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FT. CARSON, Colo. — An Iraqi general who died while stuffed in a sleeping bag during an interrogation by U.S. soldiers was “the head of the insurgency in western Iraq and in charge of ferrying foreign fighters into the country in the fall of 2003”, according to witnesses who testified Friday at the murder trial of the lead interrogator.
Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush, 57, died after 16 days in American captivity while undergoing interrogation in a sleeping bag, wrapped in an electric cord. Chief Warrant Officer Lewis E. Welshofer Jr. was sitting on his chest, occasionally placing his hand over the prisoner’s mouth.
Testimony in Welshofer’s Army court-martial concluded Friday, and the case is expected to go to a six-officer panel today. Welshofer faces up to life in a military prison if convicted.
Two intelligence officers with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, to which Welshofer was assigned in 2003, testified that Mowhoush was a much sought-after target as the insurgency strengthened in the region around the border town of Qaim.
“Anything that went through that town ran through him,” Maj. Robert Short said on the witness stand. “You can liken him to a mob boss in the 1920s.”
Short and another intelligence officer, whose testimony was read in court because he was still in Iraq, said Mowhoush led the insurgency in the region. Other insurgent groups deferred to Mowhoush, who had been a general in Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard, Short said.
The judge, Col. Mark Toole, warned that Mowhoush was not on trial but allowed witnesses to describe Mowhoush’s intelligence value so the officers panel could decide whether Welshofer was willfully derelict in his duty to protect the prisoner’s health.
More below the fold …
One witness who testified from behind a curtain this week, and who apparently works for the CIA, said that the day before Mowhoush died, Welshofer told the witness that he was aware of regulations but was “breaking those rules every day”. Welshofer denies making that statement.
Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush Surrendered
Mowhoush surrendered to U.S. forces Nov. 11, 2003, hoping to secure release of his four captured sons. Lt. Col. Paul Calvert, a top officer with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, testified that good intelligence was crucial at that time because U.S. forces did not know who was behind the growing insurgency.
“We lived and died off intelligence,” Calvert said. “Intelligence is what drove operations. The lack of intelligence and information significantly impeded our ability to do operations.”
- Maj. Tiernan Dolan, the lead prosecutor, asked Calvert whether there were standards in obtaining that information.
“There is a right way and a wrong way,” Calvert said.
“That’s what makes our Army what it is, isn’t it?” Dolan asked. “Always standing on the high ground?”
Calvert agreed and left the witness stand, ending the defense’s case.
Tue Aug 2nd, 2005 at 08:55:27 AM PST
Today’s Guardian has more evidence against the US on its use of torture by proxy in a secret network of ghost prisons in allied countries – in the form of a sickening account from someone who has experienced the system firsthand. Benyam Mohammed, a British resident who grew up in London, is currently being held as an “enemy combatant” in Guantanamo Bay. Before that, he was held for two and a half years, during which time he was shuttled between prisons in Pakistan, Morocco and Afghanistan. Despite the US being a party to the Geneva Conventions, the Red Cross was never informed of his capture.
Interrogated general’s sleeping-bag death, CIA’s use of secret Iraqi squad are among details
Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush was being stubborn with his American captors, and a series of intense beatings and creative interrogation tactics were not enough to break his will. On the morning of Nov. 26, 2003, a U.S. Army interrogator and a military guard grabbed a green sleeping bag, stuffed Mowhoush inside, wrapped him in an electrical cord, laid him on the floor and began to go to work. Again.
It was inside the sleeping bag that the 56-year-old detainee took his last breath through broken ribs, lying on the floor beneath a U.S. soldier in Interrogation Room 6 in the western Iraqi desert. Two days before, a secret CIA-sponsored group of Iraqi paramilitaries, working with Army interrogators, had beaten Mowhoush nearly senseless, using fists, a club and a rubber hose, according to classified documents.
The sleeping bag was the idea of a soldier who remembered how his older brother used to force him into one, and how scared and vulnerable it made him feel. Senior officers in charge of the facility near the Syrian border believed that such “claustrophobic techniques” were approved ways to gain information from detainees, part of what military regulations refer to as a “fear up” tactic, according to military court documents.
Front page article by Washington Post and diary @dKos —
● WaPo – The Death of Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush
● WaPo – Documents Tell of Brutal Improvisation by GIs ◊ by Aznomad @dKos
Torture | Murder Mowhoush Front Page @dKos
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Front page article ● Not Torture, Just Murder ◊ by mcjoan
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
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I read in one of those articles, or somewhere, that Mowhoush turned himself in to coalition authorities because his two sone were being held in custody. If this is true, it seems being uncooperative might have been mistaken for not knowing what the interrogator wanted him to know.
and adreneline, do these folks really have the ability to use good judgement?
No, I don’t think they would use good judgement, in the heat of the moment. That’s why it’s important to have rules to avoid having to decide how far is too far. They didn’t.
ignored good judgement. How is it that none of the brass have ever gotten canned by the defense in these military trials? Is it just that military trials work against such things?
I think it’s both, in a confused way. It seems they were given good instructions but ones that were open to abuse if taken too far that would still allow higher-ups to escape accountability.
The accountability should be at the top, not the bottom of this chain of command. The biggest problem was the private contractors involved that could direct military personnel but had immunity from Bush for prosecution.
The story goes he turned himself in after US forces captured his two teenage sons and threatened to disappear them into Guantanamo if father didnt surrender.
By the way this hostage taking of minors is a war crime. Just another one committed by the best military in the world.
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“A military jury of six officers ordered a reprimand for an officer once facing up to life in prison for the death of an Iraqi general during an interrogation session.
Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr. also was ordered to forfeit $6,000 salary and was restricted to his place of work, worship and barracks for 60 days. The sentence now goes to the commanding general, Maj. Gen. Robert W. Mixon, who can order a lighter sentence or set the whole verdict aside, defense attorney Frank Spinner said.”
The six-member military panel delivered the sentence at 8:05 p.m. After the panel members left the courtroom, Welshofer’s friends and fellow soldiers erupted in applause, watching as he shook hands with attorneys Frank Spinner and Capt. Ryan Rosauer. Welshofer, 43, then kissed and embraced Barbara Welshofer, his wife of 22 years.
Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr. was toldto "take the gloves off". AP / Jerilee Bennett
“I have the utmost respect for the decision that the panel members came to tonight,” Welshofer said. “I’m sure it was very difficult on them, and I can tell you it was a little bit difficult on myself and my family as well.”
“But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.”
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I wonder how hard it has all been on the family of the victim? I bet we dont hear much talk of the victim and the rights of the victims family here. No they are not Amerikan. A good ole US soldier in our holier than though imperial military offs some old sub human diaper head during a torture session and gets a reprimand and it was all a little bit difficult on him and his family!
Total racism.
I wonder how we in the US would have felt if Sanchez the torturer had been captured, stuffed into a sleeping bag and then repeatedly jumped on until he was dead by some Iraqi resistance fighter?
I also wonder how we would feel if someone kidnapped Tommy Franks kids (if he has any) and threatened to disappear them unless he surrendered to the Iraqi resistance?
But then again thats nothing new with our army especially in Iraq.
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DIWANIYA (Azzaman.com) Feb. 3 — Many smugglers of antiquities in the country sell their stolen items to the U.S.-led occupation troops in the country, a senior official from the Antiquities Department said.
Mohammed Mehdi said smugglers seized recently admitted that they were specifically working for foreign troops in the country. Mehdi, who is in charge of antiquities in the Province of Najaf, said the smugglers were given badges that allowed them to enter foreign military camps in southern Iraq.
Medhi did not mention the nationality of the foreign troops but said the smuggled antiquities were mainly sold to the troops serving in Diwaniya.
The Treasures of Nimrud were ondisplay alongside other prized artefacts
in Baghdad's museum
● Iraq Museum in Baghdad
● Protecting Iraq’s Ancient Heritage
“But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.”
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