Video Shows Iraqi Prisoner Being Kicked by Soldiers, no charges
Wednesday, March 9, 2005 at 02:55PM
TheSpook
Videos from Iraq compiled by a Florida
National Guardsman and called "Ramadi Madness" appeared to show a
soldier kicking a wounded, cuffed prisoner, yet Army investigators
found no cause to charge anyone with abuse, according to Army documents
released Friday. The videos were described in 1,200 pages of documents
that the Army released in response to a lawsuit by the American Civil
Liberties Union, which is seeking information on prisoner abuse in
Iraq. Previously, the military had been providing the documents to the
ACLU, which in turn made them public. Army officials said the documents
summarized 13 investigations, none of which resulted in abuse charges.
The Army so far has released the results of 129 investigations to the
ACLU. Jameel Jaffer, an ACLU attorney, called the Army documents
"further evidence that abuse of detainees was widespread in Iraq and
Afghanistan. ... It's increasingly difficult to understand why no
senior official, civilian or military, has been held accountable." The
ACLU, along with Human Rights First, sued Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld this week in connection with some alleged abuses of prisoners.
According to documents, the "Ramadi Madness" video was a compilation of
recordings taken of the actions of B Company, 1st Battalion, 124th
Infantry Regiment, a unit of the Florida National Guard that was in
Iraq in 2003 and early 2004. The company is based in West Palm Beach.
The investigation found that "`Ramadi Madness' contained footage of
inappropriate rather than criminal behavior," according to a summary of
the investigation, dated last Dec. 28. Ramadi is a restive city in
Iraq's so-called Sunni Triangle. Investigators said one part of the
video showed an Iraqi on the ground, handcuffed and moaning, when a
soldier kicked him. The prisoner had been shot through the abdomen
because he raised a gun toward soldiers in a raid, investigators said. [
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