t r u t h o u t - U.S. General Witnessed Abu Ghraib Torture

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Iraqi Prisoners at Abu Ghraib, Widow Sue U.S. Contractors    •
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    U.S. General Witnessed Abuses, Iraqi Says
    Associated Press
    Wednesday 28 July 2004
    The American general who headed the U.S. military prison at Abu Ghraib personally witnessed abuses there, an Iraqi man alleged in a federal lawsuit protesting his treatment.
    In a videotaped deposition from Iraq played yesterday, Saddam "Sam" Saleh Aboud said he endured beatings at the prison. During one session, he said, his hood was removed and he saw Army Brig. Gen. Janis L. Karpinski.
    Aboud identified Karpinski in a news magazine photograph that his lawyer, Michael Hourigan, showed him.
    "He was adamant that there was an occasion when he was being tortured, in Tier 1A, when she was present and watching and laughing as he was being tortured," Hourigan said. He said Aboud did not know Karpinski's identity until he told him.
    "He knew she was a supervisor, because she had a star on her hat and she was in an American uniform," Hourigan said. "He said the other soldiers would defer to her."
    Neither Karpinski nor her lawyer returned several telephone calls and e-mail messages seeking comment.
    A Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Joseph Yoswa, said it would be inappropriate for him to comment on the pending litigation.
    Karpinski, who was suspended by the Pentagon in May, has denied knowing about any abuses at the prison until photographs surfaced at the end of April. U.S. investigators have not implicated Karpinski directly in any of the abuses.
    Aboud's assertions were presented as supporting evidence in a federal lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The lawsuit against military contractors Titan Corp. of San Diego and CACI International Inc. of Arlington was filed on behalf of Aboud, three other alleged victims and the family of a fifth man who died at the prison. It seeks unspecified damages.

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    Iraqi Prisoners at Abu Ghraib, Widow Sue U.S. Contractors
    Agence France Presse
    Wednesday 28 July 2004
    Washington - Four Iraqis detained at the Abu Ghraib prison and the widow of one who died filed suit in a US court against two US firms whose employees were at the prison, alleging they were parties to torture and abuse.
    The lawsuit filed Tuesday in US District Court in Washington names CACI International and Titan Corp., which had employees at the notorious Iraqi prison under a contract with the Pentagon.
    The suit was filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act, which allows legal action to be brought in US court "in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States."
    The Iraqis allege that they "were unlawfully tortured by agents or employees of the defendants, who were under contract with the United States government to provide security and intelligence services" to US armed forces, according to the lawsuit.
    It maintains that the company or its employees "committed unlawful acts of torture ... for which there is no adequate or available remedy under Iraqi law."
    The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for the four Iraqis and the widow of the one who died at the prison.
    It marked the latest action since the scandal broke this year over photographs showed Iraqi prisoners humiliated and abused by US forces.
    CACI International called the allegations against its employees in the suit "a malicious and farcical recitation of false statements and intentional distortions."
    The plaintiffs include Ilham Nassir Ibrahim, widow of Akram Hanoush Yakou, who according to the lawsuit died on January 2 after being beaten at the prison.
    The other plaintiffs were named as Ali Shallal Abass, Saddam Saleh Aboud, Jilal Mehde Hadod and Nasir Khalaf Abbas.
    The defendants claimed a wide range of abusive conduct, including beatings, being deprived of food and water, being hanged by an injured arm from a rail, being photographed naked and being threatened with dogs and prolonged exposure to cold.
    The Washington Post reported that in a deposition by Aboud filed with the lawsuit, he said he endured repeated beatings and that during one session, his hood was removed and he saw the prison commander, General Janis Karpinski.

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