Abuse of Iraqi prisoners ’common’. Systemic, sanctioned, criminal acts.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1103870.htm

Abuse of Iraqi prisoners ’common’
Three US military policemen who served at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison say they have witnessed unreported cases of prisoner abuse and that the practice against Iraqis is commonplace.

The latest revelations come as US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is set to face the Senate to explain what he knew about the abuse.

Sergeant Mike Sindar, 25, of the Army National Guard’s 870th Military Police Company, says it is a common thing to abuse prisoners.

"I saw beatings all the time," he said. "A lot of people had so much pent-up anger, so much aggression."

Sgt Sindar and the other military policemen, who have returned to California from Iraq, spoke with the Reuters news agency.

US treatment of Iraqi prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison has stirred wide international condemnation after the publication of photos showing Americans sexually humiliating prisoners.

Six soldiers in Iraq have been charged in the case and President George W Bush apologised publicly on yesterday.

Critics say Mr Rumsfeld kept the seriousness of the situation from both Congress and the President.

"There’s a lot of explaining that Secretary Rumsfeld and others have to do, including why Congress was never informed as to this," Republican Senator John McCain said.

Mr Rumsfeld will face questioning tonight.

’All the time’

Although public attention has focused on the dehumanising photos, some members of the 870th MP unit say the faces in those images were not the only ones engaged in cruel behaviour.

"It was not just these six people," Sgt Sindar said. "Yes, the beatings happen, yes, all the time."

He says an officer in their group was reprimanded last year after holding down a prisoner for other men to beat.

Sgt Sindar and fellow military policeman Ramon Leal say they have seen hooded prisoners with racial taunts written on the hoods such as "camel jockey’ or slogans such as "I tried to kill an American but now I’m in jail."

Mr Leal says one female soldier in his unit fired off a slingshot into a crowd of prisoners.

Sgt Sindar, who was familiar with the incident, says one person was injured.

Another group of soldiers knocked a 14-year-old boy to the ground as he arrived at the prison and then twisted his arm.

"The soldiers were laughing at him," Mr Leal said. "I saw the other soldiers that would take out their frustrations on the prisoners."

He says until earlier this year prisoners would arrive at Abu Ghraib with broken bones, suggesting they had been roughed up.

But the practice ended in January or February, as practices at the prison were coming under increased internal scrutiny.

Body bags

Photos obtained by Reuters show US soldiers looking into the body bags of three Iraqi prisoners killed by 870th MP guards during a prison riot in the fall of 2003.

One photograph shows a bearded man with much of his bloodied forehead removed by the force of a bullet.

"We were constantly being attacked, we had terrible support ... also being extended all the time, a lot of us had problems with our loved ones suffering from depression," Dave Bischel, another military police officer, said.

"It all contributes to the psychological component of soldiers when they get stressed."

The Californians’ remarks are unusual, as US soldiers have been reluctant to speak publicly about the issue.

Some say investigators went out of their way to keep the allegations under wraps.

Several soldiers say when military investigators were looking into abuses several months ago, they gave US guards a week’s notice before inspecting their possessions.

"That shows you how lax they are about discipline. ’We are going to look for contraband in here, so hint, hint, get rid of the stuff,’ that’s the way things work in the Guard," Mr Leal said.

— Reuters