US admits wider abuse of Iraqis

WASHINGTON -- Government documents released last week say the abuse of prisoners in Iraq by US forces was more widespread than has been reported.

An officer found that detainees ''were being systematically and intentionally mistreated" at a holding facility near Mosul in December 2003. The 311th Military Intelligence Battalion of the Army's 101st Airborne Division ran the lockup.

Earlier records released by the Army have detailed abuses at Abu Ghraib and other sites in Iraq, as well as at sites in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The documents released Friday were the first to report abuses at the jail in Mosul, and are among the few to allege torture directly.

''There is evidence that suggests the 311th MI personnel and/or translators engaged in physical torture of the detainees," a memo from the investigator said.

The records about the Mosul jail were part of more than 1,200 pages of documents referring to allegations of abuse. The Army released the records to reporters and to the American Civil Liberties Union, which had filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

Guards at the detention facility near Mosul came from at least three infantry units of the 101st Airborne.

According to the report, the abuse included:

Forcing detainees to perform exercises such as deep knee bends for hours on end, to the point of exhaustion.

Blowing cigarette smoke into the sandbags the prisoners were forced to wear as hoods.

Throwing cold water on the prisoners in a room with temperatures between 40 and 50 degrees.

Blasting heavy-metal music in detainees' cells, yelling at them, and banging on doors.

No one was punished for the abuses because the investigating officer said there was not enough proof against any individual.