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Bagram torture and prisoner abuse

In 2005, The New York Times obtained a 2,000-page United States Army report concerning the homicides of two unarmed civilian Afghani prisoners by U.S. armed forces in 2002 at the Bagram Theater Internment Facility (also Bagram Collection Point or B.C.P.) in Bagram, Afghanistan. The prisoners, Habibullah and Dilawar, were chained to the ceiling and beaten, which caused their deaths. Military coroners ruled that both the prisoners' deaths were homicides. Autopsies revealed severe trauma to both prisoners' legs, describing the trauma as comparable to being run over by a bus. Seven soldiers were charged.

Location

The torture and homicides took place at the military detention center known as the Bagram Theater Internment Facility, which had been built by the Soviets as an aircraft machine shop during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1980-1989). A concrete-and-sheet metal facility that was retrofitted with wire pens and wooden isolation cells, the center is part of Bagram Air Base in the ancient city of Bagram near Charikar in Parvan, Afghanistan.

Victims

Habibullah

Habibullah died on December 4, 2002. Several U.S. soldiers hit the chained man with so-called "peroneal strikes," or severe blows to the side of the leg above the knee. This incapacitates the leg by hitting the common peroneal nerve. According to the New York Times:

By Dec. 3, Mr. Habibullah's reputation for defiance seemed to make him an open target. [He had taken at least 9 peroneal strikes from two M.P.'s for being "noncompliant and combative."]

... When Sgt. James P. Boland saw Mr. Habibullah on Dec. 3, he was in one of the isolation cells, tethered to the ceiling by two sets of handcuffs and a chain around his waist. His body was slumped forward, held up by the chains. Sergeant Boland ... had entered the cell with [Specialists Anthony M. Morden and Brian E. Cammack]...

kneeing the prisoner sharply in the thigh, "maybe a couple" of times. Mr. Habibullah's limp body swayed back and forth in the chains.

When medics arrived, they found Mr. Habibullah dead.

Dilawar

Dilawar, who died on December 10, 2002, was a 22-year-old Afghan taxi driver and farmer who weighed 122 pounds and was described by his interpreters as neither violent nor aggressive.

When beaten, he repeatedly cried "Allah!" The outcry appears to have amused U.S. military personnel, as the act of striking him in order to provoke a scream of "Allah!" eventually "became a kind of running joke," according to one of the MP's. "People kept showing up to give this detainee a common peroneal strike just to hear him scream out 'Allah,'" he said. "It went on over a 24-hour period, and I would think that it was over 100 strikes."

The Times reported that:

On the day of his death, Dilawar had been chained by the wrists to the top of his cell for much of the previous four days.

"A guard tried to force the young man to his knees. But his legs, which had been pummeled by guards for several days, could no longer bend. An interrogator told Mr. Dilawar that he could see a doctor after they finished with him. When he was finally sent back to his cell, though, the guards were instructed only to chain the prisoner back to the ceiling.

"Leave him up," one of the guards quoted Specialist Claus as saying. Several hours passed before an emergency room doctor finally saw Mr. Dilawar. By then he was dead, his body beginning to stiffen.

It would be many months before Army investigators learned a final horrific detail: Most of the interrogators had believed Mr. Dilawar was an innocent man who simply drove his taxi past the American base at the wrong time.

Others

Somalian refugee Mohammed Sulaymon Barre, who worked for a funds transfer company, described his Bagram interrogation as "torture." Barre said he was picked up and thrown around the interrogation room when he wouldn't confess to a false allegation. He was then put into an isolation chamber that was maintained at a piercingly cold temperature for several weeks. He said he was deprived of sufficient rations during his time in isolation. He said, as a result of this treatment his hands and feet swelled, causing him such excruciating pain he couldn't stand up.

Zalmay Shah, a citizen of Afghanistan, was detained at Bagram air base and alleges mistreatment there. An article published in the May 2 2007 issue of The New Republic contained excerpts from an intervew with Zalmay Shah. He said he had originally cooperated closely with the Americans. He had worked with an American he knew only as "Tony" in the roundup of former members of the Taliban. According to the article:

Zalmay Shah was eventually released. He said that Americans continue to ask for his cooperation, but he now declines.

Investigation and prosecution

In October 2004, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command concluded that there was probable cause to charge 27 officers and enlisted personnel with criminal offenses in the Dilawar case ranging from dereliction of duty to maiming and involuntary manslaughter. Fifteen of the same soldiers were also cited for probable criminal responsibility in the Habibullah case. Seven soldiers have been charged so far.

According to an article published in the October 15 2004 New York Times 28 soldiers were under investigation. Some of the soldiers were reservists in the 377th Military Police Company under the command of Captain Christopher M. Beiring. The rest were in the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion under the command of Captain Carolyn A. Wood.

On October 14, 2004, the Criminal Investigation Command forwarded its report from its investigation to the commanders of 28 soldiers.

As of November 15, 2005, 15 soldiers have been charged.

Soldier	Unit	Charges
Sgt. James P. Boland	377th MP	Charged in August 2004 with assault, maltreatment of a detainee, and dereliction of duty for alleged conduct in connection with treatment of a detainee on December 10, 2002 at Bagram. He was charged with a second specification of dereliction of duty in the death on December 3, 2002 of another detainee. All charges were dropped. He was given a letter of reprimand and eventually left the Army.
Spc. Brian Cammack	377th MP	Pled guilty on May 20, 2005 to charges of assault and two counts of making a false statement, and agreed to testify in related cases in exchange for a dismissal of the charge of maltreating detainees. Sentenced to three months in prison, reduction to the rank of private, and a bad-conduct discharge. Cammack claimed he hit Habibullah because Habibullah had spit on him.
Pfc. Willie V. Brand	377th MP	Charged with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, simple assault, maiming, maltreatment, and making a false sworn statement. Convicted in August, 2005 of assault, maltreatment, making a false sworn statement, and maiming, charges involving Dilawar. Acquitted on charges involving Habibullah. Reduced to the rank of private.
Sgt. Anthony Morden	377th MP	Charged with assault, maltreatment and making a false official statement. Pled guilty. Sentenced to 75 days of confinement, reduction to the rank of private, and a bad-conduct discharge.
Sgt. Christopher W. Greatorex	377th MP	Acquitted of charges of abuse, maltreatment and making a false official statement.
Sgt. Darin M. Broady	377th MP	Acquitted of charges of assault, maltreatment and making a false official statement.
Capt. Christopher M. Beiring	377th MP	charged with dereliction of duty and making a false official statement. all charges dropped on 6 January 2006.
Staff Sgt. Brian L. Doyle	377th MP	Charge on October 13 2005 Acquitted of dereliction of duty and maltreatment.
Sgt. Duane M. Grubb	377th MP	Accused of assault, maltreatment and making a false official statement. Prosecutors said Grubb repeatedly struck handicapped captive Zarif Khan with his knees. Grubb testified that he had never hit the prisoner. He was acquitted of all charges.
Sgt. Alan J. Driver	377th MP	Charged with assault. Acquitted Thursday February 23 2006.
Spc. Nathan Adam Jones	377th MP	charged with assault, maltreatment and making a false official statement. charges have all been dropped
Spc. Glendale C. Walls	519th MI	Pled guilty on August 23, 2005. Received a sentence of two months imprisonment.
Sgt. Selena M. Salcedo	519th MI	Charged in May 2005 with assault, dereliction of duty, and lying to investigators. Suspected of stepping on Dilawar's bare foot, grabbing his beard, kicking him, and then ordering the detainee to remain chained to the ceiling. At trial Salcedo pled guilty and received a sentence of a one-grade reduction in rank, $1000 fine, and a written reprimand.
Sgt. Joshua Claus	519th MI	Charged May 17 2005 with assault, maltreatment and making a false statement.
Pfc. Damien M. Corsetti	519th MI

Involved but uncharged

Some interrogators involved in this incident were sent to Iraq and were assigned to the now infamous Abu Ghraib prison.

PFC Corsetti was fined and demoted for not having premission to conduct an interrogation at Abu Ghraib.

Allegations of a widespread pattern of abuse

An editorial of the New York Times noted a parallel with the later abuse and torture of prisoners in Iraq:

(W)hat happened at Abu Ghraib was no aberration, but part of a widespread pattern. It showed the tragic impact of the initial decision by Mr. Bush and his top advisers that they were not going to follow the Geneva Conventions, or indeed American law, for prisoners taken in antiterrorist operations.

The investigative file on Bagram, obtained by The Times, showed that the mistreatment of prisoners was routine: shackling them to the ceilings of their cells, depriving them of sleep, kicking and hitting them, sexually humiliating them and threatening them with guard dogs -- the very same behavior later repeated in Iraq.

In November 2001, SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) program's chief psychologist, Col. Morgan Banks, was sent to Afghanistan, where he spent four months at Bagram. In early 2003, Banks issued guidance for the "behavioral science consultants" who helped to devise Guantánamo's interrogation strategy although he has emphatically denied that he had advocated the use of SERE counter-resistance techniques to break down detainees.

U.S. government response

The United States government through the Department of State makes periodic reports to the United Nations Committee Against Torture. In October 2005, the report focused on pretrial detention of suspects in the War on Terrorism, including those held at Guantanamo Bay detention camp and in Afghanistan. This particular report is significant as the first official response of the U.S. government to allegations that there is widespread abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan. The report denies the allegations.

McCain Amendment

Main article: Detainee Treatment Act of 2005

The McCain amendment was an amendment to the United States Senate Department of Defense Authorization bill, commonly referred to as the Amendment on (1) the Army Field Manual and (2) Cruel, Inhumane, Degrading Treatment, amendment #1977 and also known as the McCain Amendment 1977. The amendment prohibited inhumane treatment of prisoners. The Amendment was introduced by Senator John McCain, a candidate for the 2000 presidential Republican primary, who is a candidate for the 2008 elections. On October 5, 2005, the United States Senate voted 90-9 to support the amendment.

References

External links

America: Incommunicado detention / Fear of ill-treatment, Adil al-Jazeeri, Amnesty International, July 16, 2003 - "Detainees undergoing interrogation by agents of the CIA in the Bagram Air Base have allegedly been subjected to "stress and duress" techniques, including prolonged standing or kneeling, hooding, blindfolding with spray-painted goggles, being kept in painful or awkward positions, sleep deprivation, and 24-hour lighting. Two detainees died at Bagram Air Base in December 2002 in circumstances suggesting that they may have been beaten. The military investigation into the deaths was still ongoing in late June, according to the Pentagon"
From Bagram to Abu Ghraib, Mother Jones, March 1 2005
U.S. 'Thumbs Its Nose' at Rights, Amnesty Says by Alan Cowell, New York Times, May 26, 2005
Years After 2 Afghans Died, Abuse Case Falters, New York Times, February 13, 2006
Failures of Imagination, Columbia Journalism Review, 2005, issue 5