A
torture Victim Recalls
The Humiliation
By Andrew Buncombe
and Justin Huggler
06 May 2004
The Independent
Hayder
Sabbar Abd is the man in the hood. He was one of the Iraqi prisoners
stripped, humiliated, beaten and abused by American reservists and interrogators
at Abu Ghraib prison in what is arguably the worst scandal to engulf
the United States military since the massacre of Vietnamese villagers
at My Lai in 1968.
Having been freed
from prison without charge several months ago, the slightly built father
of five is now talking about his abuse and, with the help of the photographs
that have shocked the world, identifying those who carried it out.
In an extraordinary
interview
published yesterday, Mr Abd detailed a catalogue of abuse and
sexual humiliation inflicted by captors at the sprawling prison complex
west of Baghdad, which for decades was notorious as the location of
Saddam Hussein's torture and execution rooms.
The irony is not
lost on Mr Abd. "Americans did not mistreat me in general,"
he said. "But these people must be tried. I can't tell you my feelings.
The Americans got rid of Saddam Hussein. They told us about democracy
and freedom. We are happy about that. Then [the soldiers] did this to
the seven of us. I am asking 'Is that democracy, is that freedom?'."
The gathering scandal,
which also involves allegations that British troops were involved in
abuse of prisoners, is creating severe problems for the Bush administration
at a time when it was already struggling with growing difficulties in
Iraq and a soaring casualty rate.
It is now known
that more than 20 prisoners have died in custody at United States-run
military jails in Iraq and Afghanistan two inmates are alleged
to have been murdered by Americans. Maj-Gen Geoffrey Miller, the new
commander of the jail, apologised yesterday for the torture meted out.
"I would like to apologise for our nation and for our military
for the small number of soldiers who committed illegal or unauthorised
acts," he said in Baghdad.
President George
Bushgave interviews yesterday to two Arabic-language television channels
to try to limit the damage the scandal has done to America's already
tattered image in the region. He stopped short of making an apology,
but vowed that those responsible would be brought to justice.
One of the Americans
accused of conducting abuse at Abu Ghraib is Specialist Charles Graner,
an army reservist from Pennsylvania who joined the 372nd Military Police
Company in March last year. While in captivity, Mr Abd did not know
Mr Graner by his real name. "That is Joiner," he said in the
interview published by The New York Times yesterday, pointing to a grinning
soldier wearing a black hat and rubber gloves, one thumb raised as he
stood behind a pyramid of naked prisoners.
Mr Abd was able
to identify himself in another photograph by small scars on his body.
In that photograph a smiling woman soldier, identified as Private Lynndie
England, who is also giving a thumbs up, points towards Mr Abd's genitals.
Pte England is Mr Graner's fiancée and is reportedly pregnant
by him.
Speaking through
a translator, Mr Abd explained that as an Arab, perhaps the most degrading
aspect of the abuse was the sexual humiliation. During one session of
abuse, he and six other prisoners who had been involved in a fight were
stripped naked, forced to straddle each other's backs and then made
to simulate oral sex.
Mr Abd said he recalled
having his hood removed and being told by the soldiers' Arabic translator
to masturbate as he looked at Ms England. "She was laughing and
she put her hands on her breasts," he told the newspaper. "Of
course I couldn't do it, so they beat me in the stomach and I fell to
the ground. The translator said, 'Do it, do it. It's better than being
beaten.' I said 'How can I do it?' So I put my hand on my penis, just
pretending."
At this point, one
of the other prisoners a friend of Mr Abd's identified as Hussein
was pushed towards his genitals while the hood was put back over
his own head.
"They made
him sit next to me. My penis was very close to his mouth. I did not
know it was my friend because of the hood. It was humiliating. We didn't
think that we would survive. All of us believed we would be killed and
we would not get out alive," said Mr Abd. One of the photographs
appears to show this precise moment.
Indeed, Mr Abd recalls
that throughout the abuse, photographs were taken.
After the incident
in which he was forced to simulate oral sex with his friend, the soldiers
began piling him and the others on top of each other to form the pyramids,
all the time clicking away with the camera. When they were let down
Mr Abd recalls that Mr Graner "Joiner" pulled
on the prisoners' hoods as though they were leashes. "He said 'When
I whistle, you bark like a dog'," he said.
Specialist Graner
has yet to comment publicly on the allegations. His lawyer, Guy Womack,
said he was "following orders". He also said the photography
was more likely to have been a deliberate part of the orders to intimidate
the prisoners.
"I think when
you see the photographs, you can tell these were obviously staged. They
were part of the psychological manipulation of the prisoners being interrogated,"
he said. "It was being controlled and devised by the military intelligence
community and other governmental agencies, including the CIA."
Mr Abd also described
how Specialist Graner, a former prison officer, and two other male soldiers
beat the seven hooded prisoners. "They beat our heads on the walls
and doors." The former Republican Guard soldier from Nasiriyah
said his jaw was broken so badly that even six months later he is unable
to eat properly. He estimated that during a two-hour period he received
50 blows.
It was after this
session of beating that Mr Abd and the others were told to remove their
clothes. "The interpreter told us to strip," he said. "We
told him, 'You are Egyptian, you are a Muslim. You know that as Muslims
we cannot do that.' When we refused to take off our clothes they beat
us and tore our clothes off with a blade."
Records obtained
by The Independent reveal that this is not the first time that Specialist
Graner has been involved in abuse allegations. His ex-wife obtained
three separate "temporary protection of abuse" orders from
a judge in their home town in Pennsylvania. The Defence Secretary, Donald
Rumsfeld, is now under intense pressure and will be forced to try to
explain why the abuse was allowed to take place when he appears before
senators on Capitol Hill today. And still the allegations grow. Ann
Clwyd, Tony Blair's personal envoy to Iraq, has claimed that a 70-year-old
woman was ridden like a donkey by US troops, while up to 17 Iraqi families
are expected to seek compensation for relatives allegedly killed by
British troops in Iraq since the end of the war. The MoD does not accept
liability.
Six Iraqis are alleged
to have died in British custody; 33 cases of civilian deaths, injuries
or ill-treatment have been investigated by the MoD; 12 are continuing,
and 21 have been completed. Of the completed cases, 15 were found to
have no case to answer, and six are being considered for prosecution.
Hayder Sabbar Abd,
meanwhile, is preparing to go home to Nasiriyah, having been assured
by US military officials in Baghdad that their investigations will be
exhaustive and that those involved in abusing him and his friends will
be punished. He said that while he will go home to see his family, his
shame will not allow him to stay.