Top brass 'approved' using dogs on Iraqis

WASHINGTON - The United States Army General sent by the Pentagon to bolster the collection of intelligence from prisoners at Abu Ghraib is said to have urged the use of guard dogs to frighten Iraqi detainees, the Washington Post says, citing sworn testimony by the top US intelligence officer at the prison.

Colonel Thomas Pappas testified that the idea came from Major-General Geoffrey Miller, then commander of the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and was implemented under a policy approved by Lieutenant-General Ricardo Sanchez, the top US military officer in Iraq, the newspaper reported.

Senior defence officials had said that Sanchez was being replaced as the US commander in Iraq. But they argued the change was not triggered by the Abu Ghraib Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal.

According to a transcript obtained by the Washington Post, Pappas told the Army investigator, Major-General Antonio Taguba: "It was a technique I had personally discussed with General Miller, when he was here" visiting the prison.

"He said that they used military working dogs at Gitmo [the nickname for Guantanamo Bay], and that they were effective in setting the atmosphere for which, you know, you could get information" from the prisoners, Pappas said.

Miller, who assumed command of Abu Ghraib this month, denied through a spokesman that the conversation took place.

"Miller never had a conversation with Colonel Pappas regarding the use of military dogs for interrogation purposes in Iraq. Further, military dogs were never used in interrogations at Guantanamo," Brigadier-General Mark Kimmitt, spokesman for US forces in Iraq, told the Post.

According to the Post, Pappas testified that interrogation plans involving the use of dogs, shackling, "making detainees strip down", or similar aggressive measures followed Sanchez's policy, but were often approved by Sanchez's deputy, Major-General Walter Wojdakowski, or by Pappas himself.

In other developments yesterday:

* A Shiite nuclear scientist jailed by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is reportedly the United Nations' leading candidate for prime minister in the caretaker government to take over from June 30.

Hussain Shahristani, 62, has spent his years in exile focusing on humanitarian aid projects and lacks any political affiliation, which could allow him to serve as a bridge between Iraq's various factions, Iraqi officials told the Post.

Shahristani has met several times this month with UN envoy to Iraq Lakhdar Brahimi, whose interest in the scientist was apparently piqued by a piece Shahristani wrote last month for the Wall Street Journal criticising the occupation authorities for not preparing Iraq for elections.

US officials said negotiations for the 30-member caretaker government were continuing, but Shahristani was the most attractive candidate for prime minister.

* Comprehensive testing has confirmed the presence of the chemical weapon sarin in the remains of a roadside bomb discovered this month in Baghdad.

The determination verifies what less-thorough field tests had found: the bomb was made from an artillery shell designed to disperse the deadly nerve agent on the battlefield.

The origin of the shell remains unclear.

* A US military spokesman said several US soldiers face possible discipline for forcing two Iraqi detainees to jump off a bridge into the Tigris River this year.

There have been questions about whether one of the Iraqis died.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq