Abuse 'widespread' in Iraqi prisons

"We know that left to their own devices the Iraqis are going to do these kinds of things, and there's no chance of stopping it all over the country,'' he says. "But to me, this is more about us than it is about them. We can't tolerate this when we see it. I don't want our standards eroded any further. It's bad for the force; so General Pace's policy statement is very important."

Human rights groups say that police abuse in Iraq is by now a well-established pattern: Iraq's police units, many filled with members of Shiite militias that fought against Saddam Hussein, generally have been left without oversight. Since many of these men view Iraq's Sunni Arab population, who were privileged under Mr. Hussein, as their enemies, abuse is reportedly widespread. When he has visited Baghdad's morgues and the offices of Sunni political parties, this reporter has been shown dozens of photographs of men who had been allegedly tortured to death.

Stukey recalls treating one Sunni businessman, about to be released, "who was beaten so badly that his fingernails had fallen off, some pulled off, and I felt ashamed to be associated with it."

Stukey says the MPs encountered frequent problems at the Iraqi police Major Crimes Unit in Adhamiya, a Sunni neighborhood where support for the insurgency is high. On two occasions, MPs of the 720th intervened to stop abuse of prisoners that was under way when they were in the building. In one case on May 3, a prisoner was "being severely tortured, the MPs could hear the screams,'' says Stukey. They took custody of the man and the equipment he was being tortured with.

"My understanding was that what trickled back down the US chain of command was that [the MPs] did the right thing. They weren't dissuaded in any way from doing this again,'' he says. "But the guidance that trickled down was that these are Iraqis in control of their own facilities, we've given them control, and we're not going to take back those facilities. How can a [US sergeant] take over a government facility from an Iraqi officer?"

In April, he says the 720th MPs also discovered an "off the books" detention facility in the Adhamiya neighborhood where torture was taking place, and that the Iraqi police general in charge of the area was fired as a consequence.

Stukey says from his admittedly narrow view of Baghdad, and from discussions with soldiers in other areas of Iraq, that abuse of detainees is standard operating procedure for the Iraqi police. Many senior Iraqi politicians agree with him.

Iyad Allawi, the former Iraqi prime minister and close US ally, told The Observer, a British newspaper, last month that "people are doing the same as [in] Saddam's time and worse." The British are currently investigating allegations that the Iraqi police tortured two men to death with electric drills in the southern city of Basra. In Baghdad, this reporter met with four survivors of police custody who bore injuries consistent with their alleged torture with electric shocks and other implements.

To date, no Iraqi police officers have been arrested or charged in connection with the torture discovered by US troops at the jail in November. Jabr, a former member of the Badr Brigade, an Iranian-trained militia, told reporters he had personally ordered that the men be held at the secret facility. He promised swift action when the abuse was uncovered. Last week, Nouri al-Nouri, the ministry's inspector for human rights was fired. The Interior Ministry press office, the office of Jabr, and the office of the prime minister did not return calls seeking comment.

Iraq's prime minister had promised a full report into abuse of detainees in Iraq by Dec. 1, but the government says the joint US-Iraq investigation is still ongoing.

Page: 1 | 2