:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::

:: 5.30.2004 ::

:: "ABUSE INVESTIGATION" ::

Military Completed Death Certificates for 20 Prisoners Only After Months Passed
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
From The NY Times

WASHINGTON, May 30 — Twenty death certificates for Afghan and Iraqi prisoners who died in American custody were completed in a 10-day rush only after the investigation into the notorious abuses at Abu Ghraib became public last month, even though some of the deaths occurred months — in some cases many months — before.

Officers from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the headquarters of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner, signed the certificates between May 12 and 21, including one certificate for an Afghan prisoner killed at the American military base at Bagram on Dec. 10, 2002, in what an autopsy found was a homicide.

In the aftermath of the international outcry over the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, the Pentagon has repeatedly said it thoroughly investigates all allegations of mistreatment and misconduct. But as the handling of the death certificates suggests, many of the known investigations into abuses against Afghan and Iraqi detainees moved glacially, at least until the photographs of hooded, shackled and naked Iraqi prisoners appeared late last month.

According to military officials and a review of Army documents, the investigations have been complicated by a variety of factors, including austere and violent conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan, cultural and language barriers and a convoluted and sluggish military bureaucracy. Many of the witnesses are former prisoners who melted back into society and soldiers who have returned to the United States or redeployed to other countries.

Moreover, only a few dozen military investigators are in Iraq, and they are responsible for investigating everything from petty crimes by soldiers to war crimes Iraqi forces committed against Americans during the war.

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 9:16:00 PM [+] ::
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