Photos Show U.S. Troops Apparently Abusing Iraqis

U.S. military police stacked naked Iraqi prisoners in a human pyramid, and attached wires to one detainee to convince him he might be electrocuted, according to photographs obtained by CBS News that led to criminal charges against six American soldiers.

CBS said the photos, shown Wednesday night on “60 Minutes II,” were taken late last year at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, where American soldiers have held hundreds of prisoners captured during the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

In March, the U.S. Army announced that six members of the 800th Military Police Brigade faced court martial on charges of abusing about 20 prisoners at Abu Ghraib. The charges included dereliction of duty, cruelty, assault and indecent acts with another person.

In addition to those criminal charges, a military administrative investigation has also targeted seven in the brigade’s chain of command, including Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, the military’s top prison official in Iraq, who has been suspended pending the outcome. The administrative probe found the prison to be lacking in command policies and training, said an official familiar with the investigation.

No criminal charges have been filed against the command staff. The investigation recommended administrative action against several of the commanders, which could include punishments as serious as relieving them of their commands, said the official, speaking on condition on anonymity.

When the charges were first announced, U.S. military officials declined to provide details about the evidence. But Wednesday, at a news briefing in Baghdad, Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said the investigation began in January when a U.S. soldier reported the abuse and turned over evidence that included photographs.

“That soldier said, ‘There are some things going on here that I can’t live with,’ ” said Kimmitt, who also confirmed that CBS had obtained the photographs.

One picture shows an Iraqi prisoner who was told to stand on a box with his head covered and wires attached to his hands. CBS said the prisoner was told that if he fell off the box, he would be electrocuted. In another photo, naked prisoners were stacked in a pyramid, and one man had a slur written in English on his skin.

The Army ordered an investigation of the actions of 17 soldiers with the 800th Brigade, based in Uniondale, N.Y. Ten were investigated for possible criminal actions. Six of those soldiers were charged in March.

“We’re appalled,” Kimmitt said. “These are our fellow soldiers, these are the people we work with every day, they represent us, they wear the same uniform as us, and they let their fellow soldiers down.”