7 officers reprimanded for Iraqi prisoner abuse

BAGHDAD, Iraq – The U.S. military has reprimanded seven soldiers in the alleged abuse of inmates at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison, the first known punishments in the case, an official said Monday. Two of the officers were relieved of their duties.

The American officer who oversaw the prison said many more troops might have been involved.

The soldiers were reprimanded on the orders of Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. Six of them – officers and noncommissioned officers – received the most severe administrative reprimand in the U.S. military, a military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Two of the six were “released for cause,” meaning they were relieved of their duties and reassigned “with prejudice,” Larry Di Rita, spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

A seventh officer received a more lenient admonishment.

An official said he believed the officers would not face further action or court-martial, but the reprimands could mean the end of their careers.

Another six U.S. servicemembers – all military police – also may face criminal charges.

The Pentagon said it was pursuing five separate investigations Monday into allegations of abuse of Iraqi prisoners. One, launched in mid-April, delves into interrogation methods of U.S. military intelligence officers in Iraq.

President Bush called Rumsfeld before a campaign trip Monday and urged him to make sure the U.S. soldiers are punished, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

The U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council joined the chorus of international criticism of the alleged abuse, terming it a violation of international law and the Geneva Conventions. The council demanded that U.S. authorities allow Iraqi judges to take part in the interrogation of prisoners and open the detention centers to inspection by Iraqi officials.

Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who until recently oversaw the prison, said that she did not know about the prisoner abuse while it was happening.

“They were despicable acts,” Karpinski said Monday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “Had I known anything about it, I certainly would have reacted very quickly.”

Karpinski, commander of the 800th Military Police Brigade, said one photograph from the prison appeared to show more Americans involved in the alleged abuse than the six MPs who have been charged.

“One photograph showed – it didn’t show faces completely, but the photograph showed 32 boots,” Karpinski told ABC. “I’m saying other people than the military police.”

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said on ABC that he isn’t sure Army military intelligence “had anything to do with the individual acts of criminal behavior” as Karpinski and others have alleged. Kimmitt said, however, that the investigation is reviewing “concerns expressed about the military intelligence.”

Last week, CBS’ “60 Minutes II” broadcast images allegedly showing Iraqis stripped naked, hooded and being tormented by their U.S. captors.

An internal U.S. Army report found that Iraqi detainees were subjected to “sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses,” according to The New Yorker magazine.

A British newspaper also published photos purporting to show members of a British Army regiment abusing prisoners, but a former commander of the unit said Monday that the photos had “too many inconsistencies” to be genuine.

The Daily Mirror said the photos were supplied by two serving members of the regiment. On Monday it quoted one of the unidentified soldiers as saying he had seen “literally hundreds” of similar pictures.

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