More GIs Charged With Iraqi Abuse
Five U.S. soldiers have been charged with allegedly abusing detainees in Iraq, the military said Monday.
The U.S. military said five soldiers from the 75th Ranger Regiment were charged on Saturday with detainee abuse, stemming from an incident on Sept. 7 "in which three detainees were allegedly punched and kicked while awaiting movement to a detention facility," reports CBS News correspondent Cami McCormick. The five have been charged with violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
"Upon discovery of the alleged abuse, officials immediately launched an investigation which ultimately led to the charges being proffered," the command said.
Names and ranks of the five soldiers were not released and the statement gave no further details.
Allegations of prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad gained international notoriety in 2004 after a number of U.S. military personnel were charged with humiliating and assaulting detainees at the facility. Nine Army reservists were convicted in the scandal.
The announcement of fresh abuse charges came as President Bush vigorously defended U.S. interrogation practices in the war on terrorists and lobbied against a congressional drive to outlaw torture. CBS News chief White House correspondent John Roberts reports Mr. Bush wants to exempt the CIA from a torture ban, arguing it's crucial to protect the American people from terrorists.
Also Monday, four U.S. soldiers were killed when a suicide car bomber attacked their checkpoint south of Baghdad, the military said.
The soldiers were assigned to the Army's Task Force Baghdad, which is responsible for security in the capital and the surrounding area. But the statement did not specify where the attack occurred.
U.S. and Iraqi troops continued battling insurgents house-to-house, the third day of an assault against al Qaeda-led insurgents in a town near the Syrian border. The U.S. command reported the first American death in the operation.
In Baghdad, a leading Sunni Arab politician, Adnan al-Dulaimi, called Monday for a halt to U.S. and Iraqi military operations against cities in order to encourage disaffected Sunnis to join the political process and vote in national elections next month.
In other developments:
The U.S. commander of the joint force, Col. Stephen W. Davis, said that by late Sunday, his troops had moved "about halfway" through Husaybah, a market town along the Euphrates River about 200 miles northwest of Baghdad.
At least 36 insurgents have been killed since the assault began Saturday, and about 200 men have been detained, Davis told The Associated Press by telephone. He did not give a breakdown of nationalities of the detainees. Many were expected to be from a pro-insurgent Iraqi tribe.
A Marine was killed by small arms fire in Husaybah on Sunday, the military said. The New York Times, which has a journalist embedded with the U.S. forces, reported that three Marines were also wounded Sunday.
Elsewhere, an American soldier was killed Sunday by a roadside bomb near Tikrit, the U.S. command said. The latest deaths raised to at least 2,047 the number of members of the U.S. military who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Five people, including a woman, were killed and four were injured Monday in east Baghdad when a mortar shell exploded near a Turkomen club, police said. It was unclear if the club was the target.
U.S. officials have described Husaybah, which used to have a population of about 30,000, as a stronghold of al Qaeda in Iraq, which is led by Jordanian extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Husaybah is a main entry point for foreign fighters, weapons and ammunition entering from Syria. From Husaybah, the fighters head down the Euphrates valley to Baghdad and other cities.
"We are meeting quite a bit of resistance here in Husaybah but the offensive is going well," Capt. Conlon Carabine said in an interview with U.S. television Monday. "Our strategy is basically to kill the insurgents when we come across them."
Carabine said U.S. and Iraqi forces plan to establish a long-term presence in the town once the insurgents are routed. "Once we clear this town, we're going to stay in this town," he said. "We're not going to leave this population."
Davis said the militants were putting up a tough fight because "this area is near and dear to the insurgents, particularly the foreign fighters" because it is so close to the Syrian border.
"This has been the first stop for foreign fighters, and this is strategic ground for them," he said.
The U.S.-led assault includes about 1,000 Iraqi soldiers and will serve as a major test of the fledgling army's capability to battle insurgents — seen as essential to enabling the Bush administration to draw down its 157,000-strong military presence.
The Americans hope the Husaybah operation, codenamed "Operation Steel Curtain," will help restore enough security in the area so the Sunni Arab population can participate in Dec. 15 national parliamentary elections.
If the Sunnis win a significant number of seats in the new parliament, Washington hopes that will persuade more members of the minority to lay down their arms and join the political process, enabling U.S. and other international troops to begin withdrawing next year.
However, a protracted battle in Husaybah with civilian casualties risks a backlash in the Sunni Arab community, which provides most of the insurgents. Some Sunni politicians fear military operations will further alienate fellow Sunni Arabs.
In Baghdad, al-Dulaimi urged military commanders Monday "to halt their attacks against cities and take into consideration that innocent people should not be punished because of the actions of others."
But al-Dulaimi also urged Sunnis not to boycott the Dec. 15 ballot. The decision by many Sunnis to stay away from the polls during the January election enabled rival Shiites and Kurds to win an overwhelming majority in the current legislature.