Some of you may have read Susan Hu's request for help in reading the thousands of pages of ACLU and AP documents released under FOIA. What I think most of you do not quite realize is how enormous the document set is. Fortunately,
Booman Tribune http://www.boomantribune.com/?op=displaystory;sid=2005/5/26/114948/486
organized a web site so volunteers can organize. Their main links are to the ACLU Web Site
http://action.aclu.org/site/PageServer?pagename=torturefoia
and to the Associated Press Web Site
http://wid.ap.org/documents/detainees/list.html
The ACLU Web Location has three dozen web links, most to a Collection of Papers .
Each ACLU Collection of Papers has a list of Group Entries, some with many Parts.
Each Part is a large pdf, sometimes containing many actual documents.
For one of those dozens of Collections of Papers, I first reproduce below the fold a sample part of a Group Entry
(Aside: This is a second try at posting. The first tryvanished. If both show, be patient. I will delete one.)
Army CID Record of Investigation
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 6/13/03 -- 6/13/04 1. Various, Iraq
2. CID Office, Fort Hood, TX Public Affairs Officer found DVD of "Ramadi Madness", an edited composite of many video clips of B Company operations. It depicted: 1. wounded EPW flexicuffed lying on ground, soldiers filmed entry and exit wounds while EPW moaned in pain, one soldier kicked prisoner in face. SFC watching video said he "thought the dude eventually died. We weren't in any hurry to call the medics."SFC admitted to being the person in the video kicking soldier (8616). 2. Flexicuffed person on ground being interrogated, at one point soldier holding prisoner strikes him in head with rifle butt. 3. Dead person in video, videographer asks soldier in video to "make the dead guy say hello", at which point soldier grabs dead body by the hair and wrist, turns to the camera and waves the dead body's hand. 4. Scenes including soldiers confiscating a van from an enemy prisoner and joyriding around town yelling profanities at Iraqi Civilians. Captain stated that he would address the matter with LTC [redacted] "as to our policy and step to minimize the risk of this and other videos that may end up in the media" (8664). SGT admitted to compiling the video in January 2004. He stated that he destroyed both CDs containing the video (allegedly to avoid the video being released to the media) once he found out the matter was under investigation (8684). Numerous copies of the CD were made by "everyone who could" (8668). Captain and Colonel determined that there was not sufficient probable cause or evidence to believe SFC committed the offense of assault ... video contained "inappropriate rather than criminal behavior."Colonel [redacted] stated that "he believed that much of the Company level leadership would be likely to destroy any existing copies of the video if it were known the matter was under investigation" (8610). Investigation terminated on grounds that furtherance "would be of little or no value or leads remaining to be developed are not significant."
Note the demarked Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 . Those are the actual pdfs, some extremely large, usually of large sets of actual documents.
Here from the ACLU pages at
http://action.aclu.org/site/PageServer?pagename=torturefoia
entitled Government Documents on Torture
Freedom of Information Act is the actual list of Collections of Papers:
The ACLU filed a request on Oct. 7, 2003 under the Freedom of Information Act demanding the release of information about detainees held overseas by the United States. A lawsuit was filed in June 2004 demanding that the government comply with the October 2003 FOIA request.
Below are documents the government did not want the general public to read -- including an FBI memo (pdf) stating that Defense Department interrogators impersonated FBI agents and used "torture techniques" against a detainee at Guantanamo.
The public has a right to know.
(These documents can be viewed using Acrobat Reader)
FBI Documents (5/26/05) | Press
FBI Documents (5/25/05) | Press
Army Documents (5/18/05) | Press
Department of Defense (5/6/05)
Army Investigative Files (4/21/05)
Defense Intelligence Agency (4/20/05)
Department of Defense (4/19/05) | Press
Department of Defense (4/14/05)
The September and October Sanchez memos (3/29/05) | Press
Department of Defense (3/25/05) | Press
Department of Defense, agencies agree on "ghost" detainees (3/9/05) | Press
Army and Navy records, investigations of detainee abuse in Iraq (3/7/05) | Press
For the contents of this, see below:
Defense Department Documents (2/18/05) | Press
Army records (1/24/05) | Press
FBI, e-mails of McCraw inquiry into detainee abuse in Guantanamo (1/5/05) | Press
Army, investigations of detainee abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan (12/21/04) | Press
FBI, e-mails of FBI agents witnessing the use of "torture techniques" in Guantanamo (12/20/04) | Press
Navy, investigations of detainee abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan (12/14/04) | Press
Defense Intelligence Agency, State Department and FBI, detainee abuse by Task Force 626 in Iraq is reported, e-mails express concern about interrogation methods. (12/7/04) | Press
Defense Department, Taguba report (10/19/04) | Press
Office of Information and Privacy, Defense Department, Army and FBI, the Ryder Report (10/15/04) | Press
Careful review of these documents demonstrates that many other critical records have not been released. We will continue to fight for the public's right to know what the government's policies were, why these abuses were allowed to take place, and who was ultimately responsible, and encourage you to join the alliance to get these records released.
The Associated Press indepth site
http://wid.ap.org/documents/detainees/list.html
tells us
The Associated Press - Washington in Depth
A list of detainees at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, and home countries where available, whose cases before U.S. military tribunals are detailed in records in a federal court. Click on a name to see related court documents:
(There follows a list of 58 names, each linked to a file.)
Finally, I give the first few entries of one of those Collections of papers, which has already been scanned at some depth by the ACLU. Again, each of these either is a PDF or each Part is a PDF,
Army and Navy records, investigations of detainee abuse in Iraq (3/7/05) | Press
Army CID Record of Investigation 4/6/05 - 5/1/04 Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) Temporary Holding Facility Investigation initiated after an Interrogator associated with the 22nd MP Battalion reported that he knew of abuse that had occurred at the Temporary Holding Facility at Baghdad International Airport (BIAP). The interrogator said that "he was reporting this conduct because he felt the actions were inhumane even though every harsh interrogation was approved by the J2 of the TF [Task Force 6-26] and the medical personnel prior to its execution" (9119). The abuse included sleep deprivation, 20-hour interrogation sessions, and a guard's providing a prisoner with urine to drink. The CID investigation appears to have been terminated because "the subject of this investigation is a member of TF 6-26 and the Special Agent in Charge, SOTF [Security Operations Training Facility], has accepted investigative jurisdiction in this matter" (9118). SOTF's case number is 0016-04-CID343. (The SOTF file is posted below.)
Army CID Record of Investigation 5/24/04 Abu Ghraib Investigation into death of Ibrahim Hamadan Sudhail in custody. Sudhail was allegedly involved in attack against elements of 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in Fallujah and was brought to Abu Ghraib on or about April 29th, 2004. He died in custody on May 21st. Cause of death was determined to be "peritonitis as a consequence of a gunshot wound to the abdomen" (9112). The file has been closed.
Army CID Record of Investigation Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8 3/1/03 - 7/12/03 Unknown locations Investigation initiated after Playboy Magazine published an article in May 2004, titled "Death and Dishonor,"alleging that soldiers of the 1/15th Infantry Battalion, 3d Brigade, 3d Infantry Division (Ft. Benning, GA), committed numerous war crimes. Soldiers quoted in the article alleged that soldiers assigned to the 1/15th Infantry Battalion had, among other things, raped Iraqi women while on patrol and while guarding a mall in Baghdad, shot an unarmed Iraqi while he was fleeing, hog-tied him and physically assaulted him, "dug inside wounds of EPWs [enemy prisoners of war] while they were incapacitated"; indiscriminately shot unarmed civilian women and children; and shot wounded Iraqi soldiers (8347). In a signed statement, one member of the battalion said that another had had sex with Iraqis but that he didn't "know if they were raped or were prostitutes or just wanted sex."The same soldier states that he "overheard a conversation that [redacted] stuck his fingers in an open wound of a POW" (8352). Another soldier states that "POW treatment in most cases was very good"but notes one exception in which another soldier hit detainees, burned them with cigarettes, and "stepped on the balls of the POWs" (8372). The soldier who abused the detainees also "stuck his fingers"in the wound of an Iraqi whose arm had been shot (8372). Another soldier states that he saw "a bus that he suspected contained dead women and children, but [that] it had occurred prior to his unit coming to that area" (8386). The soldier who had sex with an Iraqi woman stated that the sex was consensual and that he had paid the woman $10 (8387). The investigation determined that "there are indications that the allegation of abuse of an EPW while in custody could have occurred; however, there were no direct witnesses and the suspect is deceased. There was no credible information developed sufficient enough to substantiate the allegation" (8474-75). The investigation was closed on or about July 26, 2004.
Army CID Record of Investigation Part 1, Part 2 4/15/03 - 7/1/03 Samarra Investigation initiated after SGT reported that he witnessed several counter-intelligence agents (all associated with the 223rd MI Detachment) "strike, pull the hair, and force into asphyxiation numerous Iraqi detainees."The SGT also stated that "some of the CI agents would point a loaded weapon at the detainees' heads and tell them they would kill them if they did not talk" (8809). The SGT stated that "it was a chamber of horrors up in Samarra" (8837). In a signed statement, the soldier says that he also "observed staged executions."The soldier states that he "went to CPT [redacted]'s office, who is my company commander. I told him I was requesting an investigation into interrogation brutality used by my three team members. CPT [redacted] accused me of lying and said I had no integrity. He said I had 30 seconds to withdraw the request or he was going to send me forcibly to go see a psychiatrist."The CPT later told the soldier that he had been appointed the AR 15-6 investigating officer. Soldier: "I questioned him on the validity of him being the AR 15-6 officer when in fact he was the THT67 former OIC and the conflict of interest it posed."The next evening, the soldier was flown to Germany (8845). Unnamed civilian interviewee recounts conversation in which SGT told him, after conversation with CPT, that "This is what I saw and they think I'm crazy but they're wrong."The civilian states that he heard female CPT [presumably the psychiatrist] state: "There's nothing I saw or heard that leads me to think SGT [redacted] is mentally imbalanced."In response, CPT [redacted] states: "I don't care what you saw or heard, he is imbalanced, and I want him out of here."Civilian then "observed [female] CPT flinch and he could see the pressure in her eyes, like she had never had that kind of pressure put on her previously. Mr. [redacted] stated the next day CPT [redacted] went back and changed her diagnosis" (8917). E-mail notes that "Dr. [redacted] stated that CPT [redacted] went to her commander to influence her decision to send SGT [redacted] back to the US. As a result, her chain of command put `undue pressure' on her which did influence her decision" (8972). The investigation "established that there was insufficient evidence to determine whether the offenses . . . occurred" (8809). There is no indication that the commander was investigated or held accountable for retaliating against the soldier who alleged the abuse.
It goes on a bit, as you can see.