The latest US Army investigation into the Abu Ghraib scandal is raising new questions about whether the CIA, operating outside military rules, contributed to the breakdown of military discipline at the prison.
The report cites the presence of unregistered "ghost detainees" who did not fall under the military's usual system of registration, interrogation and medical care.
But the CIA is rejecting much of the criticism. Spokesman Mark Mansfield said recently that the report, released last week, "makes broad allegations about the CIA that are not supported by the text."
The report by senior Army generals describes some of the CIA's detention procedures, shining a rare light on those practices. Yet it does little to describe the spy agency's actual interrogation methods at Abu Ghraib, beyond saying they contributed to the discipline problems.
"The CIA's detention and interrogation practices contributed to a loss of accountability and abuse at Abu Ghraib," says the investigation report.
Of 44 incidents of possible abuse cited in the army's intelligence investigation, the CIA was involved in only one -- the only one to involve the death of a detainee. In that case, a newly arrived CIA prisoner did not receive the initial medical screening typical for incoming detainees, and then died. That death remains under investigation.
To date, none of the abuses depicted in the infamous photographs from Abu Ghraib have been found to involve CIA personnel, Mansfield said.
The specific allegations of abuse at various US-run detention and interrogation centers in Iraq and Afghanistan are being investigated by the CIA's Inspector General. In several cases, the Justice Department is also investigating whether any CIA officers or contractors committed criminal acts.
The arrangements to hold "ghost detainees" were made between local CIA officers and military officials at the prison, the investigation found. Army investigators said they located information on eight "ghost detainees" held at Abu Ghraib, but said there may have been more.
In one case, military guards at the prison moved a group of detainees around the prison to hide them from a visiting Red Cross delegation, according to the report of US Army Major General Antonio Taguba, who conducted a separate investigation into the prison's military police unit. He described the actions as "deceptive, contrary to army doctrine, and in violation of international law."
The army investigation suggested that one prisoner who died did not receive a proper medical screening because the CIA officers who brought him to the prison ignored the usual registration procedures.
In that case on Nov. 4, last year, a Navy SEAL team captured Manadel al-Jamadi, who was thought to have been connected to an attack on the International Committee of the Red Cross. In detaining him, a SEAL subdued him by hitting him on the side of the head with a gun butt. Two CIA personnel brought al-Jamadi to Abu Ghraib and put him in a shower room.
The prisoner was dead 45 minutes later. An autopsy determined al-Jamadi died of a blood clot in his head that was probably the result of being struck with the gun.
A day later, US personnel sneaked the body out on a stretcher, disguised so the dead person would only look sick to other inmates.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in