Intelligence unit faulted in abuse

WASHINGTON -- An Army inquiry into prisoner abuse in Iraq has found that almost three dozen intelligence personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison either colluded with guards to mistreat detainees, personally abused and tortured inmates, or ignored the abuse, officials said yesterday.

The investigation into the role that intelligence troops played at Abu Ghraib found that 35 members of the military intelligence unit posted at the prison in the fall and winter of 2003 were involved, either directly or indirectly, in at least 44 separate instances of abuse, including one that led to the death of a prisoner.

The report on the abuses, the second in two days, dramatically increases the number of personnel who could face punishment beyond the seven military police soldiers already charged. The report also criticizes the Central Intelligence Agency for holding prisoners in secret at the facility, a violation of international law.

On Tuesday, a four-person panel appointed by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said that Rumsfeld and the Joint Chiefs of Staff shared responsibility for the abuse at Abu Ghraib by approving confusing guidelines and not taking swift corrective action.

Kerry criticizes Bush, Rumsfeld leadership. A25.

Yesterday, the Army report focusing on intelligence officers found that 27 people, including four contractors, either ''encouraged" or ''participated" in acts that could be prosecuted or lead to disciplinary action. Colonel Thomas Pappas, head of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade, was blamed for a failure of leadership but not found to have engaged in or encouraged abuse, Army officials found. Lieutenant Colonel Steven L. Jordan was also cited for blame, although he, too, was not accused of participating in the abuse.

Six military intelligence personnel and two contractors, meanwhile, witnessed abusive behavior and failed to report it, while three additional military police guards were implicated and an MP contractor and two medics also failed to report maltreatment, according to the report, which was based on more than 170 interviews. The report did not identify those individuals.

''This was clearly a deviation from everything we have taught people on how to behave," said General Paul Kern, who oversaw the investigation. Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon yesterday, Kern described abuses ranging from stripping detainees naked to using military police dogs to frighten naked inmates.

''There are values that we in the United States Army and the United States believe, but were not upheld," Kern said. ''In the course of this investigation, we discovered serious misconduct and a loss of moral values. We've learned there were leaders at Abu Ghraib who knew about this conduct, knew better, and did nothing."

Major General George Fay, one of the authors of the report, said at the news conference, ''There were a few instances where torture was being used."

The findings disclosed yesterday indicated that while there was no officially sanctioned policy, in some cases intelligence officers and military police guards in the prison conspired to elicit information by abusing detainees.

But the report, reiterating the conclusions of other investigations, said some of the worst abuses were conducted by the guards already facing trial. They allegedly abused detainees -- who had no particular intelligence value -- simply because they were able. Those soldiers, however, have argued that they were doing the bidding of intelligence officers.

The report also singled out Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, then the commander of coalition ground troops in Iraq, for a ''failure of leadership." That echoed the findings of a Pentagon oversight panel, chaired by James Schlesinger, a defense secretary in the Nixon and Ford administrations, which blamed Sanchez for failing to prevent the mistreatment. The Schlesinger panel also blamed Rumsfeld and the Joint Chiefs for poor postwar planning and creating an environment in which it was unclear what constituted permissible activity in the handling of prisoners.

Yesterday, Kern expressed confidence that the military and civil justice systems, which have been notified of the investigation's findings, will hold responsible the intelligence personnel implicated in any crimes. Where appropriate, nonjudicial punishment will be meted out, he suggested.

The study, conducted by Fay and Lieutenant General Anthony Jones at Sanchez's request -- which he made in March before the scandal became public -- also roundly criticized the CIA for secretly holding eight so-called ''ghost detainees" who were not revealed to the International Red Cross, as required by international law. Without providing specific information, Jones suggested that the CIA interrogation techniques were harsher than approved military ones and may have created a more abusive environment at the military prison.

''We have peripheral evidence of that happening," Jones said at the briefing, adding that the CIA is investigating the issue.

The Army investigation disclosed that there was illegal activity at Abu Ghraib by a far greater number of soldiers than publicly acknowledged by Bush administration officials, who have described the scandal as the work of a few guards. The report also found that in some cases, intelligence and military police acted in concert to abuse prisoners.

In addition, the culpability extends indirectly to commanders in the prison and at US headquarters in Iraq, the report said. Pappas will be considered for disciplinary action, officials said, and Jones specifically criticized Sanchez in the portion of the report he authored. ''I find that LTG Sanchez . . . failed to ensure proper staff oversight of detention and interrogation operations," Jones wrote.

Bryan Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com.