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L arge Text Size Large Text Size Change text size THE WORLD More Iraqis Tortured, Officer Says The 82nd Airborne is accused of abuses in 2003 and early 2004. By Richard A Serrano, Times Staff Writer WASHINGTON An Army captain and two sergeants from the 82nd Airborne Div ision who were responsible for supervising prisoners in Iraq have come f orward with allegations that members of the unit routinely beat, torture d and abused detainees in 2003 and early 2004. The Pentagon announced Friday that it opened a criminal investigation of the accusations this week, after learning of the charges recently from t he Senate Armed Services Committee and Human Rights Watch.
Ian Fishback, a West Point graduate, contacted the Senate panel wit h the charges within the last 10 days, saying he was frustrated that his superior officers had failed to respond, said committee aides. Fishback and the two sergeants, whose names have not been disclosed, also made allegations of abuse to Human Rights Watch. The captain is the fir st officer to go public with allegations of detainee abuse in Iraq since the Abu Ghraib prison scandal erupted in April 2004. In recent letters to several members of the Senate Armed Services Committ ee, Fishback said he witnessed detainees being stripped, deprived of sle ep, exposed to the elements and "forced into uncomfortable positions for prolonged periods of time for the express purpose of coercing them into revealing information other than name, rank and service number." New York-based Human Rights Watch said Friday that one of the sergeants t old the group, "We would give them blows to the head, chest, legs and st omach, pull them down, kick dirt on them. The sergeant reportedly described the mistreatment at a base near Fallouja a s "just like" Abu Ghraib, saying, "We did that for amusement." According to Human Rights Watch, the sergeants said they saw soldiers bre ak prisoners' legs. The group said the sergeants had related that they w atched and participated in some of the violence. If substantiated, the allegations would represent one of the most serious episodes in the mistreatment of detainees by American military personne l since the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. This is the first t ime that soldiers in the regular Army have been implicated in widespread abuse. Previous abuse cases have involved misconduct by relatively untr ained National Guard and Reserve troops. The 82nd Airborne is one of the most storied units in the US military. The division has a record of distinguished service stretching for nearly a century, and its members are considered highly trained professionals. Formed during World War I, the division was reactivated during World Wa r II, when its handpicked paratroopers landed behind German lines to pre pare for the D-day invasion of Europe. Bragg, NC, it is the largest paratroop force in the world. Its members served in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and various brigades ha ve served several tours in Iraq. In such a unit, evidence of a significant breakdown in discipline would c all into question the Army's contention that previously disclosed abuses did not reflect systemic problems. The misconduct reported by Fishback and the two noncommissioned officers was said to have begun in September 2003 and continued through the following April. The abuses at Abu Ghrai b occurred within that period, mainly the fall of 2003, and were publicl y revealed in April 2004. A Capitol Hill aide familiar with the new allegations said they were cons idered "very credible." In their disclosures, Fishback and the sergeants said that detainees fear ed for their lives and referred to members of the 82nd as the "Murderous Maniacs" because of the level of brutality inflicted on prisoners. At the Pentagon, Army spokesman Paul Boyce said Friday that the military believed the accusations were serious enough to warrant a full-scale cri minal investigation. "These are allegations of potential felony crimes," Boyce said. "We want to speak to anyone else who might be able to corro borate this information. Asked whether the Army's criminal investigation was launched only because the Senate committee had been told of the allegations, Boyce said, "We began to investigate as soon as it came to our attention." The two sergeants provided detailed accounts of prisoners held in the are a around Fallouja routinely being tortured. Fallouja has been the scene of some of the worst fighting of the war.
to gr ab a pole," Human Rights Watch said one of the sergeants recounted. "He told him to bend over and broke the guy's leg with a mini Louisville Slu gger, a metal bat." The sergeants were part of a forward operating base called Mercury. In their statements, the three said that collectively they witnessed sold iers delivering blows and kicks to prisoners' faces, chests, abdomens an d extremities, pouring chemical substances on skin and eyes, and forcing detainees into stress positions such as holding heavy water jugs with o utstretched arms.
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