The Story of Prisoner 200343

Cohen: American Detainee Shares Familiar Story Of Mistreatment By U.S. Forces In Iraq

(CBS)  Attorney Andrew Cohen analyzes legal issues for CBS News and CBSNews.com.

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Maybe we’ll pay better attention now. Maybe since the story was splashed Monday as a two-column lead on the front page of The New York Times. Maybe since the alleged victim in the case is a white American with an easy-to-pronounce name and not a dark "foreigner" named "Hussein" or "Mohammed." Maybe since he is an ex-Navy vet and not a foot soldier for the Taliban or some poor sap caught up in the chaos of post-Saddam Baghdad. Maybe.

The story that Donald Vance is telling is a familiar one to people who have paid attention to the way U.S. military personnel all too often have handled their detention duties and responsibilities in Iraq even since the scandal at the Abu Ghraib prison there. It is both a familiar and a simple tale. Detain first, ask too few earnest questions along the way, mistreat in a way that smudges legal and moral lines, grudgingly and belatedly concede the mistake by releasing the prisoner, and then blame it all on the "fog of war," or worse, refuse to take any blame at all.

This time, apparently, there are no pictures to generate and sustain the world's scorn and the nation's shame. But it hardly matters to Vance. As Michael Moss of the Times relates, Vance went to Iraq as a security contractor but soon ended up as an informant for our government, passing along to the Federal Bureau of Investigation information about suspicious activities at the Iraqi firm at which he worked. This makes him, it's sadly not too obvious to mention, part of the solution and not part of the problem in Iraq today.

Vance should have gotten a medal for trying to stop the burgeoning arms trade in the war-torn area. Instead, reports Moss, he got three months' worth of prison time at "Camp Cropper," America’s maximum security prison site in Baghdad. Why? Because in classic bureaucratic mindlessness, one hand didn't know what the other was doing. The military in Iraq determined that Vance was connected with the very people he was "spying" on for the FBI. Of course he was connected with the bad guys in Baghdad. That was the whole point of his effort on behalf of our domestic law enforcement agency.

It's bad enough that our military initially apprehended Vance and then refused to immediately check out his story. I'm sure that every person detained in Baghdad (or Boston or anywhere else) always has a story. What is truly astonishing is that even after military officials were told about Vance's legitimate connections, even after they had reason to know from their own fellow government officials that Vance was not a security threat, they still refused to release him until over two more months had passed. And, not only that, he was treated in a manner unbecoming our military and our nation's values even after his captors knew or should have known he was not a bad guy.

Vance tells the Times that he now intends to sue the government and the individuals responsible for the way he was treated. His lawsuit isn't likely to go far –perhaps he'll get a modest settlement out of the feds – but with a little bit of luck and a stern federal trial judge the complaint may force military officials (and the FBI for that matter) to explain, formally and under oath, how it could come to pass that a U.S. citizen who was helping his own government ferret out fraud and crime in Baghdad could end up, as Moss writes, begging in vain for his freedom from the very people who would benefit from those efforts.

Here are just a few of the questions, for example, that ought to be answered through any litigation that emerges from this scrape. Why didn't the FBI act more quickly to help out its informant? And if the military did not believe the story offered in Vance's defense on behalf of the FBI, why not? What did military officials know, or thought they knew, that required them to keep Vance on ice even after the FBI corroborated his story? And why, at a minimum, after the feds told their colleagues in Baghdad about Vance's informant role, did Vance's captors not treat him better, just in case he was telling the truth?

The Vance story emerged as big news just a few days after military officials announced the release of 18 more men who had been detained for years as terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. These men no doubt are among the hundreds currently held at Gitmo who already have been determined by our own military not to have taken up arms against the United States or to have belonged to the al Qaeda terrorist organization. These men have been held as detainees in many cases more than 10 times as long as Vance was held.

They did not, like Vance, have the support of friends and family (never mind federal agents) back here in the States. Their voices will never be heard on American television and their words will never grace the front pages of the Times or any other newspaper. But surely they, and their treatment, are as much a part of the story of our country's military detentions as Vance is. The worst excesses of America's military guards may have ended at Abu Ghraib. But that doesn't mean that lesser scandals aren't happening even now. Just ask Vance. Like all the other detainees he's got a story to tell and maybe this time, because of the color of his skin and the land of his birth, we'll at last muster up the decency to listen a little more closely.

[getcentered]

cbscrash07:

You are sadly misinformed about the threat Iraq posed to the United States, and the events leading up to the beginning of the Iraq war.

TURN OFF FOX NEWS and/or RADIO!! Change the channel to get more sources. Don't feel mad or stubborn because you voted for the most CURSORY leaders a country could have.

In my opinion calls for G.W. Bushes impeachment are completely justified!!!
The GOP tried to get Clinton impeached for a B.job.
G.W. Bush's crime is MUCH greater!! He has got thousands of US service men and women killed in Iraq for reasons now debunked and that had been disputed from the beginning. Now many tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians are dead for NO JUSTIFIED REASON.

[Syndicate]

Perhaps they held and mistreated him to protect his cover. After all you must be one of the bad guys if the army is *** with you. No? This is the second case I've seen which tells me there not taking them out back and shooting them and that these cases are rare. A small percentage of any prison population is going to be innocent. Most of you are as bad as the military officers you criticize. You call for Bush's impeachment on non existant evidence. Most of the case for going into Iraq was made under Clinton by Saddam himself.

[ceekuei]

The time has come for Americans of all denominations to take back America from Bush and company. This administration has done so much harm that it will take years to repair, if it is at all possible. Faith in America can only be re-established when Bush and company are held accountable for their actions, which are mostly misdeeds and blatant violation of the Constitution and human rights.

[babus2]

What kind of firm did Vance work for in Iraq and what activities and fraud did he discover?
r

[catt42701]

In an article in another paper it was said that the government hinted that he shouldn't talk about his experience. I think every prisoner should be found and tell their story. I feel that theirs could be much worse. This government has bought shame upon the American people due to it's behavior in this so called war on terror. We have become the terrrorists.

[sjc_1]

As long as whistle blowers are seen as "snitches" rather than doing what is right, we will live in a world where injustice prevails.

[rafterman1]

"Sad in that when Americans are tortured, mutilated, beheaded, etc., it hardly makes a ripple in the media. If Americans torture terrorists by over-feeding them, it's front page for months."

Are you kidding? Stuff like Daniel Pearl's beheading and those contractors hung from the bridge in Baghdad were news for weeks. The Pearl thing is even being made into a movie. Whenever westerners are attacked, it's always big news. Sounds more like "righty selective news memory syndrome".

[jimmyd2596]

Sad in that when Americans are tortured, mutilated, beheaded, etc., it hardly makes a ripple in the media. If Americans torture terrorists by over-feeding them, it's front page for months.

[egresor]

wow! is anyone really amazed at this happening? are there still prisoners at gitmo----in a virtual twilight zone? are there still secret prisons? do we still send detainees to other countries for what ammounts to torture? is it surprising that their IS such a thing?

isn't it always those who avoided putting their lives in danger (hint* hint* 'national guard' bush & '6 deferrals' cheney) who somehow find the courage to be brave with other peoples lives and called heroes cowards? neocon ideologues don't change course----they only change tactics!

to VikingGI:
you speak of it being "frustrating to see how many also believe anything negative which is fed to them."

what about how frustrating it was for all of us who knew the falsity of what was being fed to the american public (yes and press!) as truth? how frustrating was it for all of us back then? the bush administration deserves every bit of heat it's getting and more. they are incompetent....and uncaring about who suffers (as long as it isn't themselves and their friends) in the furtherance of their ideology and greed.

you think the truth of things has come out? sadly not yet, but we have hopes!

[getcentered]

I don't really know why G.W. Bush sent US service men and women to be killed and maimed in Iraq. We do have some smart people in our government, but they%u2019re not in the White House.

Most of the experts, Bush and Chenney had at their disposal said going to Iraq is a mistake.

DOE: "The tubes cannot be use for a centrifuge"
CIA: "NO yellow cake connection"
NSA: "NO contact between Iraq and Al Qaeda"
Pentagon: "Taking Iraq will be a long and hard fought guerrilla warfare exercise"

I don't remember hearing much of this dissent in the run-up to "The GOP/Bush Iraq War". Why? I don't know, but I do know that Republicans were and are in power everywhere in our government.

The party wanting this war needed it to BEGIN quickly or it might never come to pass.

Bush, Chenney, GOP:

I put the blame solely in your hands for the cursory war in Iraq, which you and your sloppy administration led us into.

I WANT FAMILY OF MINE TO COME HOME ALIVE FROM IRAQ. I NEVER WANT CURSORY LEADERS PUTTING MY FAMILIY IN HARMS WAY, WHEN I DON'T KNOW WHY OR FOR DISPUTED REASONS.

Shame on Republicans for their lack of imagination, their poor performance as leaders and their willful ignorance when adapting policies that effect the lives of every American.

We have to do everything in our power to remove these incompetent leaders from power.
Americans need to vote with their minds and not their emotions so our government can be made up of leaders that will do the same.

[getcentered]

The neo-con's and the military industrial complex have really done it to us with this Iraq war.

I'm starting to think that the people that started this war in Iraq don't really want it to end. Why?
PROFITS, MONEY, COMMERCE?
If the war stops now then they won't sell as many bullets and guns or get to steal all the oil from the country.
IS IT ALL ABOUT MONEY AND INDUSTRY?

This is the only reason, our men and women were ordered to die in Iraq I can come up with.

GOP/Republicans/conservatives/neo-cons are the worst leaders a country could be duped into voting for. They have made a fool out of everyone who voted for them. From our president all the way down to the crappy school board who wants to teach "Intelligent Design" to our children. These people are DUMB and CRAZY! The neo-con generation needs to STAY at HOME and watch TV, and STAY OUT OF GOVERNMENT.

[huskerarmy]

"On these missions we do not see a civil war, we do not see sectarian violence, and we never see any reporters there to tell that side of the story."

VikinGI,

Are you suggesting that there is no civil war or sectarian violence? Do not loose track of the underlying problem with the Iraq war. There is no basis for it. In spite of your humanitarian efforts and good deeds, even if all was as peachy smooth as some on the right would like us to believe, the war itself does not make sense. There are no WMD's, Iraq had nothing to do with 911, the war has become a cause celeb for recruiting new terrorists, the present government has close ties to shiite fundamentalists and will likely gravitate over time towards Iran, the entire region is more unstable then ever. Things are going to get much worse. The lesson of Viet Nam was that we cannot be the worlds policemen and invade every non-democratic country around the globe. We seemed not to have learned anything from that war.

[huskerarmy]

Excellent post itchybrain! It always amazes me when those who arrogantly claim to love America more than the rest of us take the freedoms we are guaranteed by the Bill of Rights so tentatively.

[sharncedar]

Is it worse to kill a whole country or to pretend afterwards you were doing the right thing? Which is the greater evil, I don't know, the whole thing makes me sick.

It is just like Vietnam, isn't it, we can say "support the troops" but we don't even recognize you guys, the killer monsters we've created. There is no way we can make it OK, because it isn't OK. There were no WMD's in Iraq, there was no declared war, there was no provocation, so everything we've done is flat-out murder.

[sharncedar]

"Some times it takes a bomb, some times it takes a cartoon"

C'mon, dude. You dropped millions of tons of bombs on that country, dismantled the government intentionally down to a low level (didn't do that to Japan after WWII, for example, it was pure stupidity), and killed thousands of people with sniper fire just for walking down the street.

Look what happened to America say New Orleans, with the rioting and looting if there is even a mild breakdown of security. You guys smashed that country to bits, then let them get up and smashed them again and agin.

There is nobody responsible for the carnage in Iraq but you are your friends (and those who gave the orders). I know you guys were just trying to do your job, but you pulled the trigger, man, don't try to pretend there is nothing wrong with it. Like human life doesn't even matter.

[itchybrain]

A few points notblue...

1) The very freedoms you mention are in jeapordy not because we should treat people with at least a little respect, they are in danger because you would gladly give them away to ease your mind.

2) Our human dignity, civil rights, and respect for life is not our weakness, it's the source of our strength. It takes a lot of courage to maintain ones values in the face of such adversity. To become like them is a cowardly act that sells out our birthright and shames our country.

3) I'm not a Democrat, I'm a lifelong Republican who is horrified by what this country has become under the present administration. Apparently I do have some liberal leanings because I'm disgusted with the lies and the torture and the degradation of our freedoms in the name of being free.

And by the way, 'liberal' is not a curse word to be spit out of ones mouth like it was something that tastes bad. It is an opposing philosophy that at least 50% or more of the people in this country follow that deserves to be aired and discussed. We would all be better off if people opened their ears instead of their mouths.

[vikinggi]

Rafterman,

Thanks for the kind words and for proving my point.

It sure must appear that the bad outweighs the good in Iraq when viewed from your livingroom sofa.

Yes, many of my fellow soldiers have lost their lives - Don't you dare think for a second that we do not feel the pain and loss having our buddies torn from us.

As for us being responsible for wrecking Iraq in the first place, let us not forget how simple it is to wreck things. Some times it takes a bomb, some times it takes a cartoon, sometimes it just takes a rumor about koran mistreatment.

It is just frustrating to see my fellow Democrats (yes I said fellow) misrepresent all that is happening over here in Iraq. It is all frustrating to see how many also believe anything negative which is fed to them.

So many are blinded by their hatred of our President (or the military) that they cannot see any good news presented to them, or who simply choose to live in denial of anything which may be positive about our presence here.

[grumpas]

I am sick to death of people like you notblue who live off in the twilight zone with fascist George! You spend your time spouting how much you love this country while you systematically try and destroy it with practices that have never been a part of this country! You try to dismantal a democratic government run by the people, for one run by a few blow hards who have not clue what they are doing! You try your best to rewrite the Constitution to suit your agenda! I have yet to hear one of you mention that we invaded Iraq over lies (one of the best reasons I can think of to hate us and everything we stand for)! You "Rabid Republican Conservative's" have almost destroyed this country I know and love! Maybe when the job is finished the lot of you will be happy rotting in one of Bush's CIA detention camps around the world! Stuck forever more in a system you helped to create!

[rafterman1]

"I'm not a coward and it's liberals like you that may cost us our freedom."

You want to preserve our freedom by destroying it - by limiting it? Yeah, that makes sense.

"I love America and what it stands for,"

What does America stand for? I thought it was freedom, human dignity, civil rights and respect for life. Yet, below, you said these things were a weakness.

"however, our enemy wants to destroy our civilized society."

Which is exactly what they will do if we let them rewrite our laws to limit freedom. You are doing exactly what the terrorists want - to be afraid of our own freedom.

"They see our human dignity, civil rights, and respect for life as our weakness."

They may see it that way, but it is our strength. It's frightening how just one big attack was enough to have people who in the past would rather die than give up their freedoms (when Repubs were true conservatives) suddenly hand the "keys to the Constiution" to anyone willing to rewrite it to promise security. Good thing you all weren't around when Pearl Harbor got attacked. We'd probably be a Communist country today after our Contitution would have been scrapped.

[notblue]

Itchybrain, I'm not a coward and it's liberals like you that may cost us our freedom. I love America and what it stands for, however, our enemy wants to destroy our civilized society. They see our human dignity, civil rights, and respect for life as our weakness.