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Fresh Guantanamo probe

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE (CUBA), JAN. 6. Investigators will look into allegations of prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay described in recently released FBI documents, authorities said, as a new batch of FBI memos was released.

The U.S. Southern Command in Miami assigned Army Brig. Gen. John T. Furlow to lead the investigation, which could begin as early as this week. The military maintains that most incidents detailed in the FBI memos occurred in 2002 when the prison was just opening, and that some of the interrogation techniques labelled as ``aggressive'' are no longer in use.

Documents published last month show FBI agents warned the Government about abuse and mistreatment when the first prisoners arrived, more than a year before a scandal at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. One letter, written by a senior U.S. Justice Department official and obtained by The Associated Press, suggested the Pentagon failed to act on the FBI complaints.

``It will be fully investigated,'' Guantanamo's commanding Army Brig. Gen. Jay Hood said on Wednesday, adding that recent articles about allegations have skewed the public's understanding about the mission and the troops' commitment to strict standards.

``Part of that scepticism has occurred because of how ugly Abu Ghraib was,'' Gen. Hood said. ``I do not know of anybody wearing uniform who has not, to one degree or another, been sickened by the photos we've all seen. On the other hand, to allege that the 2,000 Americans working here are conspiring in an effort to abuse or torture the men under our charge is foolishness.''

Independent team

He said the independent military team was necessary to find and interview people who had left the remote outpost.

The small team of investigators, including an attorney, will report their findings to the Southern Command's Army Gen. Bantz J. Craddock in February. The American Civil Liberties Union last month released e-mails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act in which the FBI accused interrogators of inserting lit cigarettes in prisoners' ears and shackling them into a foetal positions for hours, forcing them to soil themselves. — AP

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