Abused Iraqi Speaks Out

[Aaron]

CBC

BAGHDAD (AP) - Saddam Saleh said his U.S. torturers told him he was one of the hooded Iraqi prisoners shown in a picture standing in a row as a grinning female soldier pointed at their genitals.

"This is your picture," one of the guards taunted him, displaying the now infamous photo.

"You are the fattest one here and that must be you."

Saleh, 29, said he plans to attend Wednesday's court martial of U.S. army Spc. Jeremy Sivits - the first soldier to stand trial in the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.

Saleh, who was released March 28 after four months in Abu Ghraib, is the second Iraqi to come forward and identify himself in one of the photographs that triggered international outrage at the U.S. treatment of captives. The first was Haidar Sabbar Abed, who believes he was in a couple of the pictures.

Saleh, who speaks some English, said he remembered the names of his tormentors and plans to file lawsuits against them. The U.S. army has already charged two of them, Cpl. Charles Graner and Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick.

Besides Graner and Frederick, Saleh recalls others only by partial names or nicknames: a sergeant named Schneider, another named Pearl, and Nicolai - one of the intelligence officers who he said directed the torture in Cellblock I/A, where he spent all but one month of his time in Abu Ghraib.

"One of them wore glasses and one urinated on me," Saleh said Saturday at the office of an Iraqi human rights organization.

Saleh said he recalls guards taking several photos of prisoners. Even though he was hooded, he could hear the shutter click and sense the camera flash.

But it wasn't until Graner showed him the photos that he realized a woman guard - Pfc. Lynndie England - was posing in front of the naked prisoners.

Saleh blames his arrest on a misunderstanding and bad luck.

He went to the Iraqi police to report a suspicious vehicle. He was carrying a large amount of cash, which he planned to use to buy furniture for his wedding. Once they discovered the cash, the police were suspicious of him and turned him over to the Americans.

The dark-haired, blue-eyed Saleh was no stranger to Abu Ghraib, located on the western edge of Baghdad. He was arrested by the regime of captive Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in 1999 and sent to Abu Ghraib because he tried to evade military service.

"I was tortured under Saddam but the torture was much more preferable to this because they didn't strip off my clothes and make me naked," he said, pointing to scars on his neck.

Saleh said the torture at the hands of the Americans began seven days after he arrived at the prison, when Graner put a bag on his head and tied his hands in the back.

"He pulled me by the back of the neck and started hitting me with an iron bar," Saleh said.

"Then he threw me into a room."

Saleh asked a fellow prisoner, whose hands were also tied behind his back, to lift his hood with his shoulder.

"I quickly told him to put the hood back on," Saleh said.

"I became hysterical. I couldn't believe what I saw."

"Everyone was naked in the room. I never saw such a thing under Saddam."

After what seemed like an hour, Graner returned and led Saleh out of the room. The American told him to remove his orange prison jumpsuit.

"I said 'no.' So he beat me and forced me to take off my clothes," Saleh recalled.

"He made me stand on a box and put my hands on my head. Then he gave me a plastic chair and made me hold it up in the air by the legs."

Saleh said he held the chair so long that he became disoriented and fell to the floor.

"They were laughing at me," he said.

"They threw cold water on me to make me get up."

He said he was kept naked for 18 days.

Other measures included making him sit on the floor of his cell - No. 42 - with his arms and legs stretched out through the iron bars while deafening music played on a stereo.

More frightening were the dogs, a brown one and a black one with its tail cut off. Guards held them on leashes as they snarled and charged at the prisoners, though none bit him, he said.

"There was an intelligence officer named Steven who had a goatee and was in charge of the torture. He would tell the torturers: 'This guy had enough or that guy should be tortured more,"' Saleh said.

After the prisoners were "softened up" by torture, the interrogations began.

"One of the interrogators was a guy by the name of Carlos and there were Mrs. Liz and Staff Sgt. Chris," a woman, he said.

They asked him about his ties to al-Qaida or Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian the Americans blame for a series of car-bombings and the murder of Nicholas Berg, the young American decapitated on a videotape posted on an al-Qaida-linked website.

To avoid more torture, Saleh said he told his interrogators he had ties to al-Qaida.

"I just wanted to say that so they would execute me, kill me," he said.

Apparently. the interrogators realized he was lying about terrorist links because they eventually released him.

I just don't know what to say about this anymore.

[Wicked Pilot]

I would like to say he's lying, but there's probably photos of all of it out there. I can support liberation, but this ain't it.

[Keevan_Colton]

I would like to say he's lying, but there's probably photos of all of it out there. I can support liberation, but this ain't it.

It also shows why this shit cant even be justified from an intel/security standpoint...people will tell you what they think you want to hear when being tortured.

[Aaron]

It also shows why this shit cant even be justified from an intel/security standpoint...people will tell you what they think you want to hear when being tortured.

Yup it seems like the MP's where doing it purely for pleasure, as the intel guys already knew that torture is ineffective. Or the MP's where lead to believe that it was effective by the MI types.

[Illuminatus Primus]

I would like to say he's lying, but there's probably photos of all of it out there. I can support liberation, but this ain't it.

It also shows why this shit cant even be justified from an intel/security standpoint...people will tell you what they think you want to hear when being tortured.

Of course. After a few electroshocks, you'll confess to being Napoleon or the Pontiff.

[jegs2]

"There was an intelligence officer named Steven who had a goatee and was in charge of the torture. He would tell the torturers: 'This guy had enough or that guy should be tortured more,"' Saleh said.

An intel officer with a goatee? Sounds like they've got civilian contractors hired on as interrogators.

To avoid more torture, Saleh said he told his interrogators he had ties to al-Qaida.

"I just wanted to say that so they would execute me, kill me," he said.

...and not very bright civilian interrogators at that. Their interrogation skills seem to be pulled from movies designed to appeal to twelve-year-olds.

[Lord Poe]

Can I call bullshit on this tale?

This guy says he was in Abu Ghraib for four months, and was released on March 28. He also said he was asked about Abu Musab Zarqawi, the main guy implicated murder of Nicholas Berg.

Yet, in this report, it says Berg's body was found earlier THIS month, not before March 28th. In fact, Berg's family LAST HEARD from Berg April 9th.

[Darth Wong]

Can I call bullshit on this tale?

This guy says he was in Abu Ghraib for four months, and was released on March 28. He also said he was asked about Abu Musab Zarqawi, the main guy implicated murder of Nicholas Berg.

Yet, in this report, it says Berg's body was found earlier THIS month, not before March 28th. In fact, Berg's family LAST HEARD from Berg April 9th.

Ummm, you are aware that Zarqawi was already wanted since long before March 28 for a string of car-bombings and for being a top Al-Quaeda operative, right?

[Lord Poe]

Ummm, you are aware that Zarqawi was already wanted since long before March 28 for a string of car-bombings and for being a top Al-Quaeda operative, right?

True, but I found it strange that the Berg killing was mentioned as if the prisoner was interrogated because of that killing.

I suspect there will be a lot of people who will say they were one of the masked men at the prison. Which is strange itself, since being naked and humiliated is supposed to be such a horrible thing in the Irqai community.

So far, I've read one report from a former inmate in the L.A. Times. This one didn't seem to ring as true as that one.

[Ma Deuce]

I suspect there will be a lot of people who will say they were one of the masked men at the prison. Which is strange itself, since being naked and humiliated is supposed to be such a horrible thing in the Irqai community.

Umm, didn't I hear somewhere that the prisoners who were abused would get some kind of monetary compensation?

[Lord Poe]

Umm, didn't I hear somewhere that the prisoners who were abused would get some kind of monetary compensation?

Yup. There's been a lot of fucks who claimed to have lost family in the WTC, only to be proven to be opportunists. Shit, I could claim I was one of those masked prisoners. If I wasn't overweight. And white. And American.....

[Keevan_Colton]

True, but I found it strange that the Berg killing was mentioned as if the prisoner was interrogated because of that killing.

That seems more like a little added info from the writer about the "big picture" rather than that.

[Hendrake]

True, but I found it strange that the Berg killing was mentioned as if the prisoner was interrogated because of that killing.

Well, it wasn't quoted, so it's the reporter writing, not a part of the interview. And since Abu Musab Zarqawi is known mostly for the decapitation though he was active before it too, it makes sense the reporter should specify it.

I just don't think it is ground to call this entire article bullshit.

[Illuminatus Primus]

An intel officer with a goatee? Sounds like they've got civilian contractors hired on as interrogators.

Central Intelligence Agency?

[GySgt. Hartman]

I suspect there will be a lot of people who will say they were one of the masked men at the prison. Which is strange itself, since being naked and humiliated is supposed to be such a horrible thing in the Irqai community.

Using that logic, you can call anyone who will admit to having been tortured a liar.

[jegs2]

Central Intelligence Agency?

That is possible. The CIA interrogators are somewhat of a running joke among Army interrogators.