"Once again we have evidence of widespread abuse," Romero said

CAIRO, September 16, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – US occupation forces in Iraq have used interrogation techniques copycatted from films in abusing detainees, new documents have revealed.

"When troops rely on movies to learn interrogation techniques rather than proper training, our government has failed and the blame is on Washington, not Hollywood," said Anthony D. Romero, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The rights watchdog released Thursday, September 16, 1,800 pages documenting the investigation into at least three military units' detainee operations, showing that systematic failures led to the detainees abuses in Iraq, according to the ACLU's Web site.

Interview with soldiers conducted for Army Inspector General Lt. Gen. Paul T. Mikolashek's July, 2004 report on detainee abuse indicated that they "engaged in interrogations using techniques they literally remembered from the movies."

Others noted that "there was no specific training on the treatment of detainees; the MPs relied on their common knowledge in this area."

The abuse of Iraqi prisoners exploded onto the world stage on April 29, 2004 after the CBS news network published several graphic photos of Iraqi detainees tortured and sexually abused by American soldiers at the Baghdad-based prison.

Several photographs taken in late 2003 at the prison outside Baghdad show detainees wearing women's underwear on their heads, detainees shackled to their cell doors or beds in awkward positions, and naked detainees standing before female soldiers.

Detainees at Abu Ghraib prison were also posed in mock homosexual positions and photographed.

The documents, released by the ACLU under a Freedom of Information suit on treatment of US-held detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, cited specific cases of prisoners' abuses by US soldiers.

One interrogator "had to go to SJA [Staff Judge Advocate] many times about detainees arriving at the cage badly beaten," they said.

"Many beatings occurred after the detainees were zip-tied by some units in 4ID [4th Infantry Division]."

The soldiers' accounts also showed that some other incidents of abuses against Iraqi detainees were not reported.

One soldier witnessed a detainee being made to lie on his back with his feet elevated in "chair position" against a wall, made to do squats and had water poured on his head, making it difficult for the detainee to breathe.

He said the soldiers "didn't know what was abuse... Prior to the incident, [the chain of command] had never talk[ed] about what is abuse."

Amrit Singh, a staff attorney with the ACLU, said the documents "are further proof that the government's investigative reports regarding detainee abuse are a whitewash."

He went on: "In the face of mounting evidence that systemic failures caused the abuse of detainees, the government's attempts to assign blame for that abuse to a handful of rogue soldiers are unavailing."

The ACLU executive director agreed.

"Once again we have evidence of widespread abuse, but no high ranking government official or member of the military has been held accountable for the actions that occurred on their watch," Romero said.

• Click to Read documents released by ACLI