Four SEALs Are Charged With Abuse Of Prisoners

[UpInArms]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60310-2004Sep3.html

The Navy said yesterday it charged four of its SEALs with abusing detainees in Iraq, marking the first time that elite Special Operations troops have been accused of such offenses in the expanding series of probes into the U.S. military's mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The charges against the four sailors, which include assault, maltreatment of detainees and making false statements to investigators, arise from incidents between October 2003 and April of this year, the Navy said. Officials declined to release the names of those charged, saying they were being withheld because of the sensitive nature of the sailors' work, which can take them behind enemy lines on reconnaissance and sabotage missions.

Many of the charges brought against the SEALs this week grow out of a previously reported incident on Nov. 4, 2003, in which a detainee in the custody of the CIA died at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad, officials said. The investigation continues, Navy officials said, and is expected to produce additional charges against other sailors. They said they did not know how many ultimately would be charged.

<snip>

The four new charges came after announcements by Pentagon officials over the past two weeks that dozens of additional charges against soldiers were likely to be filed. Army investigators said they have concluded that in addition to the seven already charged in connection with alleged offenses at the Abu Ghraib prison, 30 other soldiers and contractors participated in abuse there, and 11 more could face charges or disciplinary action for not reporting what they saw.

...more...

[Calico Jack Rackham]

1. I don't know

the particulars of this investigation; however, a butt stoke to the head is a killing blow and falls under the use of deadly force. This is not something you use when someone is resisting arrest unless your life is in danger.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. kick

[0007]

3. When is the media gonna grow some balls and ask junior

if he and Rumsfeld ever talked about the treatment of prisoners before it was brought to the attention of the world? Wasn't junior anxious about finding those WMD at any cost to save his sick ass?

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. Navy Seals?

what the hell are these guys doing hanging around Abu Ghraib prison? Don't they have better things to do? Or are we that short handed, that we have to use such highly trained folks, to do this work?

[struggle4progress]

5. 4 Navy Commandos Are Charged in Abuse (NYT)

By ERIC SCHMITT
Published: September 4, 2004


This photo of "Jamadi," wrapped and packed in ice, accelerated an inquiry into detention techniques.

<snip>
The incident also drew attention because the detainee was being questioned by the Central Intelligence Agency at Abu Ghraib, but was kept off the prison roster.

Army officials also said this week that about two dozen soldiers were expected to face abuse-related charges in the deaths of two Afghan prisoners at a American-run detention center in Afghanistan in December 2002. In addition, an Army report released last week recommended disciplinary action against 41 members of the military police, military intelligence soldiers, civilian contractors and Army medics in connection with abuses at Abu Ghraib.

The Senate and House Armed Services Committees have scheduled hearings on Sept. 9 to hear testimony from the panels that issued their reports last week into the abuse. Separately, a group of retired admirals and generals, including Gen. Joseph Hoar, a retired commander of American forces in the Middle East, plan to call for a 9/11-style independent commission into detention and interrogation procedures.
<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/04/international/middleeast/04abuse.html?th

[TacticalPeek]

6. There it is:

Gen. Joseph Hoar ... independent commission

Or outside prosecutor.