http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/16/politics/16abuse.html?hp&ex=1111035600&en=943ed6fbc944e7de&ei=5094&partner=homepage





U.S. Military Says 26 Inmate Deaths May Be Homicide

By DOUGLAS JEHL and ERIC SCHMITT

Published: March 16, 2005




WASHINGTON, March 15 - At least 26 prisoners have died in American custody
in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002 in what Army and Navy investigators have
concluded or suspect were acts of criminal homicide, according to military
officials.

The number of confirmed or suspected cases is much higher than any
accounting the military has previously reported. A Pentagon report sent to
Congress last week cited only six prisoner deaths caused by abuse, but that
partial tally was limited to what the author, Vice Adm. Albert T. Church III
of the Navy, called "closed, substantiated abuse cases" as of last
September.



The new figure of 26 was provided by the Army and Navy this week after
repeated inquiries. In 18 cases reviewed by the Army and Navy, investigators
have now closed their inquiries and have recommended them for prosecution or
referred them to other agencies for action, Army and Navy officials said.
Eight cases are still under investigation but are listed by the Army as
confirmed or suspected criminal homicides, the officials said.



Only one of the deaths occurred at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, officials
said, showing how broadly the most violent abuses extended beyond those
prison walls and contradicting early impressions that the wrongdoing was
confined to a handful of members of the military police on the prison's
night shift.



Among the cases are at least four involving Central Intelligence Agency
employees that are being reviewed by the Justice Department for possible
prosecution. They include a killing in Afghanistan in June 2003 for which
David Passaro, a contract worker for the C.I.A., is now facing trial in
federal court in North Carolina.

Human rights groups expressed dismay at the number of criminal homicides and
renewed their call for a Sept. 11-style inquiry into detention operations
and abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan. "This number to me is quite astounding,"
said James D. Ross, senior legal adviser for Human Rights Watch in New York.
"This just reflects an overall failure to take seriously the abuses that
have occurred."



Pentagon and Army officials rebutted that accusation. Lawrence Di Rita, the
chief Pentagon spokesman, said that he was not aware that the Defense
Department had previously accounted publicly for criminal homicides among
the detainee deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq, but insisted that military
authorities were vigorously pursuing each case.



"I have not seen the numbers collected in the way you described them, but
obviously one criminal homicide is one too many," said Mr. Di Rita, who
noted that American forces had held more than 50,000 detainees in Iraq and
Afghanistan over the past three years.



Army officials said the killings took place both inside and outside
detention areas, including at the point of capture in often violent
battlefield conditions. "The Army will investigate every detainee death both
inside and outside detention facilities," said Col. Joseph Curtin, a senior
Army spokesman. "Simply put, detainee abuse is not tolerated, and the Army
will hold soldiers accountable. We are taking action to prosecute those
suspected of abuse while taking steps now to train soldiers how to avoid
such situations in the future."



In his report last week, Admiral Church concluded that the abuse of
prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan had been the result primarily of a
breakdown of discipline, not flawed policies or misguided direction from
commanders or Pentagon officials. But he cautioned that his conclusions were
"based primarily on the information available to us as of Sept. 30, 2004,"
and added, "Should additional information become available, our conclusions
would have to be considered in light of that information."

In addition to the criminal homicides, 11 cases involving prisoner deaths at
the hands of American troops are now listed as justifiable homicides that
should not be prosecuted, Army officials said. Those cases included killings
caused by soldiers in suppressing prisoner riots in Iraq, they said. Other
prisoners have died in captivity of natural causes, the military has found



 An accounting by The New York Times in May 2004, based on reports from
military officials and a review of Army documents, identified 16 cases of
confirmed or suspected homicide involving prisoners in American custody in
Iraq and Afghanistan. At that time, however, just five were listed as
confirmed homicides, with 11 of the cases still under investigation.



The Army defines a homicide as "a death that results from the intentional
(explicit or implied) or grossly reckless behavior of another person or
persons."

"Homicide is not synonymous with murder (a legal determination) and includes
both criminal actions and excusable incidents (i.e., self-defense, law
enforcement, combat)," according to an Army statement.



The new total of 26 cases involving prisoner deaths confirmed or suspected
of being criminal homicides includes 24 cases investigated by the Army and
two by the Navy, spokesmen for those services said. Two of the Army cases
have since been referred to the Navy, and one to the Justice Department. The
Navy said each case included a single prisoner death, but the Army said it
was possible that at least some of the cases investigated by the service
involved the death of more than one prisoner.

The Marine Corps said that nine Iraqi detainees had died in Marine custody,
but that none of the deaths were homicides. It is unclear if this number
includes the death of an Iraqi captive shot by a marine in a mosque in
Falluja last November, an incident filmed by a television crew.



Neither the Army nor the Navy would provide a precise accounting of all of
the cases now regarded as confirmed or suspected homicide.

At least eight Army soldiers have now been convicted of crimes in the deaths
of prisoners in American custody, including a lieutenant who pleaded guilty
at Fort Hood, Tex., this month to charges that included aggravated assault
and battery, obstruction of justice and dereliction of duty. A charge of
involuntary manslaughter in that case was dropped.



An additional 13 Army soldiers are now being tried, according to Army
officials. They include Pfc. Willie V. Brand, who is facing a hearing at
Fort Bliss, Tex., next week on charges of manslaughter and maiming in the
deaths of two prisoners at Bagram Control Point in Afghanistan in December
2002.



But in some of the cases, including the death of an Iraqi, Manadel
al-Jamadi, in Abu Ghraib in November 2003, most of those initially charged
with crimes by the military have ended up receiving only nonjudicial
punishments, and neither their names nor the details of those punishments
have been disclosed.



Altogether, Army criminal investigators had conducted 68 detainee death
investigations with 79 possible victims as of February 2005, said Lt. Col.
Pamela Hart, an Army spokeswoman. Of those investigations, 53 have been
closed and 15 cases remain pending, Colonel Hart said.



In addition to the 24 Army cases listed as criminal homicides and the 11
cases listed as justifiable homicides, 28 cases are listed as confirmed or
suspected deaths from accidents or natural causes. An additional five are
cases in which the cause of death has not been determined, Colonel Hart
said.



Over all, the Army's criminal investigators have examined 308 cases
involving allegations of mistreating detainees. They include the 68 death
investigations and 240 other allegations of potential misconduct, like
allegations of assaults, sexual assaults and thefts, Colonel Hart said. Of
the 308 cases, 201 cases are closed and 107 cases were pending as of
mid-February 2005.



In addition to the number of detainee deaths, other conclusions in the
Church report have drawn scrutiny. The report, for instance, also asserts
that psychiatrists and psychologists advising interrogators did not have
access to detainees' medical files. That is in sharp contrast to reports
from the Red Cross and interrogators interviewed by The Times.



The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a confidential report
last July that the detainees' medical files were open to all. The report
said that was unethical and that it diminished the medical care given the
detainees, because it discouraged them from seeking medical attention as
they knew the information would be shared with interrogators.



One interrogator said in interviews that the files were initially open to
all and that it was a regular practice for interrogators simply to go into
the detainee hospital and review the records. The interrogator said that
when the hospital staff became more reluctant to share the files, the
interrogators found that they could ask the psychologists and psychiatrists
to obtain them.

Neil A. Lewis contributed reporting for this article.