Hearing scrutinizes reservists? handling of prisoners in Iraq

[thedrifter]

Issue Date: December 29, 2003

Hearing scrutinizes reservists? handling of prisoners in Iraq

By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. ? During an Article 32 hearing for the first of eight reservists charged in the death of an Iraqi detainee, testimony focused on whether Marines had been adequately prepared to operate a detention center and whether prisoners were subjected to excessive abuse.
On Dec. 18 and 19, an investigating officer heard testimony in the case of Maj. William F. Vickers, who is charged with dereliction of duty stemming from his assignment as officer in charge of a makeshift detention center near Nasiriyah, Iraq, last spring.

An Iraqi Baath Party official, Nagem Sadoon Hatab, 52, was found dead June 6 in a holding cell at the Camp Whitehorse detention facility. Vickers, a weapons officer with 2nd Battalion, 25th Marines, had turned over his OIC role a week earlier to Maj. Clark A. Paulus but was accused of ?willfully failing to properly safeguard? the health and treatment of those in custody.

Paulus, charged with negligent homicide, assault and dereliction of duty, is one of four members of the Garden City, N.Y.-based battalion who face Article 32 hearings in late January at Camp Pendleton. Three other battalion reservists await special courts-martial on charges of assault and making false official statements.

Vickers, of Syracuse, N.Y., faces dismissal from the Corps and up to six months? confinement if he?s found guilty at a court-martial.

In the coming weeks, Col. William B. Gallo, a Reserve lawyer serving as the Article 32 investigating officer, will make a recommendation to Maj. Gen. James N. Mattis, the 1st Marine Division commander, who as the convening authority preferred the charges and ordered the investigation into the actions of the eight reservists. Mattis will decide whether Vickers should face trial or punishment, or have the charge dropped.

Gallo also will be the Article 32 investigating officer for the four cases in January.

Retired Col. Jane Siegel, Vickers? lead defense attorney, argued that neither the major nor his battalion had specific guidance or training on operating a detention camp. When they asked for help, ?the answer was always a resounding no,? Siegel said. The battalion received some training at Camp Lejeune, N.C., before its March deployment, including a 90-minute class taught by Paulus on basic handling of enemy prisoners of war and some fundamentals on the law of land warfare, she said.

Defense attorneys contended that Vickers did a proficient, professional job of establishing and securing the camp and ensuring that guards and prisoners got three meals daily, water and medical care.

The focus during the two days of witness testimony wasn?t on Hatab, who Corps officials say suffocated from crushed neck bones caused by from rough handling, but on the camp?s operation and the guards? actions.

Although Vickers wasn?t running the detention camp when Hatab died, prosecutors contend he was responsible for the environment in which the guard force worked.

Prosecutors and several witnesses said Marines at the facility required prisoners who were awaiting interrogation to stand for 50 minutes and sit or lie down for 10 minutes while in plastic hand restraints and with their heads covered by sandbags.

Capt. Jamie McCall, the lead prosecutor, said some prisoners had to endure the treatment for up to 12 hours. He said the so-called 50/10 treatment amounted to cruelty or torture that was prohibited.

Vickers? defense attorneys played down the 50/10 practice, arguing that it had been in place for some time, was used only for prisoners waiting for their initial questioning by a Human Exploitation Team and didn?t amount to torture. Defense attorneys and witnesses said the 2/25 Marines who assumed the mission from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and then Task Force Tarawa in April only continued a practice already in place.

The HET personnel ?are the duty experts ? and we deferred to them? in how to handle prisoners, Lt. Col. Ralph A. Dengler of Sparta, N.J., the battalion?s executive officer from March to June, testified by telephone.

The method was known to the HET personnel as a way to tire and stress the prisoners and so make them more compliant during interrogation, several Marines testified.

In telephone testimony from Camp Lejeune, N.C., where he is stationed, Staff Sgt. Mark W. Truesdale, an HET member with 2nd Intelligence Battalion, denied knowledge of the 50/10 practice and said his team only told the guards to keep the prisoners awake until they were interrogated.

?We never told them to stand. We just told them to keep them awake,? Truesdale said, noting it was a common practice to make prisoners more receptive during interrogation.

?There were plenty of instances when we had to subdue a prisoner,? said Staff Sgt. Freddie Tallocastillo of Woodhaven, N.Y., the staff noncommissioned officer in charge who testified under a grant of immunity.

One man who tried to run away was wrestled to the ground, he said.

?Frustration was part of life, especially at that time and in a combat zone,? said Tallocastillo, a mortarman and battalion career planner. ?Physical force was utilized when a prisoner did not comply with what we wanted them to do.?

Asked if prisoners were punched, Tallocastillo replied: ?There were occasions when soft punches were applied to prisoners to make them do what we wanted,? adding that soft punches were open-handed.

Sometimes, the Marine guards shared snacks and food from packages they received from home with the prisoners and spoke to those who understood English.

Gallo saw photographs that showed the Marine guards and Iraqi prisoners smiling and glad-handing each other.

?They knew we were in charge,? Tallocastillo said when Siegel asked him about the relationship with prisoners. The staff sergeant noted that in one photograph, ?my right hand is still on my pistol.?


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Sempers,

Roger