investigation, but were listed by the army as confirmed or suspected criminal homicides, the paper reported.
The cases include at least four involving CIA employees that are being reviewed by the Justice Department for possible prosecution, the paper said.
Lawrence Di Rita, the chief Pentagon spokesman, told the paper that military authorities were vigorously pursuing each case. He said US forces had held more than 50,000 detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past three years.
"I have not seen the numbers collected in the way you described them, but obviously one criminal homicide is one too many," Mr Di Rita told the paper.
In addition to the criminal homicides, 11 cases involving prisoner deaths at the hands of US troops are now listed as justifiable homicides that should not be prosecuted, the paper reported, citing army officials. Those cases included killings by soldiers while suppressing prisoner riots in Iraq, while other prisoners were found to have died in captivity of natural causes.
"The army will investigate every detainee death both inside and outside detention facilities. Simply put, detainee abuse is not tolerated, and the army will hold soldiers accountable," senior army spokesman Colonel Joseph Curtin told the New York Times.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1438980,00.html
Army and navy officials told the New York Times that in 18 of the cases investigators had closed their inquiries and either recommended them for prosecution or referred them to other agencies for action. Eight further cases were still under investigation, but were listed by the army as confirmed or suspected criminal homicides, the paper reported.
The cases include at least four involving CIA employees that are being reviewed by the Justice Department for possible prosecution, the paper said.
Lawrence Di Rita, the chief Pentagon spokesman, told the paper that military authorities were vigorously pursuing each case. He said US forces had held more than 50,000 detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past three years.
"I have not seen the numbers collected in the way you described them, but obviously one criminal homicide is one too many," Mr Di Rita told the paper.
In addition to the criminal homicides, 11 cases involving prisoner deaths at the hands of US troops are now listed as justifiable homicides that should not be prosecuted, the paper reported, citing army officials. Those cases included killings by soldiers while suppressing prisoner riots in Iraq, while other prisoners were found to have died in captivity of natural causes.
"The army will investigate every detainee death both inside and outside detention facilities. Simply put, detainee abuse is not tolerated, and the army will hold soldiers accountable," senior army spokesman Colonel Joseph Curtin told the New York Times.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1438980,00.html
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The figure, far higher than any previously disclosed, includes cases investigated by the Army, Navy, CIA and Justice Department. Some 65,000 prisoners have been taken during the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, although most have been freed.
The Pentagon has never provided comprehensive information on how many prisoners taken during the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have died, and the 108 figure is based on information supplied by Army, Navy and other government officials. It includes deaths attributed to natural causes.
To human rights groups, the deaths form a clear pattern.
"Despite the military's own reports of deaths and abuses of detainees in U.S. custody, it is astonishing that our government can still pretend that what is happening is the work of a few rogue soldiers," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "No one at the highest levels of our government has yet been held accountable for the torture and abuse, and that is unacceptable."
To the Pentagon, each death is a distinct case, meriting an investigation but not attributable to any single faulty military policy. Pentagon officials point to a number of military investigations which found that no policy condoned abuse.
Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. John Skinner said the military has taken steps to reduce the chance of violent uprisings at its prisons and the use of excessive force by soldiers, and also has improved the health care available to prisoners.
"The military has dramatically improved detention operations, everything from increased oversight and improved facilities to expanded training and the availability of state-of-the-art medical care," he said in a statement.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/16/terror/main680658.shtml