More Abu Ghraib horrors

2005-02-06 21:57

Washington - Unqualified US military medics stationed at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison carried out amputations, recycled used chest tubes and lacked medical supplies to treat the overcrowded jail's inmates after the fall of Baghdad, according to a Time magazine report.

The report, to hit news stands on Monday, also said that a medic was ordered, by one account, to cover up a homicide inside the jail.

Although the prison just outside Baghdad was jammed with as many as 7 000 detainees - some of whom displayed serious mental illnesses - no US doctor was in residence for most of 2003 following the US-led invasion of Iraq.

The report said "with straitjackets unavailable, tethers - like the leash held by private Lynndie England - were put to use at Abu Ghraib to control unruly or mentally disturbed detainees, sometimes with the concurrence of a doctor."

In a statement obtained by the American civil liberties union, Time reported that an army medic based at Abu Ghraib spoke of examining 800 to 900 detainees daily as they were admitted.

If he worked a 12-hour day, that gave him less than one minute for each exam.

Amputations

The report cited national guard captain Kelly Parrson, a physician's assistant at Abu Ghraib in late 2003 and 2004.

Parrson told Time there were times when he and other non-physicians carried out amputations and other procedures on inmates that should have been performed by surgeons.

"I took off an ankle and a lower leg," he recalls. "There was no one else and if it was death or amputation, you just had to do it."

"When somebody died, we just took out their chest tube and inserted it into another, living person," he said.

Another officer, who is a psychologist, estimated that 5% of prisoners suffered from mental illnesses, yet for long periods no doctor was on site to treat such inmates.

Dr David Auch, commander of the reserve company that supported medical operations at Abu Ghraib in 2003, said medics at one point used a helmet to protect a mentally unwell inmate who banged his head against cell walls.

'Ice man'

Auch said neither he nor his medical staff were consulted about an Iraqi, later dubbed "Ice Man", when he was first brought to the prison for interrogation by US military intelligence.

The detainee subsequently died during questioning in the middle of the night under circumstances that have been officially ruled a homicide by the military.

According to statements made during an army inquiry, military personnel ordered the body put on ice and then spirited it away after medics had attached a fake IV to the dead man's arm in an apparent attempt to create the impression he was still alive.

- AFP