Washington – Two soldiers and an officer with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division have told a human-rights organization of systemic detainee abuse and human-rights violations at U.S. bases in Afghanistan and Iraq, recounting beatings, forced physical exertion and psychological torture of prisoners, the group said.
A 30-page report by Human Rights Watch describes an Army captain’s 17-month effort to gain clear understanding of how U.S. soldiers were supposed to treat detainees and depicts his frustration with what he saw as widespread abuse that the military’s leadership failed to address.
The Army officer made it clear that he believes low-ranking soldiers have been held responsible for abuses to cover for officers who condoned it.
The report does not identify the two sergeants and a captain who gave the accounts, although one of them, Capt. Ian Fishback, has presented some of his allegations in a letter to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
Their statements included vivid allegations of violence against detainees held at Forward Operating Base Mercury, outside Fallujah, Iraq, shortly before the notorious abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison began.
The soldiers described incidents similar to those reported in other parts of Iraq – such as putting detainees in stress positions, exercising them to the point of total exhaustion, and sleep deprivation.
They also detailed regular attacks that left detainees with broken bones – including once when a detainee was hit with a metal bat.
