CIA official and ex-SEAL give differing accounts of prisoner abuse

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Tue, May. 24, 2005

CIA official and ex-SEAL give differing accounts of prisoner abuse

SETH HETTENA
Associated Press

SAN DIEGO - A CIA official testified Tuesday at the court-martial of a Navy SEAL lieutenant accused of prisoner abuse that he witnessed one of the officer's men "pummeling" a detainee at a SEAL base in Baghdad in 2003. But a former Navy SEAL who beat the detainee said he was acting on instructions from the CIA.

The CIA official, who was shielded from public view, testified that he recalled seeing a small crowd gathered around a SEAL who was landing blows on the back of the prisoner who lay face down. The CIA official described it "as a kind of pummeling" and called it an isolated incident during his year in Iraq. He said his senior officer notified a SEAL commander at the scene to get control of his men and halt the abuse.

"I never saw anything like that prior with this unit or any other unit and I never saw anything like that again," the CIA official said.

The official, who was not named, spoke from behind a pair of tall blue curtains that shielded him from public view but allowed jurors, attorneys and the judge to view him. A Navy sailor providing security in the courtroom warned reporters they would be arrested if they tried to touch the curtain.
(snip/...)

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/11729701.htm
(Free registration is required)

[thebigidea]

1. boy, the number of these "isolated incidents" sure seems to be growing