The general in charge of military prisons in Iraq, including Abu Ghraib, said the dog teams were under the control of military intelligence but had no training or experience in helping with interrogations.Īlso in mid-December, the dog handlers said they were asked by one of the MPs, Staff Sgt. The dog teams at Abu Ghraib were part of a security detail that also searched for weapons, explosives and contraband. policy as stated in the Army field manual, and it's a violation of the prohibition against cruel treatment." "Using dogs to frighten and intimidate prisoners is a violation of the Geneva Convention," said Elisa Massimino, Washington director of Human Rights First, an international organization based in New York. Human rights experts said the use of dogs at Abu Ghraib violates longstanding tenets regulating the treatment of prisoners and civilians under the control of an occupying force, including the Army's field manual, which prohibits "acts of violence or intimidation" by American soldiers. Sanchez - would have had to approve the use of dogs. The Army previously has said that the commanding general of U.S. There is no explanation in the memo of what parameters would have to be in place - for example, whether the dogs would be muzzled or unmuzzled - or what the dogs would be allowed to do. According to one military intelligence memo obtained by The Post, the officer in charge of the military intelligence-run interrogation center at the prison had to approve the use of dogs in interrogations. In Army memos regarding interrogation techniques at the prison, the use of military working dogs was specifically allowed - as long as higher-ranking officers approved the measures. The officers said they did not know whether a lawyer from the Army's defense service had been assigned to represent Smith. Army Trial Defense Service said that a military lawyer has been assigned to Cardona and that a message seeking a comment would be relayed to the attorney. The men could not be reached yesterday to comment. Neither Smith nor Cardona have been charged in connection with the abuse at Abu Ghraib. Papus and he said it was good to go," Smith told an investigator on Jan. Pappas, who was in charge of military intelligence at the prison, told both soldiers that the use of dogs in interrogations had been approved, according to the statements. Cardona, Army dog handlers assigned to Abu Ghraib, told investigators that military intelligence personnel requested that they bring their dogs to prison interrogation sites multiple times to assist in questioning detainees in December and January. The sexual abuse happened weeks and even months before the dog incidents, some of which appear to be part of an organized strategy by military intelligence to scare detainees into talking, according to the statements. The newly obtained documents reinforce the picture that the abuse falls into two categories: sexual humiliation and beatings at the hands of MPs, and intimidation using dogs that is clearly tied to military intelligence. The military intelligence officer in charge of Abu Ghraib later told investigators that the use of unmuzzled dogs in interrogation sessions was recommended by a two-star general and that it was "okay." So far, the only charges to emerge have been against seven MPs and do not include any dog incidents, even though such use of dogs is an apparent violation of the Geneva Conventions and the Army's field manual. An Army investigation into the abuse condemned the MPs for those practices, but also included the use of unmuzzled dogs to frighten detainees among the "intentional abuse." President Bush and top Pentagon officials have said the criminal abuse at Abu Ghraib was confined to a small group of rogue military police soldiers who stripped detainees naked, beat them and photographed them in humiliating sexual poses. Army general to be "sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses." The statements by the dog handlers provide the clearest indication yet that military intelligence personnel were deeply involved in tactics later deemed by a U.S.
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