NYT: U.S. Soldier Paints a Scene of Eager Mayhem at Iraq Prison

[kskiska]

When a fresh crop of detainees arrived at Abu Ghraib prison one night in late October, their jailers set upon them.

The soldiers pulled seven Iraqi detainees from their cells, "tossed them in the middle of the floor" and then one soldier ran across the room and lunged into the pile of detainees, according to sworn statements given to investigators by one of the soldiers now charged with abuse. He did it again, jumping into the group like it was a pile of autumn leaves, and the highest-ranking officer called for others to join in. The detainees were ordered to strip and masturbate, their heads covered with plastic sandbags. One soldier stomped on their fingers and toes.

"Graner put the detainee's head into a cradle position with Graner's arm, and Graner punched the detainee with a lot of force, in the temple," Specialist Jeremy C. Sivits said in his statements to investigators, referring to another soldier charged, Cpl. Charles A. Graner Jr. "Graner punched the detainee with a closed fist so hard in the temple that it knocked the detainee unconscious."

(snip)

The evening was not an isolated case of violence, Specialist Sivits said. He described another night when a dog was set upon a detainee, and another when a detainee was handcuffed to a bed.

"Graner was in the room with him," he said. "This detainee had wounds on his legs from where he had been shot with the buckshot." Corporal Graner, he said, would "strike the detainee with a half baseball swing, and hit the wounds of the detainee. There is no doubt that this hurt the detainee because he would scream he got hit. The detainee would beg Graner to stop by saying `Mister, Mister, please stop,' or words to that effect."

"I think at one time Graner said in a baby type voice, `Ah, does that hurt?' " Specialist Sivits added.

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/14/national/14SIVI.html?hp

[PartyPooper]

1. Isn't Graner the boyfriend of Lynn England's? If so, what a sick duo!

How much punishment can these folks get? It probably isn't enough in my book. How many lives have they maimed or destroyed?

They've both set civilisation back at least a thousand years.

All of them are guilty of war crimes...send them to the Hague along with Junior, Cheney, and Rummy, et. al.!

:grr:

[Crunchy Frog]

10. They'll probably be punished by

getting their own talk show on FAUX News, after they do maybe a couple of years jail time. A sad commentary on our society, but it seems like alot of people regard them as heroes.:puke:

[Erika]

12. Fox/Bush News Will Hire Them as Experts

I bet the contracts are in the works now. Like Newt and the other old GOP womanizer guy, they will pontificate on morality and give expert military advice. They'll fit in quite nicely at Fox.

[arwalden]

26. Erika... You're Probably Correct.

And isn't that sad?

-- Allen

[saigon68]

2. WAR CRIMES

Committed by toothless hill billys ordered by intelligence to break down the prisoners, on Chimp's orders to find the Nukes and nerve gas-- maybe even to find Sadaam.

[theHandpuppet]

27. Excuse me...

But I find your description of the sicko abusers as a bunch of "toothless hillbillies" to be incredibly bigoted and insulting.

-- A proud hillbilly Dem in WV

[orthogonal]

3. Casual violence

What's so disturbing for me is the casualness of the violence:

"I do not know what provoked Graner," Specialist Sivits said, "but Graner knelt down to one of the detainees that was nude and had the sandbag over his head" and punched the detainee unconscious.

. . . .

Sergeant Frederick was standing in front of another detainee. "For no reason, Frederick punched the detainee in the chest," Specialist Sivits said.

Remember, Frederick and Graner are the two who were prison guards in civilian life. Let us pause for a moment to think of the America prisoners they've also abused.

[Erika]

13. How Sick

Tone set by George W Bush.

Blair is being sued by Hussein's lawyer for criminal war acts against Iraqi prisoners.

You think the Blair/Bush duo should have stopped and thought for a moment before their decimation of Iraq?

[MrSlayer]

4. A playground for the demented,

A haven for those who walk this Earth bereft of heart and soul.

Megadeth - Take no Prisoners.

[daleo]

5. Then Rummy drops in

To tell everybody at the prison that they have been doing a great job.

[bagnana]

7. Graner and England are having a baby?

I think I read that somewhere. How horrible. The kid of two sadistic torturers. I am so disgusted, outraged, horrified.

[Crunchy Frog]

11. Probably conceived

after they had become really aroused by an especially exciting bout of torture and sexual humiliation.:puke:
That baby should be removed from their custody at birth and put up for adoption.

[rumguy]

6. Graner is the worst of them

he looks like a fuckin' fascist freeper type...he's the one that should pay the most...

[LiberalFighter]

9. Personally, I think they should all suffer the same fate

They all participated therefore all equally guilty.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

8. This brutality happens on US playgrounds with children every day.

I was one of those kids who was always picked as a target for recreational abuse at school. I know plenty of others who had the same experience. Almost all the worst bullies were the guys with the numbers on their shirts. Jocks.

Teachers never did shit to protect me or prevent the abuse or punish the bullies. It was sanctioned as normal childish play through benign neglect by adults. Sound familar?

And today there is an article about skyrocketing rates of violence committed by girls in the last 5-10 years.

Think violent role models on TV play a part? Zena? Buffy? Hmmm? Violence is now a way for girls to seek power and control, too.

The social values that adults embody are instilled in them as children. SPORTS keeps males performing mock battles and wars. They learn to aspire to the team, listen to the coach, sublimate their individuality, go along with the pack, get a uniform, and attack another team to 'defend' territory and score glorious victories over competitors.

This is socializing military behavior into boys and men. Syria, here we come!

[JNelson6563]

18. Good post

You are right about sports being a replacement for battle. It has always been so.

I was saddened and frustrated to read of your childhood experience.

Julie

[saigon68]

22. Harris and Klebold got even with their Tormenters

TICK TICK TICK

[Bhaisahab]

14. that garner man...

he's a typical all-american chainsaw psycho as portrayed by hollywood. maybe he got all his torture ideas from hollywood movies? or maybe hollywood will now get ideas from this dude.
hey they could make a movie on the psycho couple!

[happynewyear]

29. believe me ...

Hollywood can hardly wait ...

[western mass]

15. Here's where the cover-up begins, folks!

"Spec Sivits, we knock 20 years off your sentence. In exchange, you swear up and down it was only a few bad apples, outside of the chain-of-command. You did it on your own. Nobody told you to do it. You got that, son?"

[ze_dscherman]

16. Scapegoating and CYA

From the article:

Guy L. Womack, a lawyer for Specialist Graner, said he had not seen the statement from Specialist Sivits but doubted that his client would have hit a detainee.

"I don't think he was that kind of guy," Mr. Womack said. "He would have done it if he was ordered to do it." He said that military intelligence soldiers were in one of the graphic photographs, indicating that they were aware of what was going on.

"Sivits, as you know, has entered a plea agreement with the government, getting lenient treatment for testifying against other people," Mr. Womack said, "and by definition if he doesn't say something negative about other people he would not get this deal."

Similarly, a lawyer for Sergeant Frederick dismissed the statement. "Sivits is a rollover guilty plea, and that may provide comfort to some," said the lawyer, Gary Myers. "But it has no impact upon the defense of any other case because it has nothing whatsoever to do with the guilt or innocence of my client."

[saigon68]

24. ITS CALLED PLEA BARGAINING

AND TESTIMONY FROM JAIL HOUSE SNITCHES

SCUM THAT WOULD SELL THEIR MOTHER TO GIVE ORAL SEX FOR 50 CENTS.

[Alerter_]

28. Kerry better stop the coverup of "R2I" torture techniques in US/UK/Israel

Kerry better not allow them to finger a few fall guys and let it go. Getting Bush out is NOT ENOUGH.

[truthisfreedom]

17. replace his name with "bush." keep that in mind... bush's mindset caused

all of this madness.

[dArKeR]

19. GI Describes Iraq Prison Horrors - CBS

 Prison guard Spc. Jeremy Sivits, who took photos of abuse at the Abu Ghraib detention center in Iraq, described soldiers laughing and joking as they beat, stripped and sexually humiliated detainees, according to newspaper reports.

Sivits, the first soldier scheduled to be court-martialed in the abuse scandal, was expected to plead guilty next Wednesday in Baghdad. He has cooperated with prosecutors and faces lesser charges than his colleagues.

He said the mistreatment was not authorized by higher-ups in the chain of command. "Our command would have slammed us," he said. "They believe in doing the right thing. If they saw what was going on, there would have been hell to pay."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/30/iraq/main614905.shtml

[yellowcanine]

20. `Ah, does that hurt?' " - a reprise of * saying "Please don't kill me."

when he mocked Karla Faye Tucker. This fish rots from the head.

[malachi]

21. Will these sterling representatives of the US have to register

with their local PD as sex offenders when they return to their communities per Megan's Law? Providing of course they are convicted of anything and not just given dishonorable discharges.

[UpInArms]

23. strange CNN tie-in to military orders and Berg

please note the bolded words:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/14/abuse.graner/

excerpt:

"He went to his chain of command. He questioned some of the interrogation techniques, and he was told as a soldier he was to follow orders and that intelligence wants additional information," Bergrin told CNN's American Morning. (Senators question interrogation techniques)

Davis' superiors, Bergrin said, told the specialist it was important to "break the prisoners" in order to "save the lives of innocent soldiers on the outside and civilians and individuals like Nicholas Berg."

Berg was the Pennsylvania businessman whose beheading was videotaped and posted on a Web page this week. The abuses depicted in the photographs took place last fall.

His client, Bergrin said, committed "certain acts but didn't commit on any criminal acts."

...more...

Okay (donning my new :tinfoilhat:) How could he receive this "save the life of Nicholas Berg" message before that had even happened??????

[maddezmom]

25. Whaaaa???

this makes no sense...
How long has Graner been in custody waiting for charges? Did he know Berg was killed before it made it to mainstream media...this is getting really creepy.

[struggle4progress]

30. kick

:kick: