ALEXANDRIA, Va. (CN) — A former Army general testified Tuesday that a civilian contractor directed military police personnel to abuse detainees at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2003.
Retired Major General Antonio Taguba recounted the results of his 2004 investigation into prisoner abuse in the civil trial of CACI Premier Technology Inc., a government contractor who supplied interrogators for the facility.
Eleven U.S. soldiers were convicted and five others disciplined for abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib over 2003 and 2004. Primarily led by military police who oversaw detainees, the prisoners were subjected to physical abuse, sexual humiliation and other human rights violations.
The MPs have maintained that they acted at the behest of military intelligence personnel, including civilian contractors, who directed them to “soften up” detainees for interrogations. The trial, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, seeks to determine if CACI played a role in setting those conditions and is thus culpable for the actions of the personnel.
The company contends it should not be held liable over the actions of a few interrogators. During the trial, it has also contended that the military, rather than the contractors or the company, was responsible for setting policy.
No institution, corporate entity or civilian contractor has faced legal penalties for the abuse at Abu Ghraib.
Taguba was assigned to conduct an investigation once the military’s criminal investigation division learned of the photos that would later be broadcast around the world. His investigation was supposed to focus only on the military police personnel, not military intelligence.
However, during his investigation, Taguba testified that the MPs frequently brought up CACI, pronouncing it like khaki, and he was unsure what they meant. He was not informed that civilian contractors were among the military intelligence unit before coming to Abu Ghraib.
One CACI contractor singled out in Taguba’s report was Steven Stefanowicz. He testified that the MPs “literally implicated him in providing instructions to them.”
Taguba personally interviewed Stefanowicz and described him as “coy” and leaning forward to stare down the general “in an intimidating manner.”
“He was trying to intimidate me,” he said.
On cross-examination, Taguba said he did not witness any abuse personally or see any photos depicting CACI employees abusing detainees. He also did not conduct a full investigation of the contractors or military intelligence personnel.
“We stopped interviewing MI or contractor interrogators based on a recommendation from my legal team that they be interviewed by a different team,” he said.
When asked if the military could discipline the civilian interrogators, Taguba said: “We did not have that authority.”
Taguba’s testimony was interrupted several times by an attorney representing the U.S. government, which has invoked state secrets laws to hide some evidence and testimony.
Tuesday’s proceedings kicked off with testimony from one of the three Iraqis who are suing the Northern Virginia-based company: Asa’ad Hamza Hanfoosh Zuba’e, who testified remotely from Iraq through an Arabic interpreter.
Zuba’e, who is now 50, was working as a taxi driver when American soldiers detained him in late 2003. After being taken to Abu Ghraib, Zuba’e was stripped naked. He testified that civilian personnel told him to “play" with his penis and started taking pictures of him.
“I was heavily embarrassed,” he said. “I was crying. I was screaming.”
Zuba’e said he was later threatened with rape, had cold water poured on him, was instructed to crawl across the cell block and forced to stand with his hands and arms bound in stress positions. He also testified that at one point the guards used dogs to intimidate and scare him.
CACI’s attorneys hammered Zuba’e on every detail of his testimony and any variation it had from his previous statements or depositions. They argued he couldn’t have been threatened with dogs at the time he alleges because the dogs hadn’t been brought to the prison yet.
CACI’s attorneys also tried to cast doubt on Zuba’e’s contention that he was only interrogated by civilian contractors, but he stood firm with his assertions.
The trial is expected to continue through the end of next week.
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