US soldiers who abused prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were not always preparing them for interrogation but were punishing them or simply having fun, The Washington Post reported yesterday.
The newspaper reported on documents showing that military police staged some of the abuse seen in now-notorious photographs to discipline the prisoners for riots, an alleged rape of a teenage boy and other acts.
Some of the photographs have been widely published, among them shots of a pyramid of naked prisoners, a hooded man standing on a box hooked up to wires, and three nude prisoners handcuffed together on the prison floor. The Post on Friday disclosed a collection of new photographs and video images and sworn depositions regarding the abuse of detainees by US soldiers.
On Saturday, the Post said it had a sworn written statement in which a military police officer said civilian and military intelligence officers frequently visited the prison at night, taking detainees away for questioning inside a "wood hut" behind the prison.
The US Congress and the Pentagon are both investigating the revelations of physical and sexual abuse of Iraqi inmates at the prison outside Baghdad.
Seven US soldiers, four men and three women are facing courts-martial for abuses at Abu Ghraib and one, Specialist Jeremy Sivits, pleaded guilty on Wednesday. Another of them, Specialist Charles Graner, was identified in statements by eight detainees and is facing more charges than the others.
The Post said several of the personnel seen in the photographs, including Sivits, Specialist Sabrina Harman, Sergeant Javal Davis and Private Lynndie England, have given statements to investigators.
The abuse was first reported by Specialist Joseph Darby, who is quoted as saying he found out about it when he began checking into a shooting at the prison.
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
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