Iraqi Prisoner Abuse Photos: Sgt. Javal Davis

Rumsfeld Knew: Iraq Prison Abuse Part of Pentagon-Approved Black Ops Program:

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/17/1431219



PENTAGON NEOCON CABAL ORDERED IRAQ PRISON TORTURE:

http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/zone0/viewtopic.php?t=15417


http://www.counterpunch.org/madsen05102004.html

May 10, 2004

The Israeli Torture Template
Rape, Feces and Urine-Dipped Cloth Sacks
By WAYNE MADSEN

With mounting evidence that a shadowy group of former Israeli Defense Force and General Security Service (Shin Bet) Arabic-speaking interrogators were hired by the Pentagon under a classified "carve out" sub-contract to brutally interrogate Iraqi prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, one only needs to examine the record of abuse of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners in Israel to understand what Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld meant, when referring to new, yet to be released photos and videos, he said, "if these images are released to the public, obviously its going to make matters worse."

According to a political appointee within the Bush administration and U.S. intelligence sources, the interrogators at Abu Ghraib included a number of Arabic-speaking Israelis who also helped U.S. interrogators develop the "R2I" (Resistance to Interrogation) techniques. Many of the torture methods were developed by the Israelis over many years of interrogating Arab prisoners on the occupied West Bank and in Israel itself.

Clues about worse photos and videos of abuse may be found in Israeli files about similar abuse of Palestinian and other Arab prisoners. In March 2000, a lawyer for a Lebanese prisoner kidnapped in 1994 by the Israelis in Lebanon claimed that his client had been subjected to torture, including rape. The type of compensation offered by Rumsfeld in his testimony has its roots in cases of Israeli torture of Arabs. In the case of the Lebanese man, said to have been raped by his Israeli captors, his lawyer demanded compensation of $1.47 million. The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel documented the types of torture meted out on Arab prisoners. Many of the tactics coincide with those contained in the Taguba report: beatings and prolonged periods handcuffed to furniture. In an article in the December 1998 issue of The Progressive, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb reported on the treatment given to a 23-year old Palestinian held on "administrative detention." The prisoner was "cuffed behind a chair 17 hours a day for 120 days . . . [he] had his head covered with a sack, which was often dipped in urine or feces. Guards played loud music right next to his ears and frequently taunted him with threats of physical and sexual violence." If additional photos and videos document such practices, the Bush administration and the American people have, indeed, "seen nothing yet."

Although it is still largely undocumented if any of the contractor named in the report of General Antonio Taguba were associated with the Israeli military or intelligence services, it is noteworthy that one, John Israel, who was identified in the report as being employed by both CACI International of Arlington, Virginia, and Titan, Inc., of San Diego, may not have even been a U.S. citizen. The Taguba report states that Israel did not have a security clearance, a requirement for employment as an interrogator for CACI. According to CACI's web site, "a Top Secret Clearance (TS) that is current and US citizenship" are required for CACI interrogators working in Iraq. In addition, CACI requires that its interrogators "have at least two years experience as a military policeman or similar type of law enforcement/intelligence agency whereby the individual utilized interviewing techniques."

Speculation that "John Israel" may be an intelligence cover name has fueled speculation whether this individual could have been one of a number of Israeli interrogators hired under a classified contract. Because U.S. citizenship and documentation thereof are requirements for a U.S. security clearance, Israeli citizens would not be permitted to hold a Top Secret clearance. However, dual U.S.-Israeli citizens could have satisfied Pentagon requirements that interrogators hold U.S. citizenship and a Top Secret clearance. Although the Taguba report refers twice to Israel as an employee of Titan, the company claims he is one of their sub-contractors. CACI stated that one of the men listed in the report "is not and never has been a CACI employee" without providing more detail. A U.S. intelligence source revealed that in the world of intelligence "carve out" subcontracts such confusion is often the case with "plausible deniability" being a foremost concern.

In fact, the Taguba report does reference the presence of non-U.S. and non-Iraqi interrogators at Abu Ghraib. The report states, "In general, US civilian contract personnel (Titan Corporation, CACI, etc), third country nationals, and local contractors do not appear to be properly supervised within the detention facility at Abu Ghraib."

The Pentagon is clearly concerned about the outing of the Taguba report and its references to CACI, Titan, and third country nationals, which could permanently damage U.S. relations with Arab and Islamic nations. The Pentagon's angst may explain why the Taguba report is classified Secret No Foreign Dissemination.

The leak of the Taguba report was so radioactive, Daniel R. Dunn, the Information Assurance Officer for Douglas Feith's Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Policy (Policy Automation Services Security Team), sent a May 6, 2004, For Official Use Only Urgent E-mail to Pentagon staffers stating, "THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS REPORT IS CLASSIFIED; DO NOT GO TO FOX NEWS TO READ OR OBTAIN A COPY." Considering Feith's close ties to the Israelis, such a reaction by his top computer security officer, a Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP), is understandable, although considering the fact that CISSPs are to act on behalf of the public good, it is also regrettable..

The reference to "third country nationals" in a report that restricts its dissemination to U.S. coalition partners (Great Britain, Poland, Italy, etc.) is another indication of the possible involvement of Israelis in the interrogation of Iraqi prisoners. Knowledge that the U.S. may have been using Israeli interrogators could have severely fractured the Bush administration's tenuous "coalition of the willing' in Iraq. General Taguba's findings were transmitted to the Coalition Forces Land Component Command on March 9, 2004, just six days before the Spanish general election, one that the opposition anti-Iraq war Socialists won. The Spanish ultimately withdrew their forces from Iraq.

During his testimony before the Senate Armed Service Committee, Rumsfeld was pressed upon by Senator John McCain about the role of the private contractors in the interrogations and abuse. McCain asked Rumsfeld four pertinent questions, ". . . who was in charge? What agency or private contractor was in charge of the interrogations? Did they have authority over the guards? And what were the instructions that they gave to the guards?"

When Rumsfeld had problems answering McCain's question, Lt. Gen. Lance Smith, the Deputy Commander of the U.S. Central Command, said there were 37 contract interrogators used in Abu Ghraib. The two named contractors, CACI and Titan, have close ties to the Israeli military and technology communities. Last January 14, after Provost Marshal General of the Army, Major General Donald Ryder, had already uncovered abuse at Abu Ghraib, CACI's President and CEO, Dr. J.P. (Jack) London was receiving the Jerusalem Fund of Aish HaTorah's Albert Einstein Technology award at the Jerusalem City Hall, with right-wing Likud politician Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski in attendance. Oddly, CACI waited until February 2 to publicly announce the award in a press release. CACI has also received grants from U.S.-Israeli bi-national foundations.

Titan also has had close connections to Israeli interests. After his stint as CIA Director, James Woolsey served as a Titan director. Woolsey is an architect of America's Iraq policy and the chief proponent of and lobbyist for Ahmad Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress. An adviser to the neo-conservative Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Jewish Institute of National Security Affairs, Project for the New American Century, Center for Security Policy, Freedom House, and Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, Woolsey is close to Stephen Cambone, the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, a key person in the chain of command who would have not only known about the torture tactics used by U.S. and Israeli interrogators in Iraq but who would have also approved them. Cambone was associated with the Project for the New American Century and is viewed as a member of Rumsfeld's neo-conservative "cabal" within the Pentagon.

Another person considered by Pentagon insiders to have been knowledgeable about the treatment of Iraqi prisoners is U.S. Army Col. Steven Bucci, a Green Beret and Rumsfeld's military assistant and chief traffic cop for the information flow to the Defense Secretary. According to Pentagon insiders, Bucci was involved in the direction of a special covert operations unit composed of former U.S. special operations personnel who answered to the Pentagon rather than the CIA's Special Activities Division, the agency's own paramilitary group. The Pentagon group included Arabic linguists and former members of the Green Berets and Delta Force who operated covertly in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan. Titan also uses linguists trained in the languages (Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Pashto, Urdu, and Tajik) of those same countries. It is not known if a link exists between Rumsfeld's covert operations unit and Titan's covert operations linguists.

Another Titan employee named in the Taguba report is Adel L. Nakhla. Nakhla is a name common among Egypt's Coptic Christian community, however, it is not known if Adel Nakhla is either an Egyptian-American or a national of Egypt. A CACI employee identified in the report, Steven Stephanowicz, is referred to as "Stefanowicz" in a number of articles on the prison abuse. Stefanowicz is the spelling used by Joe Ryan, another CACI employee assigned with Stefanowicz to Abu Ghraib. Ryan is a radio personality on KSTP, a conservative radio station in Minneapolis, who maintained a daily log of his activities in Iraq on the radio's web site before it was taken down. Ryan indicated that Stefanowicz (or Stephanowicz) continued to hold his interrogation job in Iraq even though General Taguba recommended he lose his security clearance and be terminated for the abuses at Abu Ghraib.

In an even more bizarre twist, the Philadelphia Daily News identified a former expatriate public relations specialist for the government of South Australia in Adelaide named Steve Stefanowicz as possibly being the same person identified in the Taguba report. In 2000, Stefanowicz, who grew up in the Philadelphia and Allentown areas, left for Australia. On September 16, 2001, he was quoted by the Sunday Mail of Adelaide on the 911 attacks. He said of the attacks, "It was one of the most incredible and most devastating things I have ever seen. I have been in constant contact with my family and friends in the US and the mood was very solemn and quiet. But this is progressing into anger." Stefanowicz returned to the United States and volunteered for the Navy in a reserve status. His mother told the Allentown Morning Call in April 2002 that Stefanowicz was stationed somewhere in the Middle East but did not know where because of what Stefanowicz said was "security concerns." His mother told the Philadelphia Daily News that her son was in Iraq but she knew nothing about his current status.

Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and columnist. He served in the National Security Agency (NSA) during the Reagan administration and wrote the introduction to Forbidden Truth. He is the co-author, with John Stanton, of "America's Nightmare: The Presidency of George Bush II." His forthcoming book is titled: "Jaded Tasks: Big Oil, Black Ops, and Brass Plates."

Madsen can be reached at: WMadsen777 [at] aol.com

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http://www.antiwar.com/justin

Who is John Israel?
He could be one of the secret masterminds behind the Abu Ghraib outrage


The blithering, the blathering, the pontification, and the grandstanding – that about describes the Senate Armed Services Committee hearings on the Abu Ghraib filth-fest. The Democrats were so hot to link Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld directly to the scandal, and the Republicans were so busy defending their man (and the war) that neither bothered much to mention the key culprits, as identified in the Taguba report:
"I find that there is sufficient credible information to warrant an Inquiry UP Procedure 15, AR 381-10, U.S. Army Intelligence Activities, be conducted to determine the extent of culpability of M[ilitary] I[intelligence] personnel, assigned to the 205th MI Brigade and the Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center (JIDC) at Abu Ghraib (BCCF). Specifically, I suspect that COL Thomas M. Pappas, LTC Steve L. Jordan, Mr. Steven Stephanowicz [sic], and Mr. John Israel were either directly or indirectly responsible for the abuses at Abu Ghraib (BCCF) and strongly recommend immediate disciplinary action as described in the preceding paragraphs as well as the initiation of a Procedure 15 Inquiry to determine the full extent of their culpability."
Even when General Taguba went up to Capitol Hill and testified, along with the shifty-eyed undersecretary of defense for intelligence, Stephen A. Cambone, the senators spent so much time listening to the sound of their own voices, and scoring brownie points off one another, that the subject of the "private" contractors and the intelligence community's involvement in all this only came up briefly, like lightning illuminating a cloud-clogged sky.
It came up at the start of the hearing, but Senator John Warner, who even looks like a hawk – the beakish nose, the hooded eyes, the predatory glint in his eye – approached the subject gingerly:
SEN. WARNER: "I ask the same question to you. In simple laymen's language, so it can be understood, what do you think went wrong, in terms of the failure of discipline and the failure of this interrogation process to be consistent with known regulations, national and international? And also, to what extent do you have knowledge of any participation by other than U.S. military, namely Central Intelligence Agency and/or contractors, in the performance of the interrogations?"
GEN. TAGUBA: "Sir, as far as your last question, I'll answer that first. The comments about participation of other government agencies or contractors were related to us through interviews that we conducted. It was related to our examination of written statements and, of course, some other records. With regards to your first question, sir, there was a failure of leadership..."
The media has focused on this last phrase, probably because it not only seems to indict Rumsfeld but also because it's a made-to-order headline. But the first part of Taguba's answer is the most pertinent. Warner, obviously not eager to have the general go into detail in public, then answered his own question, referring to the over 1,000 pages of documentation submitted to the committee. In short, the answer to the senator's question was clearly yes, and the details were to be found in the classified documents that only members of the committee and other privileged characters would read.
So they blithered, and they blathered, and struck poses, and not until it came Senator Daniel K. Akaka's turn was any further light shed on the dark corners of this investigation. The Hawaii Democrat looked affable enough, and he was smiling, but his questions, when they came, cut straight to the heart of the matter:
SENATOR AKAKA: "General Taguba, in your report you reference the lack of supervision over U.S. civilian contractor personnel, third country nationals and local contractors within the detention facility at Abu Ghraib. During your investigation, did you determine how many civilian contract personnel were working there? Who supervised these individuals? And can you describe what you observed in terms of type of access these individuals had to the detainee areas?"
GEN. TAGUBA: "Sir, we did not make a determination of how many civilian contractors were assigned to the 205th MI Brigade and operating at Abu Ghraib. I personally interviewed a translator and I also personally interviewed an interrogator, both civilians, contractors. There was also a statement, and substantiated by the witnesses that we interviewed, of another translator, a third-country national in fact, that was involved. And there was another third- country national who was acting as a translator for the interrogators that was involved in one of the interrogation incidents where dogs were used. Their supervision, sir, from the best that we could determine or discern from the information that we gathered, was they were under the supervision of the Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center, the JIDC, who is then under the supervision of one, a lieutenant colonel, who was also supervised by the brigade commander, the MI brigade commander. That was the chain, sir."
Third country nationals, eh? So what third country are we talking about? Britain? Canada, perhaps? I guess we can probably rule out Monaco.
The only translator identified in the Taguba report is John Israel, supposedly a "contract translator" employed by the Titan Corp. Mr. Israel is furthermore described as not having a security clearance, an unusual condition for someone in his position – unless, of course, he's not an American, in which case it would be perfectly understandable.
So far, very interesting. But then it got even more interesting:
SEN. AKAKA: "General Taguba, your report finds that two contractors were either directly or indirectly responsible for the abuses at Abu Ghraib. Were either of these contracted personnel supervising soldiers or in a position to direct soldiers to take specific actions?"
GEN. TAGUBA: "Sir, they were not in any way supervising any soldiers, MP or otherwise. However, the guards, those who were involved, looked at them as competent authority as in the manner by which they described them, as the MI or by name or by function."
A reasonable interpretation of Taguba's somewhat garbled answer is that, yes, the MPs and soldiers who committed sadistic outrages against detainees acted under the influence and at the instigation of those they believed to be intelligence officers, some of whom were "third country nationals."
Senator Akaka follows up with a question for Secretary Cambone: "What kind of training," he wanted to know, "did the U.S. civilian contractors have prior to going to Iraq?"
The look on Cambone's face made the whole dreary procedure worth it, I thought his eyebrows were going to fly right off.
It is no secret that the Israelis have been "advising" the Americans on how to run the occupation: after all, they have so much experience in the matter, and are more than eager to impart their hard-won expertise. The methods employed by Israeli security forces are quite different from those utilized by the U.S. military: the use of "limited" torture is okay by them, and the Palestinians are no strangers to the sort of treatment meted out to the inmates at Abu Ghraib. So when Senator Akaka asked Cambone what kind of training the contractors had received, my first thought was: The very best!
The Mossad is rightly feared throughout the Middle East, and the world, as the most ruthless (and daring) intelligence agency of them all. Only the KGB ever rivaled its reputation. That they would not hesitate to employ the sort of interrogation methods used to "soften up" the prisoners of Abu Ghraib is beyond dispute: just ask the Palestinians – and Human Rights Watch. That we have imported them, along with their methods, into Iraq seems altogether likely.
But, hey, wait a minute, how is it that American soldiers were taking orders from civilian contractors, never mind "third country nationals"? Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) cleared that up when he put the question to Taguba pointblank:
SEN. GRAHAM: "Part of the defense that we're going to be hearing about in these court martials is that the people that we're charging are going to say this system that we see photographic evidence of, was at least encouraged if not directed by others. Do you think that's an accurate statement?"
GEN. TAGUBA: "Sir, I would say that they were probably influenced by others –"
SEN. GRAHAM: "Okay –"
GEN. TAGUBA: " – if not necessarily directed specifically by others."
As U.S. and, in all likelihood, Israeli intelligence officers looked on approvingly, Trailer-Park Lynndie and her ex-prison guard boyfriend, with the active collaboration of the other MPs, systematically abused and degraded the inmates. So much of this nightmare scenario – the hooded prisoners forced to engage in behavior looked on with utter horror in Muslim society – seems like such a gift to Osama bin Laden that the revelation of Israeli involvement gives the whole affair a surreal quality.
For the role of CIA overseer, I nominate Steven Stefanowicz, the 34-year-old ex-Navy reservist, now a civilian interrogator supposedly employed by CACI International, who emigrated to Australia, before 9/11, and worked in "information technology" in the city of Adelaide, where – he says – he became engaged to be married. As detailed in my last column, Stefanowicz alleges he underwent a transformation after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and returned to the U.S. determined to get in on the fight, though in what capacity was never quite clear. Now it turns out he had bragged to his friends that he had joined the CIA, according to a piece in the Philadelphia Daily News:
"The Philadelphia-area native at the center of the Iraq torture scandal has reportedly told friends he wants to get out of there right away and return to Australia, where he claimed three years ago he was joining the CIA. 'It's safe to say I've seen enough for a lifetime here in Iraq, and it's definitely time to come home,' Steve Stefanowicz reportedly said in an e-mail to a friend in the southern Australian city of Adelaide. He apparently meant Adelaide and not Telford, the Montgomery County, Pa., suburb where he was reared.
"Meanwhile, another Australian friend told the Daily News in an e-mail that in fall 2001 'Steve announced to all of his friends that he was leaving Adelaide to return to America to work for the Central Intelligence Agency.'"
Alas, the Australians don't seem all that eager to have him. Justice Minister Chris Ellison said Stefanowicz "would not be welcome in Australia," according to the Herald Sun newspaper:
"'We do not hold Australia out as a haven for anyone who has broken the law and is trying to evade it,' Senator Ellison said. He said he was not aware of the details of the case but Australia would be prepared to help the U.S. in any investigation into Mr. Stefanowicz. 'We would receive any request for assistance sympathetically,' he said."
Yeah, well if I were Senator Ellison I wouldn't hold my breath. This is one refugee from the law that many in Washington would just as soon see the back of. The same goes for the mysterious John Israel, about whom next to nothing is known – except that, according to the London Telegraph,
"Mr. Israel has left Iraq while Mr. Stefanowicz is 'on leave' pending inquiries that could lead to criminal charges being brought against them."
Mr. Israel has skipped town for parts unknown, and Stefanowicz is trying to get to Australia, where he supposedly is going to marry a woman he describes as his fiancée. Except that she isn't. This news story describes Joanna Buttfield as an "former girlfriend" coming to Stefanowicz's defense. Another Australian account also refers to their relationship in the past tense, and cites this very interesting tidbit from Ms. Buttfield:
"Mr. Stefanowicz had refused to discuss details of his life as a U.S. Army reservist, she said. 'We both made a conscious decision not to talk about it because there was so much he couldn't talk about,' she said. 'It was the source of some frustration. He'd say, 'I can't talk about that'."
For a CIA guy, however, he sure sounds like a bit of a loser, and not exactly low-profile. His Australian friends are coming out of the woodwork, and talking to the newspapers:
"'The events of 9/11 had nothing to do with his motivation to return to the U.S. ,' South Philadelphia native Sam Krupsky, now an executive with the Australian Rail Track Corp., wrote [to the Philadelphia Daily News]. "He was out of work and out of luck, and left because he had no prospects here.'
"…Krupsky, the Australian rail-track worker who was born in Philadelphia and who moved to Adelaide in the mid-1970s to play semi-pro basketball, cast doubt on Stefanowicz's skills. 'Steve tried hard for a couple of months to find a job here, but was always unsuccessful because he kept freaking out all of his potential employers,' Krupsky wrote. He said Stefanowicz had boasted to friends on his arrival in Australia that he'd turned down a job offer from the CIA."
After 9/11, did he take them up on their offer – and proceed to "freak out" his new employers to a degree that not even the catty Krupsky could have imagined?
If Stefanowicz is employed by the CIA, then he certainly didn't try to keep it very secret. He was very visible, even prior to his notoriety, due to the efforts of his mother who founded a chapter of the Blue Star Mothers in their home town, and was featured on the DoD's "Defend America" website, invoking her son as a kind of patriotic model. In the wake of the scandal, a number of accounts have been published of his early history and the course of his career, both here and in Australia. We know he graduated from Souderton Area High School in 1988, and that, in 1998, he joined a Naval Reserve program. We also know that, for whatever reason, after 9/11 he quit his job in Australia as an "information technology recruiter" and went back to the U.S., where he volunteered for active duty. The Washington Post reports that "he served in Muscat, Oman, for most of 2002, and his rank is listed as intelligence specialist 3rd class. Stefanowicz, who received a number of military awards, including a medal for meritorious service, left his last post, at Willow Grove, Pa., last September." Friends of the family say he became a civilian to take a job with CACI. Of the key role Stefanowicz played in the torture chambers of Abu Ghraib, the Taguba report is unequivocal. According to General Taguba, Stefanowicz:
"Allowed and/or instructed MPs, who were not trained in interrogation techniques, to facilitate interrogations by 'setting conditions' which were neither authorized and in accordance with applicable regulations/policy. He clearly knew his instructions equated to physical abuse."
However, the General gets a bit murky when it comes to detailing the specifics against John Israel, who, in addition to not having a security clearance, is found to have
"Denied ever having seen interrogation processes in violation of the IROE, which is contrary to several witness statements."
And that is it.
While we know plenty about Stefanowicz, what's extremely odd is that nothing comparable has come out about the other civilian contractor named by General Taguba as having "direct or indirect" responsibility for the Abu Ghraib house of horrors. We don't know how old "John Israel" is, where he lives, where he was born, or what he looks like – nothing.
We don't even know where he is. All we know is that, according to the Telegraph, he's flown the coop. Gee, I'll bet Army Specialist Jeremy Sivits, who faces court martial, a stiff jail sentence, and worldwide calumny as the "torturer of Abu Ghraib," wishes he could do the same.
If the Israelis are involved in this maelstrom of evil to some extent, then the U.S. is taking the fall for them. Just as Sivits and the others are taking the fall for the intelligence officers who directed the Abu Ghraib horror show – and are so far getting away with reprimands, and relative anonymity.
– Justin Raimondo

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Looks like the Israeli association to the intelligence/torture is completely being white- washed for Israel (read former Republican Congressman Paul Findley's 'They Dare to Speak Out' book to see why) as the following article (URL) also conveys how closely tied the US is to Israeli 'anti-terror' tactics:

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=
3446


Israeli link possible in US torture techniques
By Ali Abunimah
Special to The Daily Star
Tuesday, May 11, 2004

In exchange for interrogation training, did Washington award security
contracts?

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NEOCON PENTAGON OFFICIAL CLASHES WITH GENERAL TAGUBA:

http://www.itszone.co.uk/zone0/viewtopic.php?t=15305


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Is Israel behind the orders for the tortures in Iraq?:


http://www.itszone.co.uk/zone0/viewtopic.php?t=15215

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Israeli lessons for the US in Iraq:

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C182D988-28E3-4D48-ADFC-F15D6509B0EC.htm

http://www.the-signal.com/News/ViewStory.asp?storyID=4769

MP's Lawyer: Translator Gave Orders


6/2/2004
Leon Worden City Editor


Attorneys for guards charged with abuse at Abu Ghraib prison last fall would like to talk to Canyon Country resident John B. Israel.
They tried in April, but he had left Iraq.
?It is very frustrating,? said Paul Bergrin, the stateside attorney for Sgt. Javal ?Sean? Davis of Roselle, N.J.
Davis, 26, is one of seven Army reserve guards to face criminal charges for their roles at Abu Ghraib. Several, including Davis, are pointing fingers at superiors, claiming they were instructed or encouraged by military and civilian intelligence personnel to ?soften up? prisoners for questioning.
Davis and two other guards believe Israel, a civilian translator under contract with Army intelligence, was one of them, Bergrin said.
?He (Israel) is one of the intelligence individuals identified by three of the accused,? Bergrin told The Signal on Tuesday. ?He fits the characteristics and physical profile of one of the individuals ... who came in and gave the orders to ?soften them up? for the interrogations.?
While Bergrin wouldn?t identify the other accusers, Israel is one of four people implicated in an Army report as having been ?directly or indirectly responsible for the abuses? and of making false statements about interrogations he witnessed.
No charges are known to have been filed against Israel. His attorney, Christopher Darden, told The Signal on Saturday that he is making no statements.
Arriving at Abu Ghraib on Oct. 14, two days after a Military Intelligence brigade took operational control there, Israel was part of the buildup of intelligence personnel who were needed to question swelling ranks of prisoners as Iraqi insurgents stepped up their attacks on U.S. ground forces.
Israel would have been assigned to a three-member interrogation team, known as a ?tiger team,? that included one interrogator, one translator and one U.S. government agent, Bergrin said.
He said Davis? defense team wanted Israel and two other civilian contractors to testify at his client?s Article 32 (pretrial) hearing in Baghdad on April 9, but Israel was nowhere to be found.
?They were asked (to appear), but they were taken immediately (out of Iraq),? Bergrin said. ?The exact responses of the (Army) investigators were that they were ?unavailable, whereabouts unknown.??
A Canyon Country neighbor said Israel returned home the first week of April.
Bergrin said no civilian interrogators or translators testified at three Article 32 hearings held in April ? those of Davis, Spec. Charles A. Graner, and Staff Sgt. Ivan L. ?Chip? Frederick II. Only one Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) officer appeared and gave second-hand testimony based on interviews he conducted.
?My client remembers the Titan and CACI (contractors) and OGA, whether they were FBI or CIA,? Bergrin said.
OGA is shorthand for ?other government agencies,? and the prison guards assumed they were ?CIA or FBI or some other intelligence (agency),? Bergrin said. ?It was impossible to identify them.?
Titan Corp. and CACI International Corp. are two intelligence firms that provided interrogators and translators to the prison under umbrella contracts with the Interior Department.
?You can see, if these individuals are not being made available? to testify at the Article 32 hearings, ?there has got to be a cover-up somewhere,? Bergrin said.
?There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever, based upon the partial investigation that has been done in this case, that these young soldiers were acting based upon orders of intelligence agents whose sole purpose and function was to get as much information as possible from the detainees, at any cost and by whatever means available,? he said.
Frederick?s attorney, Gary Myers, concurred that no civilian contractors appeared at his client?s Article 32 hearing. He said he will request a new hearing ? in the United States.
?We intend to seek a new Article 32 hearing (that is more like) what it?s supposed to be, which is mainly fact-finding,? Myers told The Signal.
Bergrin said he will request Israel?s presence at Davis? court martial, which hasn?t been scheduled.
?We?re going to request that these individuals be made available to testify,? he said, referring to Israel as well as Steve Stephanowicz, a CACI interrogator, and Adel L. Nakhla, a Titan translator.
Darden and an associate didn?t return phone messages Tuesday asking whether Israel will cooperate with Bergrin?s request to appear.
Bergrin acknowledged the difficulty in linking a name with a face ? because interrogators and translators didn?t use their real names in front of prison guards.
?(You must) understand that military intelligence personnel would not be identified,? he said. ?They never used their real names at all. A lot (called themselves things like) ?Special Agent James Bond?,? he said.
But Israel ?fits the physical description of one of the agents of what went on there,? and ?there were numerous photographs with military intelligence (personnel),? Bergrin said.
?He (Israel) has been proven, based upon independent examination of numerous military police officers, to be an integral part of the intelligence-gathering community and a catalyst behind the interrogation techniques that were used at the Abu Ghraib prison, including but not limited to placing a hood on the heads of detainees, nudity, sexual humiliation and embarrassment, and the threat of sexual exploitation,? Bergrin said.
No photographs of prison abuse that have been released to the media are known to depict Israel.
About three dozen government investigations of prisoner abuse in Iraq are believed to be under way, but it is unclear whether Israel is a target of any of them.
On May 5, Attorney General John Ashcroft said the Justice Department will ?take action where appropriate? against civilian contractors and said May 21 that they were being investigated.
CACI President J.P. ?Jack? London said in an investor conference call Thursday that his company is the subject of five government investigations, including an Army inquiry into intelligence management practices at Abu Ghraib and other prisons. However, a Titan executive told The Signal on Tuesday that he knows of no investigation of his company?s contract personnel.
?To my knowledge, there are no investigations against Titan whatsoever,? said Ralph Williams, Titan?s vice president of corporate communications.
Titan fired one of its former Abu Ghraib translators, Nakhla, earlier this month.
Asked about a discrepancy in an Army report that lists Israel as an employee of both Titan and CACI, Williams said the report ?misidentifies some people.?
Israel actually works for SOS Interpreting Ltd., a subcontractor to Titan. No relationship has been verified between Israel and CACI.
Little is known of Israel?s background prior to his deployment at Abu Ghraib. His wife told The Signal that the family has lived in Santa Clarita since 1988. Public records indicate he filed for bankruptcy protection in 1993, and that he either paid $220,000 in cash for his house in 1996 or was given it by the builder. Darden didn?t return messages asking for a clarification.

Additional articles by Leon Worden (for 'The Signal') appear at the following URL:

http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/signal/iraq/

Additional material (articles and similar) related to the above appear at the following URL:

http://www.itszone.co.uk/zone0/viewtopic.php?t=15767

I WAS THERE. part of the 72nd Mp out of LV NV. and I would like to say that whatever he had to go threw he did for his country. I know the pain and sufering to friends and family, this situation brought. but remember you were NOT there. Im sorry that I did not have the courage to see were the situation was going.. and as badas it was there, the 372nd was left to deal with hell itself.. K