Documents detail abuse in Iraq

WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has released 1,800 pages of documentation on U.S. forces in Iraq interrogation techniques.

According to the ACLU findings, many of the techniques used have been copied from films. The executive ACLU director Anthony D. Romero said, "When troops rely on movies to learn interrogation techniques rather than proper training, our government has failed and the blame is on Washington, not Hollywood."

The ACLU released the papers on Sept.16. They cover investigations into at least three military units' detainee operations. The documents purportedly show that systematic failures led to the detainees' abuses in Iraq.

An interview with soldiers conducted for Army Inspector General Lt. Gen. Paul T. Mikolashek's July 2004 report on detainee abuse concluded that they "engaged in interrogations using techniques they literally remembered from the movies." Other documents said that "there was no specific training on the treatment of detainees; the MPs relied on their common knowledge in this area."

The ACLU obtained the documents under a Freedom of Information suit filed seeking documentation on treatment of U.S. detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. ACLU staff attorney Amrit Singh said that the documents "are further proof that the government's investigative reports regarding detainee abuse are a whitewash. In the face of mounting evidence that systemic failures caused the abuse of detainees, the government's attempts to assign blame for that abuse to a handful of rogue soldiers are unavailing."

Romero said, "Once again we have evidence of widespread abuse, but no high-ranking government official or member of the military has been held accountable for the actions that occurred on their watch."