U.S. army report:

no proof medic killed Iraqi prisoners

WASHINGTON (AP) - A U.S. army investigation found no evidence to substantiate a combat medic's alleged claim to a social worker that he killed several Iraqi prisoners while serving in an intensive-care ward in Iraq, a spokesman said Wednesday.

The soldier later said he had not killed anyone and his initial statements were misinterpreted. The soldier was not identified in investigation documents released by the army. A summary of his case was among reports of dozens of others in 99 pages of documents the army released publicly and to the American Civil Liberties Union under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

The soldier served in the medical ward for a month in Balad, Iraq, during his five-month tour in the combat zone in early 2004. Balad is about 70 kilometres north of Baghdad.

A summary of the soldier's case said he told a social worker at Fort Bliss, Texas, after he returned he "had killed numerous detainees by putting bleach in their IV bags, intentionally cutting their arteries so they would bleed out, punched them and spit in their food. Further, that the death certificates did not indicate any foul play involving their deaths."

However, when investigators interviewed him, the soldier said he was only describing dreams he had and the social worker misunderstood him. He said he was very emotional when he spoke with her but he distinguished his dreams from reality.

"The case was thoroughly investigated," said Lt.-Col. Jeremy Martin, an army spokesman.

"There was nothing to validate the soldier's claims."

The case is closed, he said.

The military has released information of many but not all prisoner deaths in Iraq attributed to various causes. No deaths have been reported at the Balad base.


http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2005/03/30/977244-ap.html