The Horror Story
Of Sadiq Zoman
By Dahr Jamail
05 May, 2004
The
New Standard
Not all evidence of military personnel
mistreating Iraqis held in US custody come from leaks within the American-
and British-run detention facilities. In many cases, such as that of
Sadiq Zoman, 57, who last year entered US custody healthy but left in
a vegetative state, the story originates with family members desperate
to share their loved ones story with anyone willing to listen.
American soldiers
detained Zoman at his residence in Kirkuk on July 21, 2003 when they
raided the Zoman family home in search of weapons and, apparently, to
arrest Zoman himself.
More than a month
later, on August 23, US soldiers dropped Zoman off, already comatose,
at a hospital in Tikrit. Although he was unable to recount his story,
his body bore telltale signs of torture: what appear to be point burns
on his skin, bludgeon marks on the back of his head, a badly broken
thumb, electrical burns on the soles of his feet. Additionally, family
members say they found whip marks across his back and more electrical
burns on his genitalia.
The NewStandard
has obtained
photographs taken by staff at the Salahadeen Hospital in Tikrit,
footage shot by an Al Jazeera camera crew shortly after Zomans
arrival there, as well as documents tracing some of the Iraqi mans
journey through his captivity and then through the civilian medical
establishment.
According to the
Army paperwork, the only identifying information provided to Iraqi medical
personnel upon Zomans transfer from US military to Iraqi civilian
care was an incorrect name.A transfer form signed by Colonel Donald
M. Campbell, Jr., 4th Infantry Division (4th ID) chief of staff.states
that Zoman, considered a "security detainee," was to be transferred
to a Combat Support Hospital, and then be returned to 4th ID custody
"if he recovers."
The form provided
no information as to where he had been picked up, no address and no
other personally identifying information. His family claimed that when
Zoman was initially detained, American soldiers had taken all of his
personal papers and identification.
US Army documentation
and interviews obtained so far also lack details of what happened to
Zoman while in US Army custody for interrogation.
The Zoman family
has been able to reconstruct a rough story of Sadiqs incarceration
from eyewitness accounts related by neighbors who were detained at the
same time. They say Zoman was first held at the Kirkuk Airport Detention
Center, then transferred still healthy to Al-Kaad, a school the
Army had converted into a detention facility. On August 6, witnesses
said, he was moved to a base in Tikrit where they say he was beaten.
Major Josslyn Aberle,
Public Affairs Officer at the 4th Infantry Division, said that Zomans
injuries were not inflicted by soldiers from the 4th ID or other Army
units involved in capturing and holding Zoman. While not immediately
able to trace Zomans full history while in US custody, she said
the types of injuries described by Zomans family, doctors and
photographs "just absolutely would not be tolerated" by the
military.
Aberle continued,
"Throughout our task force, the few incidents of detainee mistreatment
were investigated immediately and those soldiers involved were punished
underneath the uniform code of military justice. In one case that [led
to] a soldier being court martialed. When we found out about any types
of mistreatment of detainees or Iraqi citizens, any allegations were
treated seriously and investigated immediately because that type of
behavior was not tolerated." Aberle said none of those cases of
detainee mistreatment was related to the Zoman case, nor did they involve
beatings.
According to further
US military documentation, on August 11, Mr. Zoman was transferred to
the 28th Combat Support Hospital, where he was treated by Lieutentant
Colonel Michael C. Hodges, M.D.
Lt. Col. Hodges medical report listed the primary diagnoses of
Zomans condition as hypoxic brain injury (brain damage caused
by lack of oxygen) "with persistent vegetative state," myocardial
infarction (heart attack), and heat stroke. The same medical report
did not mention any bruises, lash marks, head injury, burn marks or
other signs Iraqi doctors said they found on Zoman's body upon his arrival
at Tikrit hospital nearly two weeks later.
The report said
previous care providers had verbally stated, upon transferring Zoman
to the Combat Support Hospital, that Zoman had been conscious enough
to complain of "chest pain that radiated into his arm" earlier
that day. At that point, the report says, Zoman was treated with a nitroglycerine
tablet and intravenous fluids before being "returned to the prison
population," only to be brought back to medics later, "shaking
and unresponsive."
Asked to comment
on the treatment described in the medical report, physician Jules Marsh
of Takoma, WA pointed out numerous concerns with the treatment Zoman
received in military custody. "The fact that they administered
nitroglycerine indicates that they were at least suspicious his chest
pain was of cardiac origin," Dr. Marsh said. "The fact that
it responded to the nitroglycerine certainly raises that suspicion.
With the possible exception that the patient has a history of stable
angina, which isn't indicated in the report, this should have prompted
a further workup on an emergency basis."
Regarding medical
treatment afforded Iraqi detainees in custody, Major Aberle said, "Theres
no difference in the care that a detainee receives than the care a US
soldier receives."
The medical report
of Lt. Col. Hodges concluded with a statement that was later upheld
by Iraqi doctors in Baghdad: "This patient will need extensive
rehabilitation and physical therapy but he, unfortunately, has less
than 1% chance of any meaningful neurological recovery at this time."
According to documentation,
on August 23, after two weeks of care at the Combat Support Hospital,
the Army transferred Zoman from the Combat Support Hospital to the civilian
Salahadeen Hospital in Tikrit.
The Zoman family
found Sadiq there on September 4, 2003, only because the Red Crescent
of Tikrit had posted photos of him on buses around Tikrit in hopes someone
would recognize him. Remarkably, a friend saw one of the pictures and
contacted the family.
Zoman has nine daughters;
the oldest is 32 and the youngest 15. He was the assistant manager of
a hospital in Kirkuk. Zoman appears to have been a member of the Baath
party. Under the Saddam Hussein regime, government administration jobs
were only available to people who joined the Baath party.
Rheem Zoman, the
19 year-old daughter of Sadiq, spoke frankly about her father and his
condition. "I was horrified," she said of his bittersweet
return to his worried family. "He had whip marks all across his
back and electrical burn marks all over his body."
The alleged mistreatment
of Sadiq Zoman while in US custody came as no surprise to his friends
and neighbors. Some of them had returned after having been abducted
by US forces with their own stories of terrifying and heartbreaking
ordeals.
And after a year
of occupation, stories like Zomans may come as no surprise to
the American public, now that evidence of torture presently receives
mainstream attention in the wake of revelations by CBS, The Mirror and
The New Yorker of widespread abuses taking place inside US- and British-run
Iraqi prisons.
But with untold
thousands of prisoners held at least temporarily at military bases throughout
Iraq, cases like that of Sadiq Zoman suggest the problem may extend
beyond the major holding facilities to more remote stations. There unit
commanders and military counter-intelligence personnel hold and interrogate
Iraqis even before many of the detainees reach prison facilities like
the now-infamous Abu Ghraib prison.
Zomans family
said he was in perfect health before US soldiers took him away. They
further insist no firearms, bombs, or other incriminating evidence was
ever found by the search that accompanied Zomans capture by US
troops. They said that when US soldiers entered their home to detain
Zoman the front door was smashed in, furniture broken and torn apart,
and money, gold and jewelry looted by the troops.
The Army has so
far offered no explanation of why the Zoman home was raided or the reason
for Zomans capture.
Sadiq Zoman remains
completely unresponsive. His family cares for him in a stark home nearly
devoid of furnishings, situated in the Al-Dora neighborhood of Baghdad.
The family moved there from Kirkuk last fall in order to facilitate
better care and conditions for Zoman. The family has sold nearly everything
that remained after the Army raid to purchase food and medical supplies.
Entire rooms in their new Baghdad home are completely empty since nearly
all their furnishings have been sold off.
None of the Zoman
daughters has work, owing to the skyrocketed post-war unemployment situation.
Sadiq Zoman himself has no pension, since he was a government employee.
Hashimi Zoman, Sadiqs
wife, standing over her comatose husband with a paper fan to cool him,
remarked, "We make his food with a blender because it must be liquid.
But with no electricity there is no blender, so no food for him at times."
The family keeps electrical fans over Sadiqs bed, but when the
power cuts, they switch to laborious manual cooling to fend off the
mid-day heat.
Daughter Rheem said,
"You see our situation. We often dont have electricity, only
six hours per day, so we take turns fanning him to keep him cool."
The family of Sadiq
Zoman says they have received no explanation, nor any compensation for
his situation from either the US military or the US-run Coalition Provisional
Authority.
Major Aberle said
the 4th Infantry Division, now back at Fort Hood, Texas, maintained
that Iraqi detainees are treated well because of the need to establish
credibility among the Iraqi people. "Building the trust, building
the relationships between the Iraqis and coalition forces -- that is
so critical. When you have an instance of a detainee being allegedly
abused or treated improperly, that makes us no different than the former
regime."
Daughter Rheem stated,
"My father is a good man who helped so many people in our community.
Why have they done this to him? Can you tell me? Everyone who knows
him can say that he did so many good things to help people."
With tears in her
eyes, Hashima Zoman added, "Is it fair for any man's family to
be made to suffer like this? Is it right that his daughters must see
him like this? Our lives will never be the same again, no matter what
happens."
[NewStandard editor
Brian Dominick contributed to this story]