US probes deaths of 37 Afghan and Iraqi detainees
Paul Harris in New York
Sunday May 23, 2004
The Observer

American investigators are investigating the deaths of 37 detainees held in US custody in Iraq and Afghanistan, it emerged yesterday.

The Pentagon said the list of deaths included at least eight unsolved murders, which may have involved assaults that took place during interrogation.

A total of 33 separate cases are being investigated, some of which involve more than one death. Thirty two deaths occurred in Iraq and five in Afghanistan. One of the most high profile cases is the death of Major General Abed Hamed Mowhoush, an Iraqi air defence chief who died after being wrapped up in a sleeping bag during interrogation. At the time the Pentagon said Mowhoush died of natural causes, but a recently released autopsy showed he died of 'asphyxia due to smothering and chest compression'.

Mowhoush's family in Iraq has repeatedly told reporters that Mowhoush died from torture. Two weeks ago, Mowhoush's son Issam said his father's body was dumped at a hospital, badly bruised and burned. Mowhoush had surrendered to US custody after the arrest of four of his sons.

Other cases include Manadel al-Jamadi, who died at Abu Ghraib of 'blunt force injuries complicated by compromised respiration', according to his autopsy report. One example from Afghanistan - a 22-year-old man known only as Dilawar - died from 'blunt force injuries to lower extremities complicating coronary heart disease.'.

The fallout from the prisoner abuse scandal has had a huge impact on American public opinion about the conduct of the conflict in Iraq. Although President George Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry are still neck and neck in the polls, Bush's approval ratings have slumped since the scandal emerged. It is unlikely to go away either as the maze of investigations and probes continues.

Yesterday it also emerged that some captives in Iraq were abused for fun or as punishment and not just as part of an interrogation process. The development widens the scandal out from just looking at methods employed to extract information and instead paints a picture of everyday brutality.

A series of classified sworn statements from military police involved in the scandal obtained by the Washington Post newspaper revealed several incidents of abuse and humiliation that had nothing to do with interrogation.

They included three men being stripped and handcuffed together after being accused of raping another inmate. Seven other detainees were stripped and built into a 'human pyramid' after being suspected of instigating a riot. A picture of that pyramid has become one of the main images to emerge from the scandal.

Most chillingly another highly publicised image from the scandal, showing a hooded man standing on a box with wires attached to him, was also apparently carried out for fun. In the statements obtained by the Post, Sabrina Harman is asked why the man has been treated in this way. 'Just playing with him,' was Harman's response.

The statements also show, however, that military intelligence did demand that prisoners also be tortured as part of a process of 'softening up' detainees ahead of interrogation. A statement from military policeman Jamal Davis alleged that intelligence officers ordered him and other soldiers to 'loosen this guy up for us' and 'make sure he gets the treatment'.

The scandal first emerged when one US guard at Abu Ghraib, Joseph Darby, uncovered pictures of horrific abuse as he was investigating a shooting at the prison. He then gave an anonymous letter and a disc of photographs to his superiors. 'I knew I had to do something. I didn't want to see any more prisoners being abused because I knew that it was wrong,' he said in a statement to army investigators.

Meanwhile a car bomb exploded in Baghdad yesterday killing at least five people. The attack was aimed at the house of the deputy Interior Minister, General Abdel Jabar al-Shikli.He was wounded in the attack which occurred just five days after the head of the Iraqi governing council was killed in a similar assault. That killing was claimed by a group headed by al-Qaeda figure Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.