'Oregonian' Reports on Prisoner Abuse by Iraqi Guards

By: Greg Mitchell A team of Oregon Army National Guard troops "frustrated and infuriated" after witnessing the torture and abuse of prisoners in Iraq earlier this summer, has turned to The Oregonian in Portland to get their story told. This has led Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to demand that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld investigate whether the soldiers were improperly ordered by superior officers to leave a detention area after they intervened to stop Iraqi guards from beating handcuffed prisoners.

An editorial in The Oregonian (Click for QuikCap) today supported that move, adding that "the U.S. must demand human-rights accountability."

Wyden, meanwhile, has promised to protect from retaliation the Guardsmen who served as sources for the Oregonian's bombshell report on Sunday.

A guardsman who witnessed the day's events, Capt. Jarrell Southall, had provided the newspaper with a written account of the episode. The newspaper, led by reporter Mike Francis, also interviewed other Guardsmen who did not wish to have their names used. Fifteen photos of what the soldiers found also appeared in the paper.

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has also confirmed the incident.

The story stems from an incident on June 29, the first full day of Iraqi sovereignty after the handover of power. A guardsman peering inside a walled compound at the Iraqi Interior Ministry through a rifle scope saw security officers beating bound and blindfolded prisoners. The guardsman radioed for help, saying (according to one soldier) that if no assistance arrived he would begin shooting the jailers one by one.

Soon a team of Oregon guardsmen swept into the yard, finding dozens of detainees who claimed to have been beaten, starved and deprived of food and water for three days.

Then, at a nearby building, the soldiers found dozens more detainees, many with fresh bruises, and what seemed to be torture devices, including electrical wires and metal rods and bottles of chemicals.

The soldiers administered first aid after disarming the captors, as Lt. Col Daniel Hendrickson radioed for instructions. His superior officers told him to immediately withdraw.

This rankled the soldiers, who were proud of what they had done that day, and horrified by what they saw. This led them to contact the Oregonian. Lt. Col. Hendrickson would not discuss details but did tell the newspaper: "Oregonians should be proud of the actions taken by the [Guard unit] on June 29."

In response to the Oregonian's story, Gov. Ted Kulongoski said he was "extremely proud" of the Oregon soldiers and their basic sense of humanity."

Wyden said that the incident suggests that "the policy of the U.S. is that we will no longer engage in torture, but we will turn a blind eye as it is committed by others." The Pentagon has not has not yet commented on his request for a probe.