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US Army report blames CIA for Abu Ghraib abuses

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.
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