Army Wants Better Detention Practices

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Army Wants Better Detention Practices
Associated Press | December 15, 2007

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. - Tom Schmitt displays photos from Abu Ghraib and winces. The former military police officer is mortified that detainees at the Iraq prison were dragged on leashes and stacked nude in a pyramid.

The Army takes those mistakes very seriously, Schmitt recently told 45 military police captains. While Soldiers and officers may have been experienced in police tactics, he said, they lacked the skills to handle situations beyond their military training.

The Army has since reshuffled its operations, putting more Soldiers with experience in military prisons in contact with detainees. It instructs Soldiers to treat detainees with dignity and tries to teach them skills to avoid situations that could violate detainee rights.

"I want to keep it on a humane level, because there's less likely to be another Abu Ghraib," Schmitt said.

A group from the military police captain's career course at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., toured the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth in November and was briefed on detainee operations. Nearly 95 percent of the captains have already been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and await their next military police command.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,158334,00.html