U.S.: Troops Cleared of Abusing Reporters

[Khephra]

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Army paratroopers accused of beating, taunting and humiliating journalists detained in Iraq have been given a refresher course on proper handling of detainees, even though an investigation cleared them of abuse, a spokesman said Thursday.

Reuters said three Iraqis working for the news agency were physically abused and forced to put shoes in their mouths during their Jan. 2-5 detention at a military camp near Fallujah. The agency decided to make the incident public when the U.S. military said there was no evidence of abuse, and after news broke about the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

Division spokesman Maj. Jimmie Cummings said 82nd Airborne Division commanders "reinforced to the soldiers the proper handling of prisoners."

"Our investigation found no abuse of any kind," Cummings said Thursday. "This is a closed case."

more...................

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-82nd-airborne-journalists,0,7028867.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

[CulturalNomad]

1. shocker!

[joeybee12]

2. Closed my ass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The military really has no credibility anymore.

[jackstraw45]

3. "This is a closed case."

Get used to hearing that one.....

:eyes:

[UpInArms]

4. wonder if the Reuters legal team

will decide to accept this pack of lies?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x569003

[Just Me]

14. Oh, I certainly hope that they refuse to back down.

This is simply an outrage.

[w4rma]

5. Until they *admit* there is a problem, the problem won't be fixed.

And there is a *huge* problem, here. I think a good portion of the problem stems from the fact that the leadership condones this type of crap, as it helps to intimidate journalists from doing their job accurately.

[Mithras61]

6. I see...

So "no evidence of abuse" was available.


I guess none of the soldiers had a camera with them...

[Fridays Child]

7. Well. That's cleared up.

American arrogance can be truly breathtaking.

[daleo]

8. The link doesn't work for me

Maybe they have decided to change the story already.

[Khephra]

10. We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties

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At the present time, we are investigating technical issues with our Web site platform which prevent us from displaying our content. We hope to have the problems resolved shortly, and ask for your patience.

Please check back in a short while.

Webmaster: Newsday.com

[maddezmom]

11. me neither

We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties


At the present time, we are investigating technical issues with our Web site platform which prevent us from displaying our content. We hope to have the problems resolved shortly, and ask for your patience.

Please check back in a short while.

Webmaster: Newsday.com

:shrug:

[maddezmom]

9. wow...that was quick

wonder why they need a refresher if they didn't do a damn thing wrong?? :eyes:

[phasev]

12. They didn't do anything wrong and they won't do it again! n/t

[saigon68]

15. AND---? N/T

[UpInArms]

13. related article: Reuters Stands by Iraq Abuse Reports, Releases Timeline

on incident

http://199.249.170.220/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000515956

NEW YORK Despite official military statements denying any wrongdoing - - and an announcement today that the case is "closed" -- Reuters is standing by allegations that three of its employees were abused by U.S. soldiers while confined near Falluja in January.

A chronology produced by Reuters detailing events surrounding the alleged abuse of three of its staffers in Iraq, obtained by E&P today, appears to support the agency's contention that it has repeatedly pressed the military for a full and objective probe of this incident from the beginning, with sometimes disquieting results.

The detailed chronology reveals that the agency's Baghdad bureau chief, Andrew Marshall, received an e-mail from the military on Jan. 29 containing an executive summary of the U.S. investigation and its final results, which claimed no abuse of the staffers -- while the investigation, according to the Pentagon, was still underway. And none of the three Reuters detainees had been interviewed by the military.

The military said the summary had been sent in error, but when the final report was sent to Reuters nearly a month later, the executive summary had not changed.

On Wednesday, General Ricardo Sanchez reiterated his belief that the investigation of this case was "thorough" and he stood by the military's conduct in the matter. (The official military report on the incident was posted today at Raleigh's newsobserver.com.)

...more...