In the clearest evidence yet that reaction to the Abu
Ghraib prison scandal has spun out of control, four Navy SEAL commandos
have been indicted for manhandling an Iraqi terror suspect who resisted
their efforts to take him into custody.
The charges against the SEALs include assault, maltreatment of
detainees and giving false statements to investigators, the New York Times
said on Saturday.
But at least one aspect of the case has
some complaining that the SEALs are being judged by civilian police
standards for work done under battlefield conditions.
The abuse charges announced Friday focus on the handling of a man
identified only as Jamadi, who was captured in Iraq by the SEALs on Nov.
4, 2003. He was a suspect in an attack against the International Committee
for the Red Cross.
When Jamadi struggled with the SEALs, one "butt-stroked" him in the
head with his rifle, the Times said, sourcing a report by three Army
generals released last week.
Jamadi was then taken to Abu Ghraib for a CIA interrogation, where he
"died of a blood clot in the head, likely as a result of injuries he
sustained during apprehension," the report said.
While such treatment might prompt a legitimate inquiry by a New York
City civilian complaint review board, combat-tested veterans say the same
standards can't be applied on the battlefield.
Abuses cited by human rights groups frequently occur at "the point of
capture," where the dangers and volatility are greatest for American
forces, the SEALs' defenders say.
"This is not police work we're dealing with, it's not arrest. It's
combat," Gen. John P. Abizaid, the commander of American forces in the
Middle East, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in May.
Contrast the harsh treatment meted out to the SEALs with that accorded
to Border Patrol agents five years ago in Florida, when then-Attorney
General Janet Reno ordered them to storm the Miami residence of Cuban boat
boy Elian Gonzalez.
Among other abuses documented by numerous eyewitnesses to the episode,
soundman Gustavo Moeller was injured while trying to cover the raid for
NBC - by an agent who slammed a rifle muzzle into his head.
Not only were there no criminal prosecutions, but also just last month
U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke ruled that the Elian raid agents were
"legally immune" from a civil lawsuit filed by the boy's relatives, who
had argued they were the victims of excessive
force.
