Washington, D.C.
Army investigators said last week that there were 94 confirmed cases of prisoner abuse in Afghanistan and Iraq, but no evidence of a “pattern” of mistreatment. Lt. Gen. Paul Mikolashek, the Army’s inspector general, blamed the abuse cases on a few soldiers “who failed to maintain self-discipline or failed to follow procedure.” The vast majority of the 50,000 people detained in the war zones had been treated humanely, he said. The Pentagon in February ordered a thorough investigation, when reports surfaced that guards had beaten and humiliated Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison. Senate Democrats said the report was a whitewash that absolved generals by blaming the scandal on a handful of lowly soldiers.
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