http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N21456712.htmWASHINGTON, Dec 21 (Reuters) - The White House said on Tuesday it expected a full investigation of prisoner abuses in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after new FBI memos described detainees facing beatings and having lit cigarettes placed in their ears.
"If there is abuse that occurs, we expect it to be investigated fully and people to be held accountable, and measures taken to make sure that it doesn't happen again," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
He said the Defense Department was investigating "a number of allegations that have been made," and added: "We expect them to get to the bottom of it." snip
"He described that such abuses included strangulation, beatings, placement of lit cigarettes into the detainees ear openings, and unauthorized interrogations," the document stated. The memo also mentioned "cover-up of these abuses."
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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N21443139.htm
Group says records show US detainee abuse cover-up
<snip>A Jan. 1, 2004, memo written by Army criminal investigators said 44-year-old Abdul Kareem appeared to be healthy when captured the previous month. But he was discovered dead in his cell only days after being imprisoned, the memo stated.
A medic who examined his body saw multiple wounds, including a head laceration, internal bleeding, bruising on his abdomen and a clear fluid in his right ear. The body was sent to Baghdad for an autopsy to determine the cause of death, but the battalion and group command blocked the procedure without explanation.
<snip>Another memo from Army criminal investigators dated Nov. 23, 2003, said Obed Hethere Radad, a prisoner held in Tikrit, was fatally shot without warning by a U.S. Army soldier using an M16 rifle last year on the second anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Rather than allowing Army criminal investigators to handle the case, an Army commander quickly convened a legal proceeding that resulted in the soldier being demoted in rank and discharged from the military, the memo showed. There was no autopsy and no crime scene evidence was collected.
Criminal investigators eventually found probable cause to charge the soldier with murder but could not because he had left the military, the memo added.
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