US Army papers show failure to probe abuse

NEW YORK: US Army internal documents show that the government failed to seriously investigate allegations of detainee abuse including killings, brutal beatings and the sodomy of an elderly Iraqi woman, a civil rights group said on Monday.

The documents are the latest to be made public by the American Civil Liberties Union, which has periodically obtained records under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The FOIA allows citizens access to public federal records and a Manhattan federal judge has previously ordered the government to turn over papers on detainee abuse.

“Some of the investigations have basically whitewashed the torture and abuse. The documents that the ACLU has obtained tell a damning story of widespread torture reaching well beyond the walls of Abu Ghraib,” said ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero. The ACLU said that in numerous cases investigations were dropped before witnesses were questioned. In some instances, soldiers who were found to have tortured prisoners were sent back to their posts with “what amounts to a slap on the wrists.” The internal reports contained allegations of questionable deaths and horrific abuse including detainees given electric shocks, beaten so badly that their bones were broken and being forced to drink urine. reuters

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