By Brad Friedman on 5/25/2004, 2:26pm PT  

From the LA Times:

Pentagon officials on Friday increased to 37 the number of detainee deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan that have prompted investigations, including at least eight unresolved homicides that may have involved assaults before or during interrogation.
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"Time after time, we've said … there are a few bad apples, and every day we're finding out that this apple cart is getting bigger," said Rep. Kendrick B. Meek (D-Fla.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee who was briefed on the cases Friday. "I'm concerned not only about getting to the bottom of this, but also getting to the top of it."

Here's just a few (but not all) of the descriptions in the full article about the deaths being investigated. Not just at Abu Ghraib, and not just in Iraq:

• On June 6, 2003, Naem Sadoon Hatab was found strangled in an outdoor isolation area at the Whitehorse detention facility in Nasiriya, Iraq, according to his death certificate.

• On June 13, Dilar Dababa died of a severe head injury in Iraq.

• One Nov. 4, Manadel Jamadi died of blunt-force injuries complicated by "compromised respiration" at Abu Ghraib. The suspected homicide occurred while he was with Navy SEALs and other special operations troops.

• On Jan. 9, Abdul Jaleel died of blunt-force injuries and asphyxiation at a prison in Al Asad, Iraq. His case is one of the suspected incidents of homicide still under investigation. Jaleel was found gagged and shackled to a cell door with his hands over his head.

• On April 28, Ali Gumaa Fahin died of complications due to multiple gunshot wounds in Baghdad.

• On May 12, Maj. Gen. Abid Mowhosh, former commander of Iraq's air defenses, died of asphyxiation due to smothering and chest compression in Qaim, Iraq.

Three detainees were killed in Afghanistan, according to their death certificates.

Most recently, on Nov. 6, Abdul Wahid died of multiple blunt-force injuries — complicated by what examiners suspect was a condition in which toxins are released to the body, sometimes due to a crushing injury or an electrical shock — at a detention center in Helmand province.
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In the third, an Iraqi drowned after he allegedly was forced to jump off a bridge by U.S. troops, officials said, confirming media reports about the fatality for the first time.

None of that, of course, includes the 11,000 Iraqi Civilians and 5600 Iraqi Military that we were apparently justified in killing.

Meanwhile, on the radio, Sean Hannity continues to remind us (as I write) that none of the prisoners who died during detention had their head or hands cut off. So what's all the fuss about?!

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