Attorney Discusses Abu Ghraib Abuse

A defense attorney in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal expressed harsh criticism for top U.S. Army officials in a speech Wednesday night in Reiss Auditorium.

Civilian attorney Harvey Volzer (SFS ’70) is defending Army reservist Meagan Ambuhl, who is charged with conspiracy to maltreat subordinates and detainees and dereliction of duty.

Volzer cited inadequate training and leadership as the first of several mistakes made by the U.S. Army. The alleged crimes include abuse, torture and beating of the detainees in the military prison.

Volzer, who previously served with the Army JAG Corps, said the military police at the prison were dangerously unqualified. The majority were Army reservists with “no previous training for detention operations in a war zone,” he said, adding that even the prison commander, Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, had never received proper training.

The accused MPs are members of the 372nd Military Police Company of Cumberland, Md. They were all assigned to the night shift and were described by Volzer as “amateurs.”

Volzer said that when the situation was at its worst, there were 15,000 prisoners and 14 MPs at Abu Ghraib. The prisoners included suspected terrorists, murderers, rapists, child molesters and the criminally insane.

He blamed the dramatic overcrowding of the prison on the Iraqi police who were too “lazy to do their own jobs,” according to Volzer.

During this intense period of overcrowding and daily attacks, the seven accused MPs claim that they never saw their commanders.

The MPs were not only outnumbered, but also ill-equipped, according to Volzer.

Volzer vehemently denied that this incident was caused by “a few bad apples” and said that there is a multitude of other abuse photos besides the handful that the Washington Post ran. He criticized the Post for not releasing more photos.

“I know for an absolute fact that the Washington Post has all of the photos,” he said. “They are simply not interested anymore.”

Volzer said the other photos would incriminate other military personnel. No officers or active duty army personnel have been charged.

Citing an Aug. 1, 2003, memo from the office of the assistant attorney general, Volzer said that everything that happened in the prison was approved by military intelligence.

“Torture defined in the war crimes act covers only extreme acts — such acts that would end in death or organ failure,” he said.

Volzer said that the Geneva Convention was not posted in the prison until 2004, after the Army became aware of the prison abuse. Volzer said he is confident that the seven accused MPs were ordered to conduct the abuse. He cited the fact that the visit of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld coincided with both a policy statement being released by the Army commander in Iraq and the arrival of military intelligence as well as civilian contractors at Abu Ghraib.

The policy statement released within days of Rumsfeld’s visit to Iraq said that MPs would be used to “set the conditions” for military intelligence. Volzer said that sensory deprivation was deemed an appropriate way to “set the conditions” and therefore explained the use of hoods in the abuse photographs.

“I know what they can and can’t do,” he said, referring to his experience in the JAG Corps.

Volzer said he expects all charges to be dropped against his client.

“Bush knew about the abuse,” he said. “The Secretary of Defense knew, the White House Counsel knew and the Assistant Attorney General knew.”