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The DAA Project has to date documented at least 330 cases in
which U.S. military and civilian personnel are alleged to have abused
detainees, ranging from beatings and assaults, to torture, sexual abuse, and
homicide. Among the cases:
At least 600 U.S. personnel are implicated (numerous cases
involve more than one perpetrator). Military personnel comprise over 95 percent
of those implicated (at least 570 people), and at least ten CIA or other
intelligence personnel are implicated, and approximately twenty civilian
contractors working for either the military or the CIA.
At least 460 detainees have been subjected to abuse, including people
held in Iraq, Afghanistan, and at Guantánamo Bay.
The majority of the approximately 330 cases took place in Iraq (at least 220 cases), followed by Afghanistan (at least sixty cases), and Guantánamo Bay (at least fifty cases).
DAA Project researchers found that authorities opened
investigations into approximately 210 out of the 330 cases (about 65 percent).9
In the remaining 35 percent of cases—approximately 120
cases—either no investigation was opened or the authorities have not publicly
disclosed whether one took place. Over 70 percent of these 120 unresolved cases
involve incidents that took place more than two years ago.
The 210 cases in which there is evidence of an investigation
involve at least 410 personnel (in many cases, more than one perpetrator is
alleged to be involved in a case).
Almost all of the military personnel who have been investigated
are enlisted soldiers (approximately 95 percent of the total), not officers.
Of the approximately 410 personnel implicated in cases that the
military and civilian authorities have investigated, only about a third have
faced any kind of disciplinary or criminal action. As of April 10, 2006, the
DAA Project identified seventy-nine military personnel who were ordered by
commanders for court-martial.10
(This number includes summary courts-martial conducted abroad, for which thirty
days’ confinement is the maximum sentence.) Only one person, a civilian
contractor, has been indicted in federal court.
Of the seventy-nine courts-martial ordered by commanders,
fifty-four resulted in conviction or a guilty plea. Another fifty-seven people
have faced non-judicial proceedings in which punishments include no or minimal
prison time. (See box below on “Parallel Disciplinary Mechanisms: Criminal and
Non-judicial Proceedings.”)11
75 percent of the cases in which investigations were conducted do
not appear to have resulted in any kind of punishment (approximately 160 of the
210 investigated cases, involving approximately 260 accused personnel). The
DAA Project found approximately 110 cases (involving approximately 190 accused
personnel) were closed without punishment. And in at least fifty cases
(involving at least seventy other people), the Project could not find any
evidence that investigations had resulted in punishment and could not determine
whether the case was still open.
Researchers identified more than 1,000 individual criminal acts of
abuse.
The most common alleged types of abuse were assault (found in at
least 220 cases), use of physical or non-physical humiliation (at least ninety
cases), sexual assault or abuse (at least sixty cases), and use of “stress” techniques
(at least forty cases).
[9] This
count of “investigations” includes both criminal investigations carried out by
the military or Department of Justice and other preliminary administrative or
non-judicial investigations into specific cases conducted by the military. For
a description of the different types of investigation that may be conducted by
military authorities, see box on “Disciplinary Mechanisms: Criminal and
Non-Judicial Proceedings,” p. 13. The DAA Project did not count as
investigations broader inquiries by military officials such as those conducted
by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba and Gen. Anthony Jones and Gen. George Fay, since
those inquiries were intended to examine systemic problems and failures in
detainee operations and were not mandated to gather facts and evidence about
particular cases. See, e.g., Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, Article 15-6
Investigation of the 800th Military Police Brigade, April 2004, annex 26
[hereinafter Taguba Report] and Gen. Anthony R. Jones, AR 15-6 Investigation
of the Abu Ghraib Prison and 205th Military Intelligence Brigade and Gen.
George R. Fay, AR 15-6 Investigation of the Abu Ghraib Detention Facility
and 205th Military Intelligence Brigade, August 2004 [hereinafter Fay-Jones
Report], retrieved April 17, 2006, at http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/reports/ar15-6/AR15-6.pdf.
[10]
As noted in the box “What the Government Says” on page 16, a military Public
Affairs official told DAA researchers in early April 2006 that “there have been
85 Courts-Martial” to date, but did not respond to requests for details on the
names of the accused and the allegations that lead to the courts-martial, or
provide an explanation on whether the number refers to courts-martial that
commanders have ordered or ones that have actually been completed.
[11]
The numbers of persons who have faced courts-martial or administrative
proceedings should not be directly compared with the overall numbers of cases investigated
because many cases involve more than one alleged perpetrator.
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