Wyden asks why Guard told to leave abuse site

The Oregon senator wants the Defense Department to find out who ordered the soldiers not to aid prisoners being beaten
Monday, August 09, 2004
MIKE FRANCIS

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., demanded Sunday that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld investigate whether Oregon National Guardsmen were improperly ordered by superior officers to leave a detention area where they intervened to stop Iraqi guards from beating handcuffed prisoners.

On June 29, Iraq's first full day as a sovereign nation, a squad of Oregon National Guardsmen in Baghdad raced to a detention yard near the Ministry of the Interior to stop the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. The Oregon Guardsmen were ordered by their superior officers to leave the detention facility and return the prisoners to their jailers, soldiers said.

A Defense Department spokesman said Sunday the senator's request "will be responded to as soon as the facts surrounding this incident can be determined." The spokesman said that U.S. policy "condemns and prohibits torture or abuse," and that "any reports of torture or abuse are investigated thoroughly."

"We want to know who gave those orders" to stand down, said Wyden, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Wyden spoke by phone Sunday from California, on his way to visit his mother. The intervention by Oregon Guardsmen, followed by their forced withdrawal, portrays "a very serious problem," he said.

Meanwhile, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski issued a statement saying he is "extremely proud" of the Oregon National Guard soldiers serving in Iraq.

"I am honored by their professionalism as soldiers, their conviction about what is right and their basic sense of humanity," the governor said.

"I am very sorry that they had to witness these terrible events," Kulongoski said. "While war sometimes brings out the best in us, it also brings out the worst. I'm very grateful as an Oregonian that the soldiers of the Oregon National Guard knew the difference. I would expect nothing less from these courageous Oregonians who are serving our country."

The Oregonian's account of the episode, published in weekend editions, described the actions taken by the soldiers on Iraq's first day of sovereignty.

Account of events

The chain of events started when a National Guard scout witnessed Iraqi guards beating bound and blindfolded prisoners on the grounds of Iraq's Interior Ministry. The scout radioed his commanders at Patrol Base Volunteer, and a squad of soldiers led by the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Dan Hendrickson, raced to the detention area.

When they arrived, the soldiers began disarming the guards and giving aid to the prisoners, whose backs, arms and legs were marked with welts and bruises. They moved prisoners into the shade and distributed water bottles.

Inside a guardhouse in the compound, soldiers found more prisoners bound and blindfolded and showing evidence of abuse. They also found rubber hoses, chemicals and exposed electrical wires, which prisoners said had been used in the "interrogations."

The Iraqi guards began arguing with the Americans, and Hendrickson radioed his superior officers to ask for instructions. That's when higher-ups ordered him to take his men and withdraw from the detention yard, leaving the prisoners to their captors.

Order frustrated soldieers

The order to leave frustrated the soldiers, who thought they had done the right thing to interrupt the beatings. Though they were instructed not to discuss the incident, many described it to The Oregonian on the condition that their names not be used.

One soldier, Capt. Jarrell Southall of Newark, Calif., provided a written account and gave permission to use his name, though he stressed he spoke as an individual, not as an Army officer.

Pete Cabrera of Portland served with Southall as a Marine recruiter in 1992-94. He said Sunday he wasn't surprised to learn that Southall defied orders to keep quiet about the incident.

"He's an independent thinker," Cabrera said. "That's the kind of guy he is."

Capt. Mike Braibish, deputy chief of public affairs for the Oregon National Guard in Salem, said Sunday, "We're proud of the Oregon soldiers serving in Iraq, and we know we can count on them to do the right thing. In this case, the soldiers did what they're trained to do: They responded to the situation and reported the alleged abuse through their chain of command."

Braibish said the Oregon National Guard doesn't have details of the U.S. or Iraqi response to the June 29 incident.

The U.S. Embassy in Iraq has confirmed the incident occurred and said last week that the United States has asked Iraq's interior minister about the June 29 "brutality."

Wyden said the investigation should "determine whether proper procedure and law were followed by the American military commander(s) who allegedly gave the order to return tortured prisoners to their torturers."

He also said he wants to ensure that soldiers who disclosed the incident to The Oregonian aren't retaliated against.

"I'll be following up right away," he said.

Mike Francis: 503-294-5955; mikefrancis@news.oregonian.com