British officer ¡¥knew¡¦ of Abu Ghraib abuses

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Sunday Times
Yuba Bessaoud and Osha Gray Davidson


Snip:
A SENIOR British Army officer was second in command of intelligence at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad and was told of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners there, it has been alleged. Colonel Chris Terrington, a member of the Intelligence Corps, is named in confidential transcripts that form part of the official US army investigation into the affair. According to an American officer quoted in the documents, Terrington joined the Abu Ghraib intelligence structure in November 2003, reporting to Major-General Barbara Fast, the chief US intelligence officer in Iraq. He stayed in the post for three months, which coincided with the worst abuses later uncovered at the jail.
Although not based at the prison, Terrington¡¦s job involved visits there and he was given regular reports by American officers who were interrogating Iraqi prisoners.

According to the documents, Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Jordan, director of the joint interrogation and debriefing centre at Abu Ghraib, told investigators he had informed Terrington of an incident of abuse involving two male prisoners. In February Jordan said to Major-General Antonio Taguba, who is running the investigation: ¡§I did mention it to Colonel Tarrington (sic) somewhere along the lines.¡¨ Last week Jordan¡¦s allegations were backed by Brigadier-General Janis Karpinski, the US officer who was in charge of military prisons in Iraq. Karpinski claimed Terrington would have been aware of abuse.
¡§Because he was working on the (intelligence) side of the operation, and at the time interrogations was the number one priority, I don¡¦t think he could have avoided hearing some of the rumours and information,¡¨ said Karpinski.

"It is 100% not possible that he didn¡¦t know some of what was going on. I don¡¦t know if he knew 2% or ignored 100% ¡X he had to have been exposed to it because it was clearly in the intelligence channel.¡¨
The Sunday Times tried to put the allegations to Terrington through his corps. The questions were passed to the Ministry of Defence, which answered on his behalf. Last night a spokesman for the ministry denied Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, had misled parliament earlier this year when he said the only British involvement at Abu Ghraib had come after the scandal¡¦s exposure when three British officers arrived to investigate abuses at the prison between January and April 2004.

The spokesman said: ¡§Colonel Chris Terrington visited Abu Ghraib to view accommodation and to make arrangements for that (intelligence) team to be in place. ¡§He may have been there for a little while to make sure they got everything they needed and to sort out the arrangements. Terrington was not plugged in fully to the chain of command at the prison.¡¨ MPs will now demand Hoon makes a statement on British involvement in Abu Ghraib. Adam Price, the Plaid Cymru MP who has repeatedly questioned ministers over prisoner abuse in Iraq, said: ¡§Ministers have consistently stressed the abuses were solely the responsibility of the Americans. The new evidence suggests that not to be the case, and we have a right to know why.¡¨
Additional reporting: Adam Nathan

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1247827_2,00.html