Reuters Staffers Claim Abuse by U.S. Soldiers

By: E&P Staff U.S. soldiers beat three Iraqis working for Reuters and subjected them to sexual and religious taunts and humiliation during their detention last January in a military camp near Fallujah, the three said on Tuesday.

All three said they were forced to make demeaning gestures as soldiers taunted them and took photographs. Two of the three said they had been forced to commit severely crude and dehumanizing acts to themselves. The soldiers deprived them of sleep, placed bags over their heads, kicked and hit them and forced them to remain in stressful positions for long periods.

The three first told Reuters of the ordeal after their release but only decided to make it public when the U.S. military said there was no evidence they had been abused, and following the exposure of similar mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

They added they did not want to give details publicly earlier because of the degrading nature of the abuse.

According to a Reuters news story today:

"The U.S. military, in a report issued before the Abu Ghraib abuse became public, said there was no evidence the Reuters staff had been tortured or abused.

"Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, commander of ground forces in Iraq, said in a letter received by Reuters on Monday but dated March 5 that he was confident the investigation had been 'thorough and objective' and its findings were sound.

"The Pentagon has yet to respond to a request by Reuters Global Managing Editor David Schlesinger to review the military's findings about the incident in light of the scandal over the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

"The abuse happened at Forward Operating Base Volturno, near Fallujah, the Reuters staff said. They were detained on Jan. 2 while covering the aftermath of the shooting down of a U.S. helicopter near Fallujah and held for three days, first at Volturno and then at Forward Operating Base St Mere.

"The three -- Baghdad-based cameraman Salem Ureibi, Fallujah-based freelance television journalist Ahmad Mohammad Hussein al-Badrani and driver Sattar Jabar al-Badrani -- were released without charge on Jan. 5.

"Schlesinger sent a letter to Sanchez on Jan. 9 demanding an investigation into the treatment of the three Iraqis.

"The U.S. army said it was investigating and requested further information. Reuters provided transcripts of initial interviews with the three following their release, and offered to make them available for interview by investigators.

"A summary of the investigation by the 82nd Airborne Division, dated Jan. 28 and provided to Reuters, said 'no specific incidents of abuse were found'. It said soldiers responsible for the detainees were interviewed under oath and 'none admit or report knowledge of physical abuse or torture'...

"'The detainees were purposefully and carefully put under stress, to include sleep deprivation, in order to facilitate interrogation; they were not tortured,' it said.

"The version received on Monday used the phrase 'sleep management' instead.

"The U.S. military never interviewed the three for its investigation.

"On Feb. 3 Schlesinger wrote to Lawrence Di Rita, special assistant to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying the investigation was 'woefully inadequate' and should be reopened.

"'The military's conclusion of its investigation without even interviewing the alleged victims, along with other inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the report, speaks volumes about the seriousness with which the U.S. government is taking this issue,' he wrote."