“They wanted intel,” said the sergeant, an infantry fire-team leader who served as a guard when no military police soldiers were available. “As long as no PUC’s came up dead, it happened.” He added, “We kept it to broken arms and legs.”
82nd Airborne Division officer and others tell the truth toHuman Rights Watch after first contacting John McCain and John Warner, who never did anything. This Captain complained to superiors and got it all on the record; nothing was ever done.
New York Times has this lead:
WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 – Three former members of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division say soldiers in their battalion in Iraq routinely beat and abused prisoners in 2003 and 2004 to help gather intelligence on the insurgency and to amuse themselves..
The Washington Post however gets down to the real point:
The Army officer made clear that he believes low-ranking soldiers have been held responsible for abuse to cover for officers who condoned it.
“They were directed to get intel from them so we had to set the conditions by banging on their cages, crashing them into the cages, kicking them, kicking dirt, yelling,” the soldier was quoted as saying. Later he described how he and others beat the detainees. “But you gotta understand, this was the norm. Everyone would just sweep it under the rug.”
Leave a Reply