LONDON,
September 30, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The US
military has done little to check abuses of detainees at US-run
detention places in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, according to
the former US commander of Abu Ghraib Friday, September 30.
"We
haven't dealt very effectively with those photographs or what they
indicated," US Army Reserve Colonel Janis Karpinski told BBC's
Today program radio, according to Agence France Presse (AFP).
"I
think it's largely proved now that it wasn't just seven out-of-control
soldiers on a night shift at Abu Ghraib, where Iraqi prisoners were
abused and sexually humiliated," stressed Karpinski, who was
demoted from her rank of brigadier general over the scandal at Abu
Ghraib prison.
The
abuse of Iraqi prisoners exploded onto the world stage on April 29,
2004 after the CBS news network published several graphic photos of
Iraqi detainees tortured and sexually abused by American soldiers at
the Baghdad-based prison.
Several
photographs taken in late 2003 at the prison showed detainees wearing
women's underwear on their heads, detainees shackled to their cell
doors or beds in awkward positions, and naked detainees standing
before female soldiers.
Detainees
at Abu Ghraib were also posed in mock homosexual positions and
photographed.
Human
Rights Watch revealed that US troops routinely subjected Iraqi
detainees to severe beatings and other cruel and inhumane treatment as
a "way of sport" or just to "relieve stress".
Abuses
Going On
The
former US commander stressed that abuses of detainees are still going
on in US-run jails in Iraq, Afghanistan and the notorious Guantanamo
Bay.
"I
don't think that there's been an effective means to stop it from going
on now," Karpinski said.
"The
difference was of course that there was no photographs ... (of) those
events taking place in other locations."
Karpinski,
however, stressed it will take a long time before other photographs
will be released.
"Only
then will there be an opportunity to get a more balanced view and
certainly a fair assessment of where the blame belongs," she
said.
Documents
released by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) revealed that US
occupation forces in Iraq have used interrogation techniques
copycatted from films in abusing detainees.
Release
More Photos
Karpinski's
remarks came one day after a US federal judge ordered the Bush
administration to release pictures of Iraqi detainees' abuses,
rebuffing the US government's claims that the release could fan
anti-US feelings.
Judge
Alvin Hellerstein ruled Thursday that pictures of Iraqi
detainees being abused by US soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison should
be released.
The
court ruling was made after a request by the ACLU for access to 87
unseen images of Iraqi detainees' abuses.
ACLU
demanded the release of the photographs and four videotapes as part of
a lawsuit launched in 2003 on the treatment of detainees in US custody
and the transfer of prisoners to countries known to use torture.
New
Scandal
 |
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US soldiers in Iraq posted photos of dead Iraqis to a porn Web site in exchange for free access to the site.
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The
court ruling on releasing the Abu Ghraib abuses photos came amid
reports of a new scandal facing US occupation forces in Iraq.
Reports
revealed that US soldiers in Iraq posted gruesome photos of dead
Iraqis to a porn Web site in exchange for free access to the site.
The
numerous graphic pictures posted on the Web site showed men, with
their faces visible and wearing US military uniforms, standing over a
charred corpse, mutilated dead bodies and severed body parts.
The
porn Web site states the photos were provided by troops in Iraq as
well as Afghanistan in order to get free access to its sexual images.
Many
of the photos, still posted on the site, are accompanied by captions
making light of the corpses; for example one photo of a charred body
was dubbed "Cooked Iraqi."
The
Web site's creator said that about 30,000 members of the US military
are registered on his site, several thousand of whom have sent him
photographs or comments from their official military Web addresses.
On
Wednesday, the US army ended a brief inquiry into the use of photos of
dead Iraqis on a porn site, Reuters said.
The
probe failed to determine whether US soldiers provided photos of dead
Iraqis to the porn Web site in exchange for free access to it, drawing
strong rebukes from the Muslim minority in the US.
"It's
entirely inappropriate for the military to do such a cursory
investigation of something that is really casting a very negative
light on our nation's military and can only serve to further damage
America's image and interests throughout the Islamic world," said
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR).
He
stressed that the military must determine who was involved and whether
the conduct violated US military law and international laws governing
conduct during wartime, including the Geneva Conventions.
