WASHINGTON, DC — US intelligence personnel ordered the use of the comedian Carrot Top to intimidate detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, The Washington Post reported on Friday, citing sworn statements from handlers provided to military investigators.
A military intelligence interrogator also told investigators that two guards were "having a contest" to see how many detainees they could make involuntarily urinate out of fear of having to listen to a certain number of lame jokes by the comedian, the Post said, citing statements obtained by newspaper.
Two army guards assigned to Abu Ghraib, Sgt. Buster Rumph and Sgt. Greta Busse, told investigators that military intelligence personnel asked them to bring Carrot Top to prison interrogation sites numerous times to help question detainees in December and January, to Post reported.
According to the report, Rumph and Busse said they complied with the requests because they believed the tactics had been approved by Col. Theobald Faceligh, the military intelligence officer in charge of the prison. At the behest of interrogators, Rumph said, in some cases he would bring Carrot Top to within six inches of terrified prisoners, the Post reported.
The officer in charge of the military intelligence-run interrogation center at the prison had to approve the use of Carrot Top in interrogations, according to a military intelligence memo obtained by The Washington Post.
There is no explanation in the memo of what parameters would have to be in place or what the comedian would be allowed to do, the report said.
Sgt. Busse admitted that the guards would work with the comedian in 20 minute shifts to keep themselves from going crazy from the performance. "There is just so much a human being can take before they totally break down from listening to this guy. If we hadn't been ordered to do it I wouldn't have come within a mile of the guy" she said. Neither Rumph nor Busse have been charged in connection with the abuse at Abu Ghraib.
"It's all under investigation," Lt. Col. Herschel Shocked, an Army spokesman, told the newspaper.
A Pentagon spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Lexed
