Sadistic soldiers are criminals, says US army

By PHILLIP COOREY

ATTACK dogs, sexual humiliation, rape threats and being doused with acid have been among the abuses by US soldiers against detainees at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison.

They are detailed in a confidential US Army report which says the detainees were subjected to "sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses".

Phosphoric acid was poured on to prisoners, cold water poured on naked detainees and some prisoners were forced to masturbate in front of each other.

At least one prisoner was sodomised while others were beaten regularly.

Military dogs also were used to frighten detainees with threats of attack.

Compiled in February from witness statements and "the discovery of extremely graphic photographic evidence", the report is detailed in an upcoming New Yorker article.

The details came as the prison abuse scandal spread to include ill-treatment by British troops.

Britain’s Daily Mirror published photographs on the weekend including a soldier urinating on a prisoner.

Six US soldiers from the 372nd Military Police Company are facing courts martial. A seventh - photographed posing with naked prisoners - was sent home because she is pregnant.

One of those to be court martialled, Sergeant Ivan Frederick, detailed the abuse in a diary. He says a prisoner died during interrogation and it was covered up and attributed to a medical condition.

He blamed US Military Intelligence and Criminal Investigation for encouraging the behaviour from overworked military police officers.

"MI has been present and witnessed such activity. MI has encouraged us and told us `great job’, that they are now getting positive results and information," he wrote.

President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have condemned the actions.

There was another headache for Mr Bush, with yesterday being the first anniversary of his "mission accomplished" speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.

Iraq war veteran Lieutenant Paul Rieckhoff gave a national radio address accusing the Bush Administration of downplaying the seriousness of the situation in Iraq.

"I don’t expect our leaders to be free of mistakes, I expect our leaders to own up to them," he said.

In his weekly national radio address, Mr Bush said "life for the Iraqi people is a world away from the cruelty and corruption of Saddam’s regime" one year on.

http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,9450519%255E912,00.html