- United States army medics have been accused of being
complicit in the abuse of Iraqi inmates at Abu Ghraib prison, outside Baghdad.
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- Writing in the respected medical journal The Lancet,
Professor Steven Miles says some medics collaborated with abusive guards.
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- The University of Minnesota academic has called for an
inquiry into the role played by medics in the abuse.
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- The US Military said investigations were already underway.
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- Abuse allegations
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- Reports of abuse at the US-run Abu Ghraib prison, 20km
west of Baghdad, first came to light at the end of April.
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- Photographs showing naked Iraqi detainees being humiliated
and maltreated sparked anger across the world.
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- They followed allegations of abuse against prisoners
in Afghanistan and the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay.
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- "Confirmed or reliably reported abuses of detainees
in Iraq and Afghanistan include beatings, burns, shocks, bodily suspensions,
asphyxia, threats against detainees and their relatives, sexual humiliation,
isolation, prolonged hooding and shackling, and exposure to heat, cold
and loud noise," said Professor Miles.
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- He said there was evidence that some medics had played
a part.
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- "Government documents show that the US military
medical system failed to protect detainees' human rights, sometimes collaborated
with interrogators or abusive guards, and failed to properly report injuries
or deaths caused by beatings," he said.
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- "In one example, soldiers tied a beaten detainee
at the top of his cell door and gagged him.
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- "The death certificate indicated that he died of
'natural causes...during his sleep'. After news media coverage, the Pentagon
revised the certificate to say that the death was a 'homicide'."
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- Professor Miles called for this and other incidents to
be investigated.
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- "Although the US Armed Forces's medical services
are mainly staffed by humane and skilled personnel, the described offences
do not merely fall short of medical ideals; some constitute grave breaches
of international or US law," he said.
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- In an accompanying editorial, The Lancet called on US
army medics to come clean.
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- "Guidelines and codes of practice state that doctors,
even in military forces, must first and foremost be concerned about their
patients and bound by principles of medical ethics," it said.
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- "Health care workers should now break their silence.
Those who were involved in or witnessed ill-treatment need to give a full
and accurate account of events at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay."
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- Investigations underway
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- Col Barry Johnson, a US Army spokesman, said investigations
were already under way.
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- "The various incidents and allegations in the article
come from sources primarily documented by the military itself while investigating
the extent of abuses," he said.
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- "Many of these cases remain under investigation
and charges will be brought against any individual where there is evidence
of abuse."
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- He added that the US military "will allow no actions
that undermine or compromise medical professionals' commitment to caring
for the sick and wounded, regardless of who they are or their circumstances."
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- © BBC MMIV
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3579792.stm
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