[Mb-civic] Navy Prisoner Abuse

[Michael Butler]

We are certainly building a ledgend of hatred in Iraq.
What would we say if our soldiers were treated that way/


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    AP: Navy Probes New Iraq Prisoner Photos
    By Seth Hettena
    The Associated Press

     Saturday 04 December 2004

  


A photo found posted on a commercial photo-sharing Web site operated by a
woman who said her husband brought the photos from Iraq after his tour of
duty appears to show prisoners in the back of a truck with a foot atop one
of the detainees. 
(Photo: AP)
     Coronado, Calif. - The U.S. military has launched a criminal
investigation into photographs that appear to show Navy SEALs in Iraq
sitting on hooded and handcuffed detainees, and photos of what appear to be
bloodied prisoners, one with a gun to his head.

     Some of the photos have date stamps suggesting they were taken in May
2003, which could make them the earliest evidence of possible abuse of
prisoners in Iraq. The far more brutal practices photographed in Abu Ghraib
prison occurred months later.

     An Associated Press reporter found more than 40 of the pictures among
hundreds in an album posted on a commercial photo-sharing Web site by a
woman who said her husband brought them from Iraq after his tour of duty. It
is unclear who took the pictures, which the Navy said it was investigating
after the AP furnished copies to get comment for this story.

     These and other photos found by the AP appear to show the immediate
aftermath of raids on civilian homes. One man is lying on his back with a
boot on his chest. A mug shot shows a man with an automatic weapon pointed
at his head and a gloved thumb jabbed into his throat. In many photos, faces
have been blacked out. What appears to be blood drips from the heads of
some. A family huddles in a room in one photo and others show debris and
upturned furniture.

     "These photographs raise a number of important questions regarding the
treatment of prisoners of war (POWs) and detainees," Navy Cmdr. Jeff Bender,
a spokesman for the Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, said in a
written response to questions. "I can assure you that the matter will be
thoroughly investigated."

     The photos were turned over to the Naval Criminal Investigative
Service, which instructed the SEAL command to determine whether they show
any serious crimes, Bender said Friday. That investigation will determine
the identities of the troops and what they were doing in the photos.

     Some of the photos recall aspects of the images from Abu Ghraib, which
led to charges against seven soldiers accused of humiliating and assaulting
prisoners. In several of the photos obtained by the AP, grinning men wearing
U.S. flags on their uniforms, and one with a tattoo of a SEAL trident, take
turns sitting or lying atop what appear to be three hooded and handcuffed
men in the bed of a pickup truck.

  


A photo found posted on a commercial photo-sharing Web site operated by a
woman who said her husband brought the photos from Iraq after his tour of
duty appears to show a prisoner being held at gunpoint. The prisoner's face
was obscured by the source.
(Photo: AP)
     A reporter found the photos, which since have since been removed from
public view, while researching the prosecution of a group of SEALs who
allegedly beat prisoners and photographed one of them in degrading
positions. Those photos, taken with a SEAL's personal camera, haven't been
publicly released.

     Though they have alarmed SEAL commanders, the photographs found by the
AP do not necessarily show anything illegal, according to experts in the
laws of war who reviewed photos at AP's request.

     Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps prosecutor and judge who teaches at
the United States Military Academy, said the images showed "stupid" and
"juvenile" behavior - but not necessarily a crime.

     John Hutson, a retired rear admiral who served as the Navy's Judge
Advocate General from 1997 to 2000, said they suggested possible Geneva
Convention violations. Those international laws prohibit souvenir photos of
prisoners of war.

     "It's pretty obvious that these pictures were taken largely as war
trophies," Hutson said. "Once you start allowing that kind of behavior, the
next step is to start posing the POWs in order to get even better pictures."

     At a minimum, the pictures violate Navy regulations that prohibit
photographing prisoners other than for intelligence or administrative
purposes, according to Bender, the SEALs spokesman.

     All Naval Special Warfare personnel were told that prior to deployment,
he said, but "it is obvious from some of the photographs that this policy
was not adhered to."

     The images were posted to the Internet site Smugmug.com. The woman who
posted them told the AP they were on the camera her husband brought back
from Iraq. She said her husband has returned to Iraq. He does not appear in
photos with prisoners.

     The Navy goes to great lengths to protect the identities and
whereabouts of its 2,400 SEALs - which stands for Navy Sea, Air, Land - many
of whom have classified counterterrorist missions around the globe.

     "Some of these photos clearly depict faces and names of Naval Special
Warfare personnel, which could put them or their families at risk," Bender
said.

     Out of safety concerns, the AP is not identifying the woman who posted
the photos.

     The wife said she was upset that a reporter was able to view the album,
which includes family snapshots. Hundreds of other photos depict everyday
military life in Iraq, some showing commandos standing around piles of
weapons and waving wads of cash.

     The images were found through the online search engine Google. The same
search today leads to the Smugmug.com Web page, which now prompts the user
for a password. Nine scenes from the SEAL camp remain in Google's archived
version of the page.

     "I think it's fair to assume that it would be very hard for most
consumers to know all the ways the search engines can discover Web pages,"
said Smugmug spokesman Chris MacAskill.

     Before the site was password protected, the AP purchased reprints for
29 cents each.

     Some men in the photos wear patches that identify them as members of
Seal Team Five, based in Coronado, and the unit's V-shaped insignia
decorates a July Fourth celebration cake.

     The photos surfaced amid a case of prisoner abuse involving members of
another SEAL team also stationed at Coronado, a city near San Diego.

     Navy prosecutors have charged several members of SEAL Team Seven with
abusing a suspect in the bombing a Red Cross facility. According to charge
sheets and testimony during a military hearing last month, SEALs posed in
the back of a Humvee for photos that allegedly humiliated Manadel al-Jamadi,
who died hours later at Abu Ghraib.

     Testimony from that case suggest personal cameras became increasingly
common on some SEAL missions last year.

  

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