Prisoners Faced ’Mock’ Executions, Says Soldier

By Andrew Buncombe
Independent U.K.

A US soldier has detailed how he witnessed troops carrying out "mock executions" of Iraqi prisoners and refusing to let them sleep at the command of interrogators - months before the notorious abuse at Abu Ghraib prison took place.

The soldier said he and his colleagues were openly told not to refer to the detention centre they were working in at al-Assad Air Force Base as a prisoner of war camp as it breached guidelines set out by the Geneva Conventions. It was generally accepted that most of the prisoners were civilians.

The sworn statement provided by Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia provides further evidence that the abuse at Abu Ghraib was not the isolated incident that senior military officials claim. The incidents to which he refers took place in May 2003.

The testimony of Sgt Mejia highlights the role of officials from Military Intelligence in ordering the so-called "softening up" of prisoners. Sgt Mejia refers to three interrogators known to the soldiers only by their nicknames: "Scooter", "Rabbit" and "Arty".

"Three mysterious interrogators instructed the guarding soldiers to keep certain detainees in sleep deprivation. This was done to break the detainees’ resolve to remain quiet when asked sensitive questions," he said. "Keeping those detainees awake required some pretty tough measures. The easiest way to do this was to constantly yell at the detainees, make them move their arms up and down, make them sit and stand for several minutes. When these techniques failed we would bang on the wall with a huge sledgehammer - you can imagine the frightening echo - or load a 9mm pistol next to their ear."

Sgt Mejia, 28, an infantryman with the Florida National Guard, is being tried by a military court at Fort Stewart, Georgia, where he is accused of desertion after failing to return to his unit in Iraq following two weeks of home leave. In a sworn statement, obtained by The Independent, Sgt Mejia has applied for conscientious objector status. He claims the war was "fought for oil" and that he opposed the abuse of Iraqi civilians.

Todd Ensign, who runs a support group for army veterans, said it was clear that the loading of weapons next to the heads of hooded prisoners was designed to "make them think they were being prepared for execution".

On Wednesday, the first day of the court-martial, Sgt Mejia’s lawyers sought permission from the military judge, Colonel Gary Smith, to allow testimony from witnesses who could support Sgt Mejia’s claim that his unit was ordered to abuse prisoners. Sgt Mejia faces a year in prison and a bad-conduct discharge if he is convicted of desertion.

Captain AJ Balbo, the army’s lead prosecutor, argued that even if Sgt Mejia saw prisoners being abused that would not justify desertion. "This is about a soldier who deserted," he said. "While he went into hiding, he never raised these issues. Instead, he buried them in his conscientious objector packet."

Sgt Mejia told reporters: "I can only say, whatever I did, I did because I felt like I had an obligation - moral and in some cases legal."

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=523351