US military to probe abuse allegations at Guantanamo

The US military will begin an investigation into newly-emerged allegations of prisoner abuses at Guantanamo Bay, officials said in Washington Wednesday.

The US Southern Command in Miami said Army Brigade General John Furlow will lead the probe, which could begin as early as this week. He will be joined by a Navy captain.

The two will look into newly-released FBI memos that portray abuse of prisoners by American military personnel at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) last month released those memos in connection with a lawsuit accusing the government of being complicit in torture.

The documents, which cover a two-year period that ended in August 2004, include accounts by FBI agents who said they had seen detainees in Guantanamo being chained in uncomfortable positions for up to 24 hours, left without food and water and left to defecate on themselves.

In addition, several agents contended that military interrogators impersonated FBI agents, suggesting that the ruse was aimed in part at avoiding blame for any subsequent public allegations of abuse.

A new batch of FBI documents released by ACLU on Wednesday showed that 26 FBI agents reported that they observed detainee abuses by personnel other than FBI agents.

The 26 agents were among the 478 who responded to an e-mail survey by Steve McCraw, assistant director of the FBI's Office for Intelligence, in July. McCraw asked more than 500 agents who had been at Guantanamo to report whether they saw "aggressive treatment, interrogations or interview techniques" that violated FBI guidelines.

Furlow and the assigned Navy captain were ordered to report back to the Southern Command's Amy General Bantz Craddock in February, officials said.

Source: Xinhua