[A-List] Iraq: a visit to Abu Ghraib

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

A look at life for the hundreds held in Abu Ghraib prison
CAMERON SIMPSON
The Herald, May 06 2004

WAVING a prosthetic leg over his head, one prisoner shouted: "Where's the
freedom Bush? Is this freedom?"

Another read a message through a megaphone, protesting about the abuse of
Iraqis' freedom, dignity, and rights.

The men were among hundreds of prisoners who clamoured to be heard yesterday
as the US military took journalists to see Abu Ghraib prison, where American
troops are accused of torturing and humiliating Iraqis.

Although desperate to limit the damage from a widening prisoner-abuse
scandal, journalists were not allowed to film, photograph or talk to
prisoners and their access was restricted to parts of the facility that US
forces wanted to show them.

At least 10 of the prisoners were on crutches - apparently wounded in a
recent mortar bombardment of the prison which killed 22 detainees.

Some of the inmates appeared to be in their early teens. Others were old and
bearded and walked with the aid of sticks. One young man, who appeared to be
blind, was escorted by a friend who desperately tried to point out his
incapacity.

Major General Geoffrey Miller, brought in to run the jail after the
dismissal of Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, who was in charge when the
abuses are alleged to have taken place last year, said the ages of detainees
ranged from 12 to 80.

About 3900 prisoners are held at Abu Ghraib, Iraq's largest prison and
notorious under Saddam Hussein for torture, abuse, and executions. The vast
majority were arrested for "anti-coalition activities".

They are mostly held in outdoor encampments, razor-wire zones measuring
about 300 yards by 300 yards containing around two dozen large tents,
erected on hard mud. There is running water for the 400 or so prisoners
housed in each of eight camps, Major Miller said.

Air-conditioning will be installed this month, as temperatures rise rapidly
towards the worst of summer, when they can hit 120F, he said. Lookout towers
stand throughout the complex and high-powered lamps ring the perimeter of
the razor-wire pens.

Major Miller, who used to run the Guantanamo Bay "Camp X-ray" facility, took
around 30 journalists to see a new medical wing built in the past three
months, including a ward with 10 patients, most strapped to the beds by
leather restraints on one arm and a leg.

He then showed off a collection of recently-constructed interrogation rooms,
complete with one-way mirrors for secret monitoring, where detainees are
questioned by military intelligence or other officials through a translator.

Colonel Foster Payne, head of the military intelligence brigade at Abu
Ghraib, said his men used only standard interrogation methods and never
resorted to violence or intimidation. He said he had had no reports of abuse
on his watch.

Major Miller also took the group to see wing 1A and 1B, where the worst
abuses are alleged to have taken place. The wing, comprising 103 tight,
windowless cells, is now occupied by five women accused of anti-coalition
activities.