Allegations of Sexual Abuse of POWs by U.S. Military

Another round of shocking allegations and pictures of U.S. military abuse of POWs at Abu Ghraib prison has surfaced, with one claiming that U.S. solders sexually abused Iraqi POWs.

Apologies by President George W. Bush and U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair have failed to mollify criticism.

The aftershock of the Abu Ghraib scandal will likely make NATO member countries more uneasy about sending troops to Iraq, frustrating efforts by the Bush administration to farm the burden internationally.

▽Mohammed Unis Hassan, who had been detained for seven months for looting a bank, told the latest issue of Time magazine that U.S. soldiers sexually abused Iraqi inmates.

He also said he saw a US soldier having regular sex with a female inmate across the hallway of his cell.

Haider Sabbar Abed Al Abbadi, who said he was the hooded man shown naked with Lynndie England, an American woman soldier, pointing at his genitals, added, “I felt a mouth closing around my genitals. It was only when they took the bag off my head that I saw it was my friend.”

The May 10 issue of the New Yorker, a U.S. weekly, ran a gruesome picture of an Iraqi inmate cowering from two German shepherds, with his hands behinds the head.

▽Amnesty International said, “The organization raised allegations of abuse and ill-treatment of Iraqi detainees in a memorandum to the British secretaries of defense and international relations in May of last May.” It added, “The organization sent memorandums in July and October.”

The rights watchdog’s allegations divulge a 10-month gap between what it said the British government knew about the complaints and Blair’s answer to a question by the opposition Conservative Party that he took measures after receiving reports of prisoner abuse in Iraq in February.

In an interview with French TV network France 3 while on a visit to the country, Blair said on May 9, “We apologize deeply to anyone who has been mistreated by our soldiers. He said, “Those responsible will be punished according to army disciplinary rules.”

The ongoing bloodshed in Iraq, coupled with the Abu Ghraib scandal, will likely make NATO members postpone their troop deployments after the U.S. Presidential elections in November, the Los Angeles Times reported on May 9.

Jin Lee leej@donga.com