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August 3rd,
2005 - Documents Tell of Brutal Improvisation by GIs |
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Documents Tell
of Brutal Improvisation by GIs Interrogated General's Sleeping-Bag Death, CIA's Use of Secret Iraqi
Squad Are Among Details By Josh White Washington Post August 3, 2005 Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed
Mowhoush was being stubborn with his American captors, and a series of
intense beatings and creative interrogation tactics were not enough to break
his will. On the morning of Nov. 26, 2003, a U.S. Army interrogator and a
military guard grabbed a green sleeping bag, stuffed Mowhoush inside, wrapped
him in an electrical cord, laid him on the floor and began to go to work.
Again. It was inside the sleeping
bag that the 56-year-old detainee took his last breath through broken ribs,
lying on the floor beneath a U.S. soldier in Interrogation Room 6 in the
western Iraqi desert. Two days before, a secret CIA-sponsored group of Iraqi
paramilitaries, working with Army interrogators, had beaten Mowhoush nearly
senseless, using fists, a club and a rubber hose, according to classified
documents. The sleeping bag was the
idea of a soldier who remembered how his older brother used to force him into
one, and how scared and vulnerable it made him feel. Senior officers in
charge of the facility near the Syrian border believed that such
"claustrophobic techniques" were approved ways to gain information
from detainees, part of what military regulations refer to as a "fear
up" tactic, according to military court documents. The circumstances that led
up to Mowhoush's death paint a vivid example of how the pressure to produce
intelligence for anti-terrorism efforts and the war in Iraq led U.S. military
interrogators to improvise and develop abusive measures, not just at Abu
Ghraib but in detention centers elsewhere in Iraq, in Afghanistan and at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Mowhoush's ordeal in Qaim, over 16 days in November
2003, also reflects U.S. government secrecy surrounding some abuse cases and
gives a glimpse into a covert CIA unit that was set up to foment rebellion
before the war and took part in some interrogations during the insurgency. The sleeping-bag
interrogation and beatings were taking place in Qaim about the same time that
soldiers at Abu Ghraib, outside Baghdad, were using dogs to intimidate
detainees, putting women's underwear on their heads, forcing them to strip in
front of female soldiers and attaching at least one to a leash. It was a time
when U.S. interrogators were coming up with their own tactics to get
detainees to talk, many of which they considered logical interpretations of
broad-brush categories in the Army Field Manual, with labels such as
"fear up" or "pride and ego down" or "futility." Other tactics, such as some
of those seen at Abu Ghraib, had been approved for one detainee at Guantanamo
Bay and found their way to Iraq. Still others have been linked to official
Pentagon guidance on specific techniques, such as the use of dogs. Two Army soldiers with the
3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Fort Carson, Colo., are charged with killing
Mowhoush with the sleeping-bag technique, and his death has been the subject
of partially open court proceedings at the base in Colorado Springs. Two
other soldiers alleged to have participated face potential nonjudicial
punishment. Some details of the incident have been released and were
previously reported. But an examination of numerous classified documents
gathered during the criminal investigation into Mowhoush's death, and
interviews with Defense Department officials and current and former
intelligence officials, present a fuller picture of what happened and outline
the role played in his interrogation by the CIA, its Iraqi paramilitaries and
Special Forces soldiers. Determining the details of
the general's demise has been difficult because the circumstances are listed
as "classified" on his official autopsy, court records have been
censored to hide the CIA's involvement in his questioning, and reporters have
been removed from a Fort Carson courtroom when testimony relating to the CIA
has surfaced. Despite Army investigators'
concerns that the CIA and Special Forces soldiers also were involved in
serious abuse leading up to Mowhoush's death, the investigators reported they
did not have the authority to fully look into their actions. The CIA
inspector general's office has launched an investigation of at least one CIA
operative who identified himself to soldiers only as "Brian." The
CIA declined to comment on the matter, as did an Army spokesman, citing the
ongoing criminal cases. Although Mowhoush's death
certificate lists his cause of death as "asphyxia due to smothering and
chest compression," the Dec. 2, 2003, autopsy, quoted in classified
documents and released with redactions, showed that Mowhoush had
"contusions and abrasions with pattern impressions" over much of
his body, and six fractured ribs. Investigators believed a "long
straight-edge instrument" was used on Mowhoush, as well as an "object
like the end of an M-16" rifle. "Although the
investigation indicates the death was directly related to the non-standard
interrogation methods employed on 26 NOV, the circumstances surrounding the
death are further complicated due to Mowhoush being interrogated and
reportedly beaten by members of a Special Forces team and other government
agency (OGA) employees two days earlier," said a secret Army memo dated
May 10, 2004. The Walk-In Hours after Mowhoush's death
in U.S. custody on Nov. 26, 2003, military officials issued a news release
stating that the prisoner had died of natural causes after complaining of
feeling sick. Army psychological-operations officers quickly distributed
leaflets designed to convince locals that the general had cooperated and
outed key insurgents. The U.S. military initially
told reporters that Mowhoush had been captured during a raid. In reality, he
had walked into the Forward Operating Base "Tiger" in Qaim on Nov.
10, 2003, hoping to speak with U.S. commanders to secure the release of his
sons, who had been arrested in raids 11 days earlier. Officials were excited about
Mowhoush's appearance. The general, they believed,
had been a high-ranking official in Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard and a
key supporter of the insurgency in northwestern Iraq. Mowhoush was one of a
few generals whom Hussein had given "execution authority," U.S.
commanders believed, meaning that he could execute someone on sight, and he
had been notorious among Shiites in southern Iraq for brutality. Mowhoush had been visited by
Hussein at his home in Sadah in October 2003 "to discuss, among other
undisclosed issues, a bounty of US$10,000 to anyone who video-taped
themselves attacking coalition forces," according to a Defense
Intelligence Agency report. Military intelligence also
believed that Mowhoush was behind several attacks in the Qaim area. After being taken into
custody, Mowhoush was housed in an isolated area of the Qaim base within
miles of the Syrian border, according to a situation summary prepared by
interrogators. The heavyset and imposing
man was moderately cooperative in his first days of detention. He told
interrogators that he was the commander of the al Quds Golden Division, an
organization of trusted loyalists fueling the insurgency with mortars,
rocket-propelled grenades, sniper rifles, machine guns and other small arms. In the months before
Mowhoush's detention, military intelligence officials across Iraq had been
discussing interrogation tactics, expressing a desire to ramp things up and
expand their allowed techniques to include more severe methods, such as
beatings that did not leave permanent damage, and exploiting detainees' fear
of dogs and snakes, according to documents released by the Army. Officials in Baghdad wrote
an e-mail to interrogators in the field on Aug. 14, 2003, stating that the
"gloves are coming off" and asking them to develop "wish
lists" of tactics they would like to use. An interrogator with the
66th Military Intelligence Company, who was assigned to work on Mowhoush,
wrote back with suggestions in August, including the use of "close
confinement quarters," sleep deprivation and using the fear of dogs,
adding: "I firmly agree that the gloves need to come off." Another e-mail exchange from
interrogators with the 4th Infantry Division based in Tikrit also suggested
"close quarter confinement" in extremely claustrophobic situations,
because "discomfort induces compliance and cooperation." Taking the Gloves Off A week into Mowhoush's
detainment, according to classified investigative documents, interrogators
were getting fed up with the prisoner. In a "current situation
summary" PowerPoint presentation dated Nov. 18, Army officials wrote
about his intransigence, using his first name (spelled "Abid" in
Army documents): "Previous
interrogations were non-threatening; Abid was being treated very well. Not
anymore," the document reads. "The interrogation session lasted
several hours and I took the gloves off because Abid refused to play
ball." But the harsher tactics
backfired. In an interrogation that
could be witnessed by the entire detainee population, Mowhoush was put into
an undescribed "stress position" that caused the other detainees to
stand "with heads bowed and solemn looks on their faces," said the
document. "I asked Abid if he was
strong enough a leader to put an end to the attacks that I believed he was
behind," the document said, quoting an unidentified interrogator.
"He did not deny he was behind the attacks as he had denied previously,
he simply said because I had humiliated him, he would not be able to stop the
attacks. I take this as an admission of guilt." Three days later, on Nov.
21, 2003, Mowhoush was moved from the border base at Qaim to a makeshift
detention facility about six miles away in the Iraqi desert, a prison
fashioned out of an old train depot, according to court testimony and
investigative documents. Soldiers with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and
the 101st Airborne Division were running a series of massive raids called
Operation Rifles Blitz, and the temporary holding facility, nicknamed
Blacksmith Hotel, was designed to hold the quarry. U.S. troops searched more
than 8,000 homes in three cities, netting 350 detainees, according to court
testimony. Even though Mowhoush was not arrested during the raids, he was
moved to Blacksmith Hotel, where teams of Army Special Forces soldiers and
the CIA were conducting interrogations. At Blacksmith, according to
military sources, there was a tiered system of interrogations. Army
interrogators were the first level. When Army efforts produced
nothing useful, detainees would be handed over to members of Operational
Detachment Alpha 531, soldiers with the 5th Special Forces Group, the CIA or
a combination of the three. "The personnel were dressed in civilian
clothes and wore balaclavas to hide their identity," according to a Jan.
18, 2004, report for the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division. If they did not get what
they wanted, the interrogators would deliver the detainees to a small team of
the CIA-sponsored Iraqi paramilitary squads, code-named Scorpions, according
to a military source familiar with the operation. The Jan. 18 memo indicates
that it was "likely that indigenous personnel in the employ of the CIA
interrogated MG Mowhoush." Sometimes, soldiers and
intelligence officers used the mere existence of the paramilitary unit as a
threat to induce detainees to talk, one Army soldier said in an interview.
"Detainees knew that if they went to those people, bad things would
happen," the soldier said. "It was used as a motivator to get them
to talk. They didn't want to go with the masked men." The Scorpions went by
nicknames such as Alligator and Cobra. They were set up by the CIA before the
war to conduct light sabotage. After the fall of Baghdad, they worked with
their CIA handlers to infiltrate the insurgency and as interpreters,
according to military investigative documents, defense officials, and former
and current intelligence officials. Soon after Mowhoush's
detention began, soldiers in charge of him "reached a collective
decision that they would try using the [redacted] who would, you know, obviously
spoke the local, native Iraqi Arabic as a means of trying to shake Mowhoush
up, and that the other thing that they were going to try to do was put a
bunch of people in the room, a tactic that Mr. [redacted] called 'fear up,'
" Army Special Agent Curtis Ryan, who investigated the case, testified,
according to a transcript. Classified e-mail messages
and reports show that "Brian," a Special Forces retiree, worked as
a CIA operative with the Scorpions. On Nov. 24, the CIA and one
of its four-man Scorpion units interrogated Mowhoush, according to
investigative records. "OGA Brian and the four
indig were interrogating an unknown detainee," according to a classified
memo, using the slang "other government agency" for the CIA and
"indig" for indigenous Iraqis. "When he didn't answer
or provided an answer that they didn't like, at first [redacted] would slap
Mowhoush, and then after a few slaps, it turned into punches," Ryan
testified. "And then from punches, it turned into [redacted] using a piece
of hose." "The indig were hitting
the detainee with fists, a club and a length of rubber hose," according
to classified investigative records. Soldiers heard Mowhoush
"being beaten with a hard object" and heard him
"screaming" from down the hall, according to the Jan. 18, 2004,
provost marshal's report. The report said four Army guards had to carry
Mowhoush back to his cell. Two days later, at 8 a.m.,
Nov. 26, Mowhoush - prisoner No. 76 - was brought, moaning and breathing
hard, to Interrogation Room 6, according to court testimony. Chief Warrant Officer Lewis
E. Welshofer Jr. did a first round of interrogations for 30 minutes, taking a
15-minute break and resuming at 8:45. According to court testimony, Welshofer
and Spec. Jerry L. Loper, a mechanic assuming the role of guard, put Mowhoush
into the sleeping bag and wrapped the bag in electrical wire. Welshofer allegedly crouched
over Mowhoush's chest to talk to him. Sgt. 1st Class William
Sommer, a linguist, stood nearby. Chief Warrant Officer Jeff
Williams, an intelligence analyst, came to observe progress. Investigative records show
that Mowhoush "becomes unresponsive" at 9:06 a.m. Medics tried to
resuscitate him for 30 minutes before pronouncing him dead. In a preliminary court
hearing in March for Williams, Loper and Sommer, retired Chief Warrant
Officer Richard Manwaring, an interrogator who worked with Welshofer in Iraq,
testified that using the sleeping bag and putting detainees in a wall locker
and banging on it were "appropriate" techniques that he himself
used to frighten detainees and make them tense. Col. David A. Teeples, who
then commanded the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, told the court he believed
the "claustrophobic technique" was both approved and effective. It
was used before, and for some time after, Mowhoush's death, according to
sources familiar with the interrogation operation. "My thought was that
the death of Mowhoush was brought about by [redacted] and then it was
unfortunate and accidental, what had happened under an interrogation by our
people," Teeples said in court, according to a transcript. The CIA has tried hard to
conceal the existence of the Scorpions. CIA classification officials have
monitored pretrial hearings in the case and have urged the court to close
much of the hearing on national security grounds. Redacted transcripts were
released only after lawyers for the Denver Post challenged the rulings. Autopsy Shields CIA The Armed Forces Institute
of Pathology's standard "Autopsy Examination Report" of Mowhoush's
death was manipulated to avoid references to the CIA. In contrast to the
other autopsy reports of suspicious detainee deaths released by the Army,
Mowhoush's name is redacted and under "Circumstances of Death," the
form says: "This Iraqi [redacted] died while in U.S. custody. The
details surrounding the circumstances at the time of death are
classified." Williams was arraigned
yesterday on a murder charge and is scheduled for court-martial in November,
a Fort Carson spokeswoman said. Welshofer's court-martial is set for October.
Loper and Sommer have not been referred for trial. Commanders are still
considering what, if any, punishment to impose. Frank Spinner, an attorney
for Welshofer, said his client is going to fight the murder charge. Reading
from a statement prepared by Welshofer during his Article 32 hearing this
spring, Spinner quoted his client as saying that he is proud of the job he
did and that his efforts saved U.S. soldiers' lives. "I did not torture
anyone," Spinner quoted him as saying. William Cassara, who
represents Williams, cited Mowhoush's brutal encounters in the days before he
died as possibly leading to his death. He said Williams, who was not trained
in interrogation tactics, had little to do with the case. "The interrogation
techniques were known and were approved of by the upper echelons of command
of the 3rd ACR," Cassara said in a news conference. "They believed,
and still do, that they were appropriate and proper." Staff writer Dana Priest
contributed to this report. © 2005 The Washington Post
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