| Sleeping bag used to kill iraqi during interrogation { January 18 2006 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/18/AR2006011800324.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/18/AR2006011800324.html
Lawyer: Officer Had OK for Interrogation
By JON SARCHE The Associated Press Wednesday, January 18, 2006; 7:09 AM
FORT CARSON, Colo. -- A lawyer for an Army officer charged with murder in the suffocation death of an Iraqi general said the officer had a commander's approval to use an interrogation technique that involved stuffing the general into a sleeping bag.
Defense attorney Frank Spinner also said Tuesday that Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr. did not do anything illegal _ and was under extreme pressure to extract information from Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush.
Welshofer is accused of killing Mowhoush in 2003 in Iraq. He also faces a charge of dereliction of duty. Prosecutors planned to continue building their case against him in court Wednesday.
Prosecutors, including Capt. Elana Matt, said Mowhoush had been placed headfirst in a sleeping bag and bound during interrogation, and that he died while Welshofer sat on his chest.
Welshofer also occasionally used his hands to cover the man's mouth and used an electrical cord to secure the sleeping bag on Mowhoush, who weighed at least 250 pounds and did not fit into the bag, according to prosecutors.
In his opening statement, Spinner said Welshofer's company commander had approved the use of the sleeping bag. He described Mowhoush as a dangerous, evil man who helped finance the Iraqi insurgency and had information that could have saved U.S. soldiers' lives.
But in testimony, Jessica Voss, Welshofer's company commander in Iraq, said she never knew the "sleeping bag technique" would include actions that could make it difficult for a subject to breathe _ and never would have approved the way the technique was used on Mowhoush.
She understood from discussions with Welshofer that it was to be used only to exploit claustrophobia as a last resort, she said.
Spinner also contested an autopsy report that said Mowhoush died of asphyxia. He died from an irregular heart rhythm caused by heart disease and the stress of the interrogation, Spinner said.
At one point during the interrogation, Mowhoush became unresponsive, said Chief Warrant Officer Jefferson Williams. When he began breathing again, Williams said Welshofer expressed relief, saying something similar to "I thought he was dead," or "I thought I killed him."
According to Williams, Welshofer then turned Mowhoush onto his stomach, sat on his back and began questioning him again. A few minutes later, Mowhoush stopped breathing, and Welshofer called for medical aid. Mowhoush never regained consciousness, despite a 45-minute attempt to resuscitate him, Williams said.
© 2006 The Associated Press
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