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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sarmad Y. Hermiz who wrote (133481)	5/18/2004 8:59:34 PM
From: Sam	Respond to of 281500

US soldier alleges cover-up in prison abuse Provance said Fay threatened to take action against him for failing to report what he saw sooner. "I feel like I'm being punished for being honest," Provance said. "You know, it was almost as if I actually felt if all my statements were shredded and I said, like most everybody else, 'I didn't hear anything, I didn't see anything. I don't know what you're talking about,' then my life would be just fine right now." WASHINGTON (AFP) - A member of US military intelligence said that the army tried to cover up the extent of detainee abuse in Iraq (news - web sites), a US television network reported. Sergeant Samuel Provance told ABC television that dozens of soldiers had been involved in the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. Seven soldiers have been charged. The first will face a court-martial Wednesday in the Iraqi capital. "There's definitely a cover-up," Provance said in an interview with the World News Tonight programme released in advance of the broadcast. "People are either telling themselves or being told to be quiet." Provance, 30, was part of the 302nd Military Intelligence Battalion stationed at Abu Ghraib last September. ABC said the soldier, who is now in Germany, gave the interview despite orders from his commanders not to. "What I was surprised at was the silence," Provance was quoted as saying. "The collective silence by so many people that had to be involved, that had to have seen something or heard something." Provance ran the military intelligence computer network at the prison. He said he did not see the abuse that has brought international criticism on the US military but that interrogators admitted they directed the military police to be rough with prisoners. "Anything (the MPs) were to do legally or otherwise, they were to take those commands from the interrogators," Provance said. The seven charged so far, who include three women, are all from a military police company. Some have said they acted under orders but military officials have said the abuse seen in photos of naked prisoners at Abu Ghraib was limited to a few MPs. Provance said the sexual humiliation began as a technique ordered by military intelligence. "One interrogator told me about how commonly the detainees were stripped naked, and in some occasions, wearing women's underwear," Provance said. "If it's your job to strip people naked, yell at them, scream at them, humiliate them, it's not going to be too hard to move from that to another level." Provance told how US soldiers struck prisoners around the neck and inmates were knocked out. "Then (the soldier) would go to the next detainee, who would be very fearful and voicing their fear, and the MP would calm him down and say: 'We're not going to do that. It's okay. Everything's fine,' and then do the exact same thing to him." Provance also described how two drunken interrogators took a female Iraqi prisoner from her cell in the middle of the night and stripped her to the waist. The men were restrained by another MP. The role of US military intelligence in the abuse is being investigated by Major General George Fay, the army's deputy chief of staff for intelligence. Provance said that when Fay interviewed him, he seemed interested only in the military police, not the interrogators, and seemed to discourage him from testifying. Provance said Fay threatened to take action against him for failing to report what he saw sooner. "I feel like I'm being punished for being honest," Provance said. "You know, it was almost as if I actually felt if all my statements were shredded and I said, like most everybody else, 'I didn't hear anything, I didn't see anything. I don't know what you're talking about,' then my life would be just fine right now." story.news.yahoo.com.