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Saturday, Mar. 01, 2004

Those soldiers have been reassigned to other duties in Iraq, Col. Jill Morgenthaler said in an e-mail from Iraq. No courts-martial proceedings against them have taken place, she said.

Their boss, Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, commander of the 800th Military Police Brigade, and at least seven others have been "suspended" from their duties at Abu Ghraib prison, Morgenthaler said.

It was unclear precisely what a suspension entails, or if it is the same as being formally relieved. Morgenthaler said she believed Karpinski had returned to the United States.

President Bush on Friday condemned the mistreatment of some Iraqi prisoners, saying, "Their treatment does not reflect the nature of the American people. That's not the way we do things in America. I didn't like it one bit."

He was asked about photos showing scenes of humiliation including Iraqi prisoners naked except for hoods covering their heads, stacked in a human pyramid, one with a slur written in English on his skin. Arab television stations were leading their newscasts on Friday with the photos.

"I share a deep disgust that those prisoners were treated the way they were treated," Bush said.

Karpinski has been replaced as head of the prison by Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, deputy commander for detainment operations. Miller formerly commanded the U.S. prison for alleged terrorists at the Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

A leading human rights group said the military should investigate whether the soldiers' superiors ordered or tolerated the abuse.

'Nothing to Hide'

"The brazenness with which these soldiers conducted themselves ... suggests they felt they had nothing to hide from their superiors," said Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch.

In the past, Karpinski has defended the prison against claims from freed prisoners and human-rights groups that prisoners were abused, saying Iraqis were treated "humanely and fairly."

Last September, during a visit by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, she displayed torture devices used there by Saddam's interrogators. The prison was one of the most notorious in Iraq under Saddam's regime.

The acknowledgment that the soldiers did not receive in-depth training on international covenants regarding the handling of prisoners echoes complaints from Army Reserves Staff Sgt. Ivan "Chip" Frederick, one of the six facing court-martial, and his civilian lawyer in Washington, Gary Myers.

Charges include dereliction of duty, cruelty and maltreatment, assault and indecent acts with another person.

Some military officials privately said that training or no, the U.S. soldiers should have known better.

In some photos from the prison, aired first on CBS' "60 Minutes II" and now around the world, two U.S. soldiers standing near the prisoners hammed it up for the camera.

One of the photos showed a hooded prisoner standing on a box with wires attached to his hands. CBS reported the prisoner was told that if he fell off the box, he would be electrocuted, although in reality the wires were not connected to a power supply.

© 2003 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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