BAGHDAD, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. investigators plan to check all Iraqi-run detention centers in Iraq, expanding the inquiry into prisoner torture and abuse.
The announcement reflected the gravity with which the United States is approaching reports of torture at a secret police prison in central Baghdad, The New York Times said.
But, it came in stark contrast to comments made by Bayan Jabr, the Iraqi Interior minister, who tried to play down the discovery by U.S. soldiers of torture at the prison.
Jabr is a conservative Shiite; virtually all the prisoners were Sunni Arabs.
''There has been much exaggeration about this issue,'' Jabr said at a news conference, speaking in an angry, sarcastic tone. ''Nobody was beheaded or killed."
Jabr acknowledged that seven of the 169 emaciated, malnourished prisoners discovered by Americans on Sunday night had been tortured. He said the Iraqi officers responsible would be punished.
