BAGHDAD, May 10 (UPI) -- The amount of prisoner abuse by U.S. troops in Iraq grew at the same rate as the number of insurgent attacks, the Washington Post reported Monday.
The abuse can be traced to outside pressures on the jailers, the newspaper said. Pre-interrogation punishment at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison was dispensed by reservists embittered by their prolonged stay in Iraq and plagued by frequent attacks from outside the prison walls, revealed an Army investigation conducted by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba.
Frustration mounted within the prison as little valuable intelligence was being gleaned because many former Baathist officials fled Iraq for their safety. Military officials said the Baathists took with them their intelligence training and unrivaled knowledge of Iraq's pre-war political landscape. Many who stayed were too angry or too frightened to help the Americans, the officers said.
One of the results was that violence against U.S. troops began to increase almost at once.
Twice as many U.S. troops were killed in hostilities in June than in May, when President Bush declared an end to major combat operations.
