corrente

Surprise!

GENEVA – Abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers was broad and "not individual acts" as President Bush has argued, according to a Red Cross report disclosed today.

Bush has said the abuses were the result of the "wrongdoing of a few."

A senior Red Cross official added: "We were dealing here with a broad pattern, not individual acts. There was a pattern and a system."

Among the evidence were burns, bruises and other injuries consistent with the abuse that prisoners alleged, it said.

The agency said arrests allegedly tended to follow a pattern.

"Arresting authorities entered houses usually after dark, breaking down doors, waking up residents roughly, yelling orders, forcing family members into one room under military guard while searching the rest of the house and further breaking doors, cabinets and other property," the report said.

"Sometimes they arrested all adult males present in a house, including elderly, handicapped or sick people," it said. "Treatment often included pushing people around, insulting, taking aim with rifles, punching and kicking and striking with rifles."

[Pierre Kraehenbuehl, ICRC director of operations] said the abuse of prisoners represents more than isolated acts, and that the problems were not limited to Abu Ghraib.

"We were dealing here with a broad pattern, not individual acts. There was a pattern and a system," he said, declining to give further details.

(via WaPo)

NOTE The subcription WSJ publishes the full report in PDF. Do any readers have links to the full report?