NYT: G.I.'s Prison Abuse More Widespread, Says Army Survey

[Robbien]

By DOUGLAS JEHL, STEVEN LEE MYERS and ERIC SCHMITT

Published: May 26, 2004

his article was reported and written by Douglas Jehl, Steven Lee Myers and Eric Schmitt.

WASHINGTON, May 25 — An Army summary of deaths and mistreatment involving prisoners in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan shows a widespread pattern of abuse involving more military units than previously known.

The cases from Iraq date back to April 15, 2003, a few days after Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled in a Baghdad square, and they extend up to last month, when a prisoner detained by Navy commandos died in a suspected case of homicide blamed on "blunt force trauma to the torso and positional asphyxia."

Among previously unknown incidents are the abuse of detainees by Army interrogators from a National Guard unit attached to the Third Infantry Division, who are described in a document obtained by The New York Times to have "forced into asphyxiation numerous detainees in an attempt to obtain information" over a 10-week period last spring.

The document, dated May 5, is a synopsis prepared by the Criminal Investigation Command at the request of Army officials grappling with intense scrutiny prompted by the circulation the preceding week of photographs of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. It lists the status of investigations into three dozen cases, including the continuing investigation into the notorious abuses at Abu Ghraib.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/26/politics/26ABUS.html?ex=1086148800&en=287e1d352ea01519&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

[NYC]

1. This story is not dying.

Something has to come of this.

[grytpype]

2. There's no end to this.

Massive, widespread, officially condoned torture of Iraqi prisoners.

Think we'll get that war crimes exemption we been hankerin for?

[Robbien]

3. Note that they called Bush on his lie

In his speech on Monday night, President Bush portrayed the abuse of prisoners by American soldiers in narrow terms. He described incidents at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, which were the first and most serious to come to light, as involving actions "by a few American troops who disregarded our country and disregarded our values."

The two reporters Jehl and Schmitt are doing the majority of the articles on the torture issue for the NYT. They are giving no breaks to anyone involved in this.