Report details U.S. torture of Afghan detainees

5/20/2005

U.S. soldiers have repeatedly abused and tortured detainees held at the U.S.-run Bagram prison camp in Afghanistan, The New York Times reported on Friday, citing a confidential U.S. army report.

The Times obtained a copy of a confidential report of the Army's probe into the detainees deaths, which took place at Bagram detention center in Afghanistan in December 2002.

The paper said that it obtained the report "from a person involved in the investigation who was critical of the methods used at Bagram and the military's response to the deaths."

The U.S. Army investigation revealed details of the 2002 brutal deaths of two Afghan detainees in American custody, the White House said, with a classified report quoting witnesses as saying that two Afghan men were repeatedly beaten before their deaths.

"Absolutely, this is being investigated thoroughly," Trent Duffy, a White House spokesman, told reporters.

"There are criminal investigations going on right now about what this newspaper article discusses. People are being held to account," Duffy added.

Seven American soldiers are accused of having role in abusing detainees at Bagram, where The Times reports torture and abuse was routine.

The U.S. army report detailed the circumstances surrounding the deaths in detention of Dilawar, a taxi driver who most interrogators had believed to be innocent, and, Habibullah. Both detainees died in December 2002.

"What we have learned though the course of all these investigations is that there were people who clearly violated anyone's standard for humane treatment. We're finding some cases that were not close calls," the Pentagon's spokesman, Larry Di Rita, told the paper.

In sworn statements to army investigators, soldiers described in details harsh interrogation methods used at the detention center, ranging from a female interrogator stepping on a detainee's neck and kicking another in the genitals to a shackled prisoner being made to kiss the boots of a U.S. soldier as he rolled back and forth on the floor of a cell, the newspaper reported.

"Any incident is unacceptable, and when there are allegations we investigate them," he said.

28 people had been implicated in the Army report and seven charged, he added.

"The wheels of justice are turning, as they should be."