US network to air video diary of US guard at Iraqi prison
A US television network said it plans to broadcast a video diary filmed by a US soldier inside Abu Ghraib prison and at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq, showing the conditions in which Iraqis are held. CBS will broadcast the video Wednesday on its "60 Minutes II" program.
A US television network said Tuesday it plans to broadcast a video diary filmed by a US soldier inside Abu Ghraib prison and at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq, showing the conditions in which Iraqis are held.
CBS will broadcast the video Wednesday on its "60 Minutes II" program, which was the first to show pictures of abuse by US soldiers inside the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad.
The video does not show abuse, but records the conditions in Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca and shows the dislike for the prisoners felt by the soldier, whose name was not released to protect her identity, according to the network.
"This is a sand viper," the soldier said in the video. "One bite will kill you in six hours. We've already had two prisoners die of it, but who cares? That's two less for me to worry about."
The latest report indicates abuses also took place at Camp Bucca, where thousands of Iraqi prisoners are in US custody.
"They usually have three a week that break out and, of course, every time that I'm working they never do it," the soldier said.
"It's 'cause they are scared of me. I actually got in trouble the other day because I was throwing rocks at them."
"I hate it here," she said. "I want to come home. I want to be a civilian again. We actually shot two prisoners today. One got shot in the chest for swinging a pole against our people on the feed team. One got shot in the arm. We don't know if the one we shot in the chest is dead yet."
Another soldier discharged on accusations of abusing Iraqi prisoners at Camp Bucca told the program that the ratio of guards to prisoners was dangerously low.
"At one point, it was me and another soldier guarding. I was watching 535 prisoners on my side," Tim Canjar said.
"The prisoners started hitting us ... (fellow soldier Lisa Girman) called all the orders. Our other chain of command was nowhere in sight.... We did not see them throughout the whole riot."
Girman was also discharged on charges of abusing prisoners. She and Canjar deny the charges.
Pictures of naked prisoners piled in sexually humiliating positions have shaken the US occupation of Iraq and drawn widespread international criticism.
The abuse heightened concern about the welfare of US troops and civilians in the region, and those concerns appeared to have been borne out with the news that a US businessman was beheaded in Iraq -- apparently in retaliation for the abuse of Iraqis.
US lawmakers were set to see unpublished photos of abuse Wednesday, when the Defense Department plans to bring pictures to Congress for three hours, in a private viewing limited only to lawmakers.