Americans kill Iraqi prisoners as abuse scandal heats up

By: Hamoud Kufi

BAGHDAD, Iraq: Two Iraqi prisoners were murdered by Americans and 23 other deaths are being investigated in Iraq and Afghanistan, as Iraq's prisoner-abuse scandal looked far from over Tuesday after more Iraqis came forward to allege maltreatment by US troops and Washington tried to quell global anger over the photos saying a wide-ranging probe was under way.

The United States revealed on Tuesday the military had investigated the deaths of 25 prisoners held by American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and determined that an Army soldier and a CIA contractor murdered two prisoners. Most of the deaths occurred in Iraq.

Top lawmakers in Washington blasted the US military leadership and, after an announcement that seven of its officers were given harsh formal reprimands, the International Committee of the Red Cross said wrongdoers should face legal action.

In Beirut, human rights activists staged a protest outside the UN building carrying signs calling US President Bush an “assassin”.

The Egyptian Organization of Human Rights (EOHR) slammed the US and called for a UN probe and the establishment of an international tribunal to try those responsible.

President of the Iraqi Muslims Commission in Egypt denounced the abuse and said the US-led forces have changed Iraq to a large prison. They have been committing gross violations of human rights and these were highly grave than what the media had reported. Iraqis have been suffering from terrorism and violence committed by the occupation forces.

A former prisoner Sha'aban al-Janabi said while pointing at the notorious Abu Gharib jail on the outskirts of Baghdad: “If the Americans ever come back to detain me I will commit suicide before I am taken to this place again.”

Janabi says he was beaten frequently during the 25 days he spent inside Abu Gharib before being set free. “I was blindfolded and handcuffed, we were dumped outside on a gravel yard for 10 days, we were given one bottle of water all day for cleaning and drinking.”

On the flat scrubland outside Abu Gharib, where tens of thousands of people are believed to have been tortured and put to death under Saddam Hussein, dozens of men and women now gather each day hoping for news of relatives seized by America.

Abdullah Ad-Dulaimi, who was standing outside Abu Gharib trying to get information about two brothers detained there, said he had been held in a detention center near the border with Syria for a month in January. He says he was once put in something called the “coffin,” a wooden box too short to stand up in, for two days. He says he was also frequently beaten and had electrical wires attached to his sensitive parts.

The US military said it could not rule out opening further investigations into prisoner abuse in Iraq in the future if credible claims by former and current prisoners were raised.

END

Iraq abuse: 7 more US troops told off; other may be involved

BAGHDAD, Iraq: AS seven more American soldiers were reprimanded in the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski the US officer who oversaw Baghdad's Abu Gharib prison suggested Monday that more may be involved.

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• Global furor grows over Iraq abuse photos; MI reportedly ordered so