Polish officials on Friday strongly denied the possibility their troops mistreated Iraqi prisoners, saying there was no substance to the claim that surfaced in the US investigation of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison.
Major General Mieczyslaw Bieniek, the commander of the Polish-led multinational force in Iraq, said there was no truth to the allegation that Polish troops had injured two Iraqi prisoners, stressing that conditions at a Polish-run detention center were both legal and humane.
Charges of abuse are "total garbage," Bieniek said in an interview from Iraq on TVN24, an all-news station. "I am deeply outraged."
Still, he said, the allegations would not produce a rift in the coalition, and Poland would continue its command of the 6,200-soldier force as usual.
Bieniek stressed that an internal army investigation had turned up no cases of abuse. That investigation was launched as a precaution after the reports of US abuse at Abu Ghraib surfaced.
Records of interviews by Army Criminal Investigation Division agents from the Abu Ghraib investigation include new allegations that coalition forces had beaten prisoners before turning them over to US forces.
Sergeant Antonio Monserrate, an Army interrogator, told investigators that two captives had been "injured by the Polish Army." Monserrate referred to the inmates by their prison identification numbers but did not provide any further details.
That report sparked anger in military circles and among regular Poles -- both against the Associated Press (AP) for reporting the allegations and against the US more generally.
Retired soldier Kazimierz Nagorka, for example, called the AP to express his outrage.
"My whole life I have been very pro-American, but now I doubt my feelings," the 50-year-old said. "How can you say such things? Now the world falsely believes that we Poles do the same horrible things that Americans and others do."
Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka, who worked for six months in Iraq under US administrator Paul Bremer to revive the nation's economy, said he never saw any signs of prisoner mistreatment by Polish troops.
"This could not have happened," Belka said.
Bieniek described the Polish-run detention center in Iraq -- located in an air-conditioned tent in Hillah -- as an unlikely site for abuse. The center only holds Iraqi prisoners for up to 72 hours before they are either released or handed over to Iraqi police or US authorities -- and Bieniek stressed that Polish troops never carry out interrogations.
DOUBLE-MURDER CASE: The officer told the dispatcher he would check the locations of the callers, but instead headed to a pizzeria, remaining there for about an hour A New Jersey officer has been charged with misconduct after prosecutors said he did not quickly respond to and properly investigate reports of a shooting that turned out to be a double murder, instead allegedly stopping at an ATM and pizzeria. Franklin Township Police Sergeant Kevin Bollaro was the on-duty officer on the evening of Aug. 1, when police received 911 calls reporting gunshots and screaming in Pittstown, about 96km from Manhattan in central New Jersey, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renee Robeson’s office said. However, rather than responding immediately, prosecutors said GPS data and surveillance video showed Bollaro drove about 3km
‘MOTHER’ OF THAILAND: In her glamorous heyday in the 1960s, former Thai queen Sirikit mingled with US presidents and superstars such as Elvis Presley The year-long funeral ceremony of former Thai queen Sirikit started yesterday, with grieving royalists set to salute the procession bringing her body to lie in state at Bangkok’s Grand Palace. Members of the royal family are venerated in Thailand, treated by many as semi-divine figures, and lavished with glowing media coverage and gold-adorned portraits hanging in public spaces and private homes nationwide. Sirikit, the mother of Thai King Vajiralongkorn and widow of the nation’s longest-reigning monarch, died late on Friday at the age of 93. Black-and-white tributes to the royal matriarch are being beamed onto towering digital advertizing billboards, on
Tens of thousands of people on Saturday took to the streets of Spain’s eastern city of Valencia to mark the first anniversary of floods that killed 229 people and to denounce the handling of the disaster. Demonstrators, many carrying photos of the victims, called on regional government head Carlos Mazon to resign over what they said was the slow response to one of Europe’s deadliest natural disasters in decades. “People are still really angry,” said Rosa Cerros, a 42-year-old government worker who took part with her husband and two young daughters. “Why weren’t people evacuated? Its incomprehensible,” she said. Mazon’s
POWER ABUSE WORRY: Some people warned that the broad language of the treaty could lead to overreach by authorities and enable the repression of government critics Countries signed their first UN treaty targeting cybercrime in Hanoi yesterday, despite opposition from an unlikely band of tech companies and rights groups warning of expanded state surveillance. The new global legal framework aims to bolster international cooperation to fight digital crimes, from child pornography to transnational cyberscams and money laundering. More than 60 countries signed the declaration, which means it would go into force once ratified by those states. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the signing as an “important milestone,” and that it was “only the beginning.” “Every day, sophisticated scams destroy families, steal migrants and drain billions of dollars from our economy...
RSS