08 May 2004

by Anai Rhoads

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AnaiRhoads.org - According to officials Friday, the international Red Cross (ICRC) had discussed written reports detailing the maltreatment of the Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib and other Iraqi prisons with the Bush Administration throughout 2003.

"We had regular meetings with the Pentagon, the State Department and the White House to discuss these prison conditions as well as other issues," said Christophe Girod, the chief ICRC delegate in Washington.

A 24-page report in the Friday publication of the Wall Street Journal detailed the 2003 prison investigations by the ICRC.

The ICRC repeatedly told the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department of the abuses, but were dismissed time and time again. The ICRC even conducted private meetings in February with commander of U.S. forces in Iraq Army Lt. General Ricardo S. Sanchez and L. Paul Bremer III to only be ignored.

"The elements we found were tantamount to torture," Swiss-based ICRC director Pierre Kraehenbuehl said. "Our findings were discussed at different moments between March and November 2003, either in direct face-to-face conversations or in written interventions."

Kraehenbuehl confirmed that the ICRC communicated with U.S. and U.K. officials on several occassions regarding this matter. Kraehenbuehl made it clear to reporters in Geneva that the abuse is widely spread and not as isolated as the U.S. wants the world to believe.

A surprise visit by the ICRC to the Abu Ghraib prison revealed naked men locked up in dark, all-concrete cells. Guards were spotted forcing male prisoners to walk around in women's undergarments. Many of the men had been severely beaten and showed the markings of physical and mental torture.

Read the full 24-page report here (PDF Document).

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