FBI waiting to investigate Iraqi abuses

[maddezmom]

Director Mueller says 'jurisdictional issues' could be an issue
By Shannon McCaffrey

KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS


WASHINGTON - Although several cases of prisoner abuse by civilians in Iraq have been referred to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution, the FBI has not yet been asked to investigate any of them, Director Robert Mueller said Thursday.

Mueller's comments before the Senate Judiciary Committee seemed to indicate that the investigation into whether independent contractors or CIA officers killed prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan is moving more slowly than on the military front, where one soldier has already been court-martialed and others have been charged.

~snip~

Mueller said he thought that the FBI, which has agents in Iraq, is "the appropriate investigating body" when cases are referred to the Justice Department. But he said lawyers there had not passed any cases their way.

~snip~
Also Thursday, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., called for a Justice Department investigation into two members of a U.S. group sent in May 2003 to Iraq to help with the reconstruction of Abu Ghraib. Lane McCotter, a former corrections chief in Utah, and John Armstrong, who led the prison system in Connecticut, were part of a team picked by Attorney General John Ashcroft and others in the Bush administration.

McCotter resigned from the top spot in Utah when a schizophrenic inmate died after being strapped naked to a chair for 16 hours. McCotter went on to serve as head of a private prison system under investigation for denying prisoners access to medical treatment, Schumer said.

~snip~

more: http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/news/nation/8717985.htm

[maddezmom]

1. more from NYT on McCotter and Armstrong

use of American corrections executives with abuse accusations in their past to oversee American-run prisons in Iraq is prompting concerns in Congress about how the officials were selected and screened.

Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, sent a letter yesterday to Attorney General John Ashcroft questioning what he described as the "checkered record when it comes to prisoners' rights" of John J. Armstrong, a former commissioner of corrections in Connecticut.

Mr. Armstrong resigned last year after Connecticut settled lawsuits brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and the families of two Connecticut inmates who died after being sent by Mr. Armstrong to a supermaximum security prison in Virginia. One of the inmates, a diabetic, died of heart failure after going into diabetic shock and then being hit with an electric charge by guards wielding a stun gun and kept in restraints.

In his letter, Mr. Schumer requested that the Justice Department conduct an investigation into the role of American civilians in the Iraqi prison system. Mr. Armstrong is assistant director of operations of American prisons in Iraq, and Mr. Schumer said he was apparently working under contract for the State Department
~snip~
more: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/21/politics/21PRIS.html?ex=1085716800&en=638208c105deba6c&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

[liarliartieonfire]

3. Schumer prys open the door just enough to reveal yet darker tentacles

of the Prisoner Torture. So Asscroft and pals handpicked these sadistic criminals to oversee the rape & torture rooms, now under control of American forces.

And george bush handpicked John Asscroft.
You have to do more than chop off the tentacles. You have to destroy the ugly evil thing at the head.

[symbolman]

2. The FBI

is too busy NOT finding the Anthrax killer or NOT jailing Ken Lay..

but they did find some prostitutes in New Orleans.. much to everyone's surprise :)

[Spazito]

4. Ashcroft does NOT want this investigated...

and the DOJ is stalling, hoping that this will go away, no friggin chance, imo.

[Tinoire]

5. Waiting on what? A lawsuit written in crayon so they can understand it?

What a dark, black, unbelievable comedy.