Children Said Among Abu Ghraib Prisoners

[quaoar]

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-iraq-child-detainees,0,3977462.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

By MATT KELLEY
Associated Press Writer

March 10, 2005, 5:47 PM EST

WASHINGTON -- Children held by the U.S. Army at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison included one boy who appeared to be only about 8 years old, the former commander of the prison told investigators, according to a transcript.

"He told me he was almost 12," Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski told officials investigating prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. "He told me his brother was there with him, but he really wanted to see his mother, could he please call his mother. He was crying."

Karpinski's statement is among hundreds of pages of Army records about Abu Ghraib the American Civil Liberties Union released Thursday. The ACLU got the documents under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking records about abuse of detainees in Iraq.

Karpinski did not say what happened to the boy in her interview with Maj. Gen. George Fay. Military officials have previously acknowledged that some juvenile prisoners had been held at Abu Ghraib, a massive prison built by Saddam Hussein's government outside Baghdad.

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Children Said Among Abu Ghraib Prisoners

March 10, 2005, 5:47 PM EST

WASHINGTON -- Children held by the U.S. Army at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison included one boy who appeared to be only about 8 years old, the former commander of the prison told investigators, according to a transcript.

"He told me he was almost 12," Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski told officials investigating prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. "He told me his brother was there with him, but he really wanted to see his mother, could he please call his mother. He was crying."

Karpinski's statement is among hundreds of pages of Army records about Abu Ghraib the American Civil Liberties Union released Thursday. The ACLU got the documents under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking records about abuse of detainees in Iraq.

<snip>

Karpinski said Maj. Gen. Walter Wodjakowski, then the No. 2 Army general in Iraq, told her in the summer of 2003 not to release more prisoners, even if they were innocent.

"I don't care if we're holding 15,000 innocent civilians. We're winning the war," Karpinski said Wodjakowski told her. She said she replied: "Not inside the wire, you're not, sir."

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-iraq-child-detainees,0,3977462.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[rocktivity]

3. Candidate for this month's "You Call This NEWS?" award

We DU-ers have "been there, done that" nearly a year ago. The MSM is just getting around to acknowledging it, that's all.

Maybe that's why the prison is being attacked so frequently they may have to move the most dangerous prisoners to a "safer place."
Shamed US to hand over Abu Ghraib prison to Iraqis

:headbang:
rocknation

[EFerrari]

6. That's right. It was in a report -- Red Cross or Amnesty Intern'l

And the CPA and the WH knew it for months before that, according to the same report. 12 is a little young to be formerly of Saddam's regime?

:nuke:

[riverwalker]

5. Maj. Gen. Walter Wodjakowski

one evil looking little man

http://www.hqusareur.army.mil/d-day/MereEglise/pages/Gen.%20Wojokowski%201.htm

[lumpy]

23. Oh my God !

Creepy

[Nikepallas]

2. Wouldn't surprise me. We have/had a 13 year old in Cuba as a detainee

[chuckrocks]

4. thought i saw * in one of these

<>

[cal04]

7. US detained children in Abu Ghraib

OMG what is wrong with these people)

An 8-year-old was among the children detained by US soldiers at Iraq's infamous Abu Ghraib jail, a former prison commander has said. Brigadier-General Janis Kaprinski told officials investigating prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib that the child was crying and wanted to see his mother.

Kaprinski's statement is among hundreds of pages of US Army records about Abu Ghraib the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released on Thursday. The ACLU got the documents under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking records about abuse of detainees in Iraq.

Karpinski did not say what happened to the boy in her interview with Major General George Fay. Military officials have previously acknowledged that some juvenile prisoners had been held at Abu Ghraib, a massive prison built by Saddam Hussein's government outside Baghdad.


On another subject, Karpinski said she had seen written orders to hold a prisoner that the CIA had captured without keeping records. The records also quote an unnamed Army officer at Abu Ghraib as saying military intelligence officers and the CIA worked out a written agreement on how to handle unreported detainees, known as 'ghosts'. An Army report issued last September said investigators could not find any copies of any such written agreement. The Pentagon has acknowledged holding up to 100 ghost detainees, keeping the prisoners off the books and away from humanitarian investigators from the International Committee of the Red Cross.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F766CBA2-FAF7-43EE-AEDC-44FB55781ACC.htm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7152537/

[whistle]

8. Just how does one go about torturing children for instilling fear...

...in insurgents?

[CornField]

9. Is this new news?

I could have swore this information had already come to light. From what I remember, the US soldiers were threatening the children with dogs in front of other family members in an attempt to make the adults talk.

[undergroundpanther]

10. fascists abusers

Ihate the thug military.
I wish there was a way to make them stop, abusing everyone,abusing over seas abusing people here,the godamn pigs.They are olny faceless because we have been convinced we are powerless..
I wish people who are decent could get togethermand shut things down until the guilty rich elites and thier associates,every last accomplice are smoked out of thier plush luxurious gated hiding holes and corporate headquarters and secret places,and made to confess and face the music.
Fuck thier excuses,because whenever it's"ational security" it's THIER own asses and thier abuses,stolen property,sadistic things to maim and kill, & theft methods they wish to keep away from others who would be intolerant of thier posse of sociopaths.

[Moderator]

11. kick to combine

[NNN0LHI]

12. Children Said Among Abu Ghraib Prisoners

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050311/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/iraq_child_detainees&cid=542&ncid=1473

WASHINGTON - Children held by the U.S. Army at Iraq (news - web sites)'s Abu Ghraib prison included one boy who appeared to be only about 8 years old, the former commander of the prison told investigators, according to a transcript.



"He looked like he was eight years old. He told me he was almost 12," Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski told officials investigating prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. "He told me his brother was there with him, but he really wanted to see his mother, could he please call his mother. He was crying."


Karpinski's statement is among hundreds of pages of Army records about Abu Ghraib the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites) released Thursday. The ACLU got the documents under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking records about abuse of detainees in Iraq.


Karpinski did not say what happened to the boy in her interview with Maj. Gen. George Fay. Military officials have previously acknowledged that some juvenile prisoners had been held at Abu Ghraib, a massive prison built by Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s government outside Baghdad.

more

Gosh this makes me proud to be a Murcan.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

13. Whenever I think I've been shocked until I'm numb

They manage to prove me wrong.

[alittlelark]

21. We all passed "NUMB" A FEW MONTHS AGO....

...and it sucks.

[LiberalVoice]

14. They kidnap alot of the prisoners children.

To use them as leverage so they'll talk...I feel bad for the 80% of those prisoners who have done nothing and those whohave to watch their child being tortured without having done anything.

[fushuugi]

15. children in prisons

don't we look morally superior now.

[Hissyspit]

16. Nominated n/t

[Hissyspit]

17. "I don't care if we're holding 15,000 innocent civilians. We're Winning...

"Karpinski said Maj. Gen. Walter Wodjakowski, then the No. 2 Army general in Iraq, told her in the summer of 2003 not to release more prisoners, even if they were innocent. "I don't care if we're holding 15,000 innocent civilians. We're winning the war," Karpinski said Wodjakowski told her."

No, if you actually said something like that, you've already lost it.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

20. Shades of Viet Nam for those of us who lived through it

[Stand and Fight]

18. Oh God...

This. cannot. be. happening. in. our. name... Has America gone absolutely fucking mad?

[Newsjock]

19. Yes.

And I am not certain that there is anything we can do about it anymore.

[Larkspur]

22. Didn't Seymour Hersch say that children were involved in that prison

and some may have been tortured? :shrug:

[Roland99]

32. See my post #31

[Hissyspit]

24. NPR Morning Edition Led With This Story Today n/t

[Mari333]

25. 8, 9, 10, 11 year olds..its a FACT

Michael was at Abu Ghraib and he said thats what he saw...children of those ages being incarcerated for months at a time...without their parents..
He said it was the worst thing he has ever seen.

[UpInArms]

26. related: US army held eight-year-old in Iraq prison

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=vn20050311111030644C184089

Children held by the United States army at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison included one boy who appeared to be only about eight years old, the former commander of the prison has told investigators, according to a transcript.

"He told me he was almost 12," Brigadier General Janis Karpinski told officials investigating prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. "He told me his brother was there with him, but he really wanted to see his mother, could he please call his mother. He was crying."

Karpinski's statement is among hundreds of pages of army records about Abu Ghraib released by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Thursday.

...more...

[NVMojo]

27. Prisoners at Abu Ghraib Said Included Kids

WASHINGTON (AP) - A boy no older than 11 was among the children held by the Army at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, the former U.S. commander of the facility told a general investigating abuses at the prison.

Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski did not say what happened to the boy or why he was imprisoned, according to a transcript of her interview with Maj. Gen. George Fay that was released by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The transcript of the May 2004 interview was among hundreds of pages of documents about Iraq prisoner abuses the group made public Thursday after getting them under the Freedom of Information Act.

Karpinski, who was in charge of Abu Ghraib from July to November 2003, said she often visited the prison's youngest inmates. One boy ``looked like he was 8-years-old,'' Karpinski said.


``He told me he was almost 12,'' Karpinski said. ``He told me his brother was there with him, but he really wanted to see his mother, could he please call his mother. He was crying.''



more...

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20050311%2F0351929671.htm&sc=1107&photoid=20040622BAG121

[gratuitous]

28. Wow, do I feel safer!

I didn't realize I had quite so much to fear from 11-year-old Iraqis, but I'm sure that Dear Leader, in his feckless wisdom, knew what a threat this kid was to me personally, and committed the United States to spend over $200 billion, waste 1,500 soldiers' lives, and wipe out over 100,000 Iraqi civilians just so I'd be safe and secure.

Thank you, President Bush!

[rooboy]

29. Frat house hazing, right Rush? n/t

[Poppyseedman]

30. Holding an 11 year is harsh

but an 11 year old can and have taken military training to attack our troops. I'm not saying it's right, but I'd rather hold a 11 year in confinement than have him kill one of our soldiers. It's happened in the past many times in many different conflicts, using children to attack unsuspecting soldiers.

War sucks, especially this one, but I'll take the safety of our troops over the appalling conflict of morals locking up young boys.

[Roland99]

31. We've known about this for almost a year!

Military analyst describes abuse of 16-year-old in Iraq prison
http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/wor...template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

CHAIN OF COMMAND
by SEYMOUR M. HERSH
How the Department of Defense mishandled the disaster at Abu Ghraib.
Issue of 2004-05-17
Posted 2004-05-09
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040517fa_fact2

NBC News later quoted U.S. military officials as saying that the unreleased photographs showed American soldiers “severely beating an Iraqi prisoner nearly to death, having sex with a female Iraqi prisoner, and ‘acting inappropriately with a dead body.’ The officials said there also was a videotape, apparently shot by U.S. personnel, showing Iraqi guards raping young boys.”

Iraqis Provide New Details of Abuse
Statements Describe Sexual Humiliation And Savage Beatings
By Scott Higham and Joe Stephens
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, May 21, 2004; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43783-2004May20.html

Hilas also said he witnessed an Army translator having sex with a boy at the prison. He said the boy was between 15 and 18 years old. Someone hung sheets to block the view, but Hilas said he heard the boy's screams and climbed a door to get a better look. Hilas said he watched the assault and told investigators that it was documented by a female soldier taking pictures.

"The kid was hurting very bad," Hilas said.

And a bit of a reminder:

http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101~6267~2206136,00.html

"There's a reason why we sign these treaties," Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware reminded Mr. Ashcroft. "So when Americans are captured, they are not tortured." Students of war know the high ground, once abandoned, is not easily regained. And laws shattered by our leaders are not easily repaired.