uruknet : Revelations by American Soldiers of Abuse in Iraq

2005-10-18

Richard Moore

    "It's all over Iraq," Lagouranis told FRONTLINE. "The infantry
    units are torturing people in their homes. They would smash
    people's feet with the back of an axhead. They would break
    bones, ribs. That was serious stuff."

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http://www.uruknet.info/?p=16859&hd=0&size=1&l=x


New Revelations by American Soldiers of Abuse in Iraq 

PRNewswire 


Monday October 17, 2005 

FRONTLINE Presents "The Torture Question" Tuesday, October 18,
2005, from 9 to 10:30 P.M. ET on PBS

BOSTON, Oct. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Another American soldier has
come forward to reveal abusive interrogation techniques by
military personnel in Iraq. Tony Lagouranis, a former Army
interrogator at Abu Ghraib and member of a special
intelligence team in Iraq, has given FRONTLINE a firsthand
account of his involvement in the harsh treatment of
prisoners.

"It's all over Iraq," Lagouranis told FRONTLINE. "The infantry
units are torturing people in their homes. They would smash
people's feet with the back of an axhead. They would break
bones, ribs. That was serious stuff."

Lagouranis' comments are included in an upcoming FRONTLINE,
"The Torture Question," airing nationally on Tuesday, October
18, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings). The program
includes interviews with other interrogators who also say the
abuse of prisoners throughout Iraq is more widespread than
previously reported.

"Most of the abuses around Iraq are not photographed," a
soldier who requested anonymity told FRONTLINE. "And this
makes it even harsher, because around Iraq, in the back of a
Humvee or in a shipping container, there's no camera, and
there's no one looking over your shoulder, so you can do
anything you want."

The Pentagon has said the abuses at Abu Ghraib were the acts
of a small handful of soldiers and that the problem has not
migrated out into the country. "If it was only the night shift
at Abu Ghraib, which it was, it was only a small section of
the guards that participated in this. It's a pretty good clue
that it wasn't a more widespread problem," said Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers in August of this
year.

Lagouranis tells FRONTLINE that he was using military dogs to
threaten prisoners in Mosul in the spring of 2004. "These are
big German shepherds. When I would ask the prisoner a question
and I didn't like the answer, I would cue the handler so the
dog would bark and jump on the prisoner," Lagouranis said.
"They wet their jumpsuits because they were so scared,
especially because they'd have a blindfold and they can't
figure out-you know, that's a pretty terrifying position to be
in."

The FRONTLINE documentary airs just as Sen. John McCain's
amendment mandating humane treatment of prisoners passed in
the U.S. Senate 90-9. President Bush has threatened to veto an
appropriations bill containing the McCain amendment if it
reaches his desk.

The amendment came after another American soldier, Capt. Ian
Fishback, reported to Human Rights Watch that American troops
had engaged in prisoner abuse throughout Iraq. Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dismissed Fishback's allegations as
"secondhand."

"Our interview with Tony Lagouranis is a firsthand account of
abuse beyond Abu Ghraib," said FRONTLINE producer Michael
Kirk. "We have off-the-record interviews with many more
soldiers telling us the abuse at Abu Ghraib was neither unique
nor isolated to the prison, and that it continues throughout
the country."

The allegations come at the end of a film that chronicles how
the United States government authorized the use of coercive
tactics after the Sept. 11 attacks. The film investigates the
government's use of rendition and alleged abuse at Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba; Abu Ghraib; and throughout Iraq.

"The Torture Question" is a FRONTLINE co-production with the
Kirk Documentary Group. The producer, writer and director for
FRONTLINE is Michael Kirk. The co-producer is Jim Gilmore.
FRONTLINE is produced by WGBH Boston and is broadcast
nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided by the
Park Foundation and through the support of PBS viewers.
FRONTLINE is closed-captioned for deaf and hard-of-hearing
viewers. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH
Educational Foundation. The executive producer for FRONTLINE
is David Fanning.

http://pbs.org/pressroom

Promotional photography can be downloaded from the PBS
pressroom.

:: Article nr. 16859 sent on 17-oct-2005 23:05 ECT 

:: The incoming address of this article is  : 
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:: The opinions are the authors' own and doesn't necessarily represent Uruknet's
opinion. 


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