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Interrogators included Israelis: U.S. general

LONDON, JULY 4. The American general formerly in charge of Abu Ghraib prison says she has evidence Israelis were involved in interrogating Iraqi detenus at another facility.

Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who was suspended in May over allegations of prisoner abuse, said she met a man claiming to be an Israeli during a visit to a Baghdad intelligence centre with a senior coalition general.

``I saw an individual there that I hadn't had the opportunity to meet before, and I asked him what did he do there, was he an interpreter — he was clearly from the Middle East,'' Gen. Karpinski told BBC radio in an interview broadcast on Saturday.

``He said, `Well I do some of the interrogation here. I speak Arabic but I'm not an Arab; I'm from Israel.'

``I was really kind of surprised by that ... He didn't elaborate any more than to say he was working with them and there were people from lots of different places that were involved in the operation,'' she added.

The office of the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, refuted the allegations.

``The Prime Minister's office declares this evening that there is no basis and no foundation to the reports regarding supposed involvement of Israeli interrogators in investigating Iraqi hostages or prisoners,'' it said in a statement.

``These reports are vehemently denied.''

The presence of Israeli forces in Iraq would inflame opinion in the Muslim world, where many compare the abuse of prisoners by U.S. forces to Israel's treatment of Palestinian detenus. — AP

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