New Prison Images Emerge
By Christian Davenport Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, May 6, 2004; Page A01
The collection of photographs begins like a travelogue from Iraq. Here are U.S. soldiers posing in front of a mosque. Here is a soldier riding a camel in the desert. And then: a soldier holding a leash tied around a man's neck in an Iraqi prison. He is naked, grimacing and lying on the floor.
Mixed in with more than 1,000 digital pictures obtained by The Washington Post are photographs of naked men, apparently prisoners, sprawled on top of one another while soldiers stand around them. There is another photograph of a naked man with a dark hood over his head, handcuffed to a cell door. And another of a naked man handcuffed to a bunk bed, his arms splayed so wide that his back is arched. A pair of women's underwear covers his head and face.
The graphic images, passed around among military police who served at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, are a new batch of photographs similar to those broadcast a week ago on CBS's "60 Minutes II" and published by the New Yorker magazine. They appear to provide further visual evidence of the chaos and unprofessionalism at the prison detailed in a report by Army Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba. His report, which relied in part on the photographs, found "numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses" that were inflicted on detainees.
This group of photographs, taken from the summer of 2003 through the winter, range widely, from mundane images of everyday military life to pictures showing crude simulations of sex among soldiers. The new pictures appear to show American soldiers abusing prisoners, many of whom wear ID bands, but The Post could not eliminate the possibility that some of them were staged.
Fremont captain accused in Iraq investigation By John Simerman CONTRA COSTA TIMES
The former commander of Pittsburg's 870th Military Police Company faces disciplinary action for allegedly snapping nude pictures of female soldiers as they showered in Abu Ghraib prison, the same Baghdad-area facility where other Army soldiers were filmed abusing Iraqi inmates.
Capt. Leo V. Merck, 32, of Fremont was stripped of his command and sent to Army headquarters in Kuwait to await a court-martial after three female soldiers accused him in November, National Guard officials confirmed Tuesday.
Spc. Myrna Hernandez, 26, of Antioch told the Times that she and two other female soldiers were taking an afternoon shower on Nov. 12 when she saw Merck peering under the raised door.
"I saw a guy get on all fours with a digital camera in his hands. His head was going under the wall, and we made eye contact," she said. "I was in shock, like what do I do now?"
The next day, the three women went to a chaplain, leading to a Judge Advocate General (JAG) investigation, Hernandez said. She said an investigator later told her that some of the pictures, and other improper ones, were found on Merck's government-issued computer.
"We were able to confirm three of them as us," she said.
All but 10 of the 124 soldiers deployed to Iraq with the 870th returned home to the Bay Area last month after nearly a year in the Middle East.
It was unclear Tuesday whether Merck remains in Kuwait. Lt. Michael Drayton, who took over the unit's command, said Merck was still there when the soldiers left for home. He said Merck, an accountant in private life, faced court-martial proceedings in Kuwait, but that his accusers did not need to testify in person.
"According to the chief prosecutor, they had enough evidence, and (Merck's) civilian attorney worked out a deal. There was no need for me to send back those females involved," he said.
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