Tonight "60 Minutes II" will be airing photos that allegedly show American soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners:
A few weeks ago, the U.S. Army announced that 17 soldiers in Iraq had been removed from duty and six of them were facing court martial for mistreating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, the infamous prison where Saddam Hussein and his henchmen tortured and executed Iraqis for decades. 60 MINUTES II obtained photographs of what was happening in Abu Ghraib. The photos show American soldiers mistreating Iraqi prisoners.Equally disturbing are allegations that the abuse took place at least in part because the soldiers sought direction from their superiors as to how to proceed with the prisoners and never got a response:
One of the soldiers who is now facing court martial, Army Reserve Staff Sergeant Chip Frederick, described to Rather what he saw in the Iraqi prison. "We had no support, no training whatsoever, and I kept asking my chain of command for certain things, rules and regulations, and it just wasn't happening," he said. Frederick is charged with maltreatment, assault and indecent acts for posing for a photograph while sitting on top of a detainee, striking detainees and ordering detainees to strike each other, among other things. Frederick wrote home to his family about the treatment of prisoners. He said in an e-mail, "We helped getting them to talk with the way we handle them. We've had a very high rate with our styles of getting them to break; they usually end up breaking within hours." (Source: CBS press release)
