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August 26, 2004
"Go Nuts on the Kids"
Incidents Grew in Severity, Report Says
One Iraqi, identified in the report only as "Detainee 7," described how in October of last year, he was made to bark like a dog and crawl on his stomach while U.S. soldiers spat and urinated on him. He also was beaten into unconsciousness. On another occasion, he was forced to lie on the ground while MPs jumped on his back and legs. He also was sodomized with a police stick, the report said."It is highly probable Detainee 7's allegations are true," the report noted.
In November, the soldiers of Abu Ghraib found more perverse forms of brutality. Some detainees were forced to masturbate. Others were "ridden like animals."
In late November, police dogs were brought in by top commanders to help control prisoner demonstrations and riots. Instead, their presence created the conditions for what Gen. Paul J. Kern, who oversaw Maj. Gen. George R. Fay's investigation, described as the worst of the 44 incidents.
"I think the most horrific one that we found from my perspective is the case of where MP dog handlers were subjecting two adolescents to terror from the dogs for the purposes of playing a game," Kern said. Dog handlers competed, he said, "specifically to see if they could get [the juvenile detainees'] bowel movements and their urination to work."
"Soldier 27 allowed the dog to enter the cell and 'go nuts on the kids,' barking and scaring them," the Fay report states.
But this is all nobody's fault. The soldiers were not properly trained --in, what, not letting dogs attack kids? --, the prison was understaffed --which it might not have been had they not cumulatively detained fifty thousand people most of whom had nothing to do with any crime, as the Red Cross report documented--, Rumsfeld didn't order this stuff, the Commander at Abu Ghraib didn't even know it was going on because it all took place during the night, blah, blah, blah.
Posted by zeynep at August 26, 2004 12:04 AM
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