Hearing to Begin in Iraqi Abuse Case

The military equivalent of a preliminary hearing for a Navy SEAL accused of prisoner abuse in Iraq begins Monday at the 32nd St. Naval Station here.

The SEAL, a lieutenant whose name is being kept secret by the Navy, is accused of punching an Iraqi detainee on the arm and allowing his men to abuse the prisoner, who later died during CIA interrogation at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison.

He faces charges of assault, dereliction of duty and conduct unbecoming an officer.

Shadowing the case are reports that point to CIA interrogation tactics in the death of the detainee, one of a handful of cases that the spy agency has referred to the U.S. Justice Department for possible prosecution. The CIA inadvertently leaked the names of its operatives to defense attorneys, prompting an unusual retroactive classification by the agency.

The SEALs acted as the CIA’s warrant squad on dangerous “capture or kill” missions in Iraq, bursting into homes in the middle of the night and removing suspects. A secret policy governed these missions under the SEAL credo of “speed, surprise and violence of action.”

During a pretrial hearing in January, a SEAL officer testified that the SEALs were authorized to use deadly force and that it was acceptable for them to use force to get a detainee’s attention. Prosecutors insist they must be held accountable for a mission in which things got out of hand.

In November 2003, the SEALs went after Iraqi Manadel Jamadi, a suspect in the bombing a month earlier of Red Cross offices in Iraq that killed 12. Documents and testimony show the CIA believed he knew the location of explosives.

On the night of Nov. 4, SEALs burst into Jamadi’s apartment outside Baghdad, subdued him after a brief, violent struggle and took him back to their base at Baghdad’s airport.

En route, the SEALs allegedly kicked, punched and struck Jamadi with rifle muzzles. They also posed for photos with the hooded and handcuffed prisoner.

The SEALs turned Jamadi over to the CIA. A few hours later, he was dead.

One SEAL testified in January that he watched a CIA employee press against Jamadi’s chest with his forearm throughout an interrogation at the SEAL base at Baghdad’s airport.

The CIA inspector general’s office investigated Jamadi’s death and forwarded its findings to the U.S. Justice Department for possible prosecution. The Justice Department declined to comment.

The Navy opened an investigation in May when a former SEAL told senior officers he had witnessed abuse of Jamadi and others. According to the ex-SEAL, the accused lieutenant saw his men abusing Jamadi, smiled and said: “Glad I’m not him.”

Nine SEALs and one sailor have been accused of abusing Jamadi and other detainees in Iraq. All but one of the cases have been handled in closed-door proceedings. Earlier this month, another lieutenant received a career-damaging letter of reprimand following a hearing before the Navy’s top SEAL.

During pretrial hearings in January, several SEALs contradicted the account of the whistle-blower, who was kicked out of the unit for stealing a comrade’s bulletproof vest in Iraq -- an act that earned him the nickname “Klepto.”

A lieutenant commander said the ex-SEAL had disgraced himself. “He’s a liar and a thief,” he said.

The Navy is taking extraordinary precautions to protect the identity of SEALs. The lieutenant will be referred to only by the first letter of his last name, as will all SEAL personnel in the courtroom -- a step experts on military law say is virtually unprecedented.