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Officer tells iraqi detainee to dig his own grave { May 18 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/18/international/middleeast/18abuse.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/18/international/middleeast/18abuse.html
May 18, 2005
2 Officers Punished in 2003 for Abusing Iraqi Detainees
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, May 17 (AP) - Two Army officers staged mock executions of Iraqi prisoners in 2003 and were given career-ending punishments, according to military officials and newly released documents.
Mock executions, in which a prisoner is made to believe that his death is imminent, are prohibited by the Army as a form of torture.
The details of the investigations were described in documents sought by the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act. The Army provided the documents on Tuesday.
In one case, on July 13, 2003, a captain with the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment, based in Fort Carson, Colo., took an Iraqi welder out to the desert and had him dig his own grave before staging an attempt to shoot him, according to documents. The captain was looking for information on a bombing two days before.
The welder was released.
The captain also captured eight people in a vehicle and at one point fired his gun to make the seven passengers believe he had just killed the driver. He then went to the home of a man whose identity had been provided by the driver and threatened to kill him in front of his family. The documents do not say if the victims were connected to the bombing.
The captain was court-martialed, convicted of aggravated assault and battery, and sentenced to 45 days' confinement and loss of $12,000 in pay, said Lt. Col. Jeremy Martin, an Army spokesman. The conviction "effectively ended his career," Colonel Martin said. He said the captain's name was not available.
The other mock execution involved a second lieutenant with the Third Brigade of the First Armored Division, based in Fort Riley, Kan., who received administrative punishment and an other-than-honorable discharge, Colonel Martin said. He said the man's last name was Yancy but he could not provide his first name.
The documents describe two mock executions involving the lieutenant and a sergeant in June 2003. In at least one of the cases the victim was a looter.
The document described other reported abuses, including an incident in which several soldiers were investigated for a staged photograph with a hooded detainee. There was no evidence the detainee was physically abused, but such photographs are a violation of policy.
In another case, a soldier was investigated for taunting a Muslim detainee with a Star of David.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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