U.S. soldiers stacked Iraqi prisoners in a human pyramid

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. soldiers stacked 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 which led to criminal charges against six Americans.

CBS said the photos, to be shown Wednesday night on "60 Minutes II," were taken late last year at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, where American soldiers were holding 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 for allegedly abusing about 20 prisoners at Abu Ghraib. The charges included dereliction of duty, cruelty and maltreatment, assault and indecent acts with another person.

At the time, U.S. military officials declined to provide details of the evidence against the six soldiers. But on Wednesday, at a news briefing in Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said the investigation began when an American soldier reported the abuse and turned over evidence that included photographs.

Kimmitt confirmed that CBS had obtained those photographs.

One picture, according to CBS, 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 photograph, CBS said, prisoners' bodies were stacked in a pyramid, and one man had a slur written in English on his skin.

In an interview with CBS correspondent Dan Rather, Kimmitt said the photographs were dismaying.

"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."

"If we can't hold ourselves up as an example of how to treat people with dignity and respect, we can't ask that other nations do that to our soldiers," Kimmitt said.

"60 Minutes II" identified one of the implicated soldiers as Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Chip Frederick, who described to Rather what he saw in the Iraqi prison.

"We had no support, no training whatsoever, and I kept asking my chain of command for certain things, rules and regulations, and it just wasn't happening," Frederick said, according to a CBS News release.

"60 Minutes II" also quoted from an e-mail which Frederick reportedly sent to his family in which he said of Iraqi prisoners: "We've had a very high rate with our styles of getting them to break; they usually end up breaking within hours."

At the news briefing in Baghdad, Kimmitt said the abuse allegations had triggered reviews of the command structure that oversees detentions in Iraq and of the interrogation procedures used in detention facilities.

"We are committed to treating all persons under coalition custody with dignity, respect and humanity," Kimmitt said. "Coalition personnel are expected to act appropriately, humanely and in a manner consistent with Geneva Conventions."

A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said investigators have recommended administrative punishment for a number of commanders at Abu Ghraib. The official would not give details on the recommended punishments or how many commanders faced action.

Amnesty International, the London-based human rights group, said in March that many former detainees in Iraq claimed to have been tortured and ill-treated by coalition troops during interrogation.

Methods often reported, it said, included prolonged sleep deprivation, beatings, exposure to loud music and prolonged periods of being covered by a hood.