Identifying a torture icon

The New York Times tried to tell the story of the man behind the infamous Abu Ghraib photo. But the paper may have had the wrong prisoner.

By Michael Scherer

Read more: Politics, News, The New York Times, Michael Scherer, Abu Ghraib

The photo the New York Times used on its front page March 11. The Times said it depicted Ali Shalal Qaissi, but it is likely another Abu Ghraib detainee.

March 14, 2006 | WASHINGTON -- The New York Times announced Monday night that it would review the accuracy of a recent Page One story that claimed to identify the hooded detainee shown in one of the most iconic photos of abuse from Abu Ghraib, after Salon presented evidence suggesting that the paper had identified the wrong man.

In an apparent scoop on Saturday, the Times reported that Ali Shalal Qaissi, a former Baath Party member, had been photographed standing on a cardboard box, hooded, with his arms spread, a blanket around his shoulders and electrical wires extending from his hands.

But Army documents obtained by Salon contradict the Times' account. An official report by the Army's Criminal Investigation Command (CID) concluded that the photo the Times said showed Qaissi actually showed another detainee, named Saad, whose full name is being withheld by Salon to protect his identity. According to the official report, this second detainee was nicknamed "Gilligan" by military police at Abu Ghraib.

The documents were among many photos and files obtained by Salon last month, from a uniformed member of the military who spent time at Abu Ghraib and is familiar with the CID probe.

In an e-mail interview, a spokesman for CID confirmed that investigators had concluded the photograph shown on the front page of the Times was not Qaissi. "We have had several detainees claim they were the person depicted in the photograph in question," the CID spokesman told Salon. "Our investigation indicates that the person you have cited from the NY Times is not the detainee who was depicted in the photograph."

Ethan Bronner, the deputy foreign editor of the Times, said the newspaper was now investigating the possibility that two people were depicted in the photographs. He said the newspaper was no longer certain that the picture it ran on the front page depicted Qaissi. "Serious legitimate questions have been raised," Bronner said.

In an internal CID archive of 280 Abu Ghraib photos obtained by Salon, there are a total of five photographs depicting a hooded man -- or men -- attached to electrical wires, taken from different angles by three different digital cameras in a span of roughly 15 minutes on the night of Nov. 4. While CID investigative materials reviewed by Salon indicate that all the hooded photos depict Saad, not Qaissi, the possibility that a second hooded prisoner was subject to similar treatment cannot be ruled out.

The CID spokesman said the agency would include the information about the photograph reported by the Times as its investigation continues, to "determine if there is any credibility to this allegation."

A lawyer representing Qaissi confirmed to Salon Monday night that the Times had made a mistake. "He [Qaissi] believes that there are two different people depicted in the photographs," said Jonathan Pyle, of Burke Pyle LLC. "Ali believes that the picture of himself is the one with his arms pointed diagonally down." Qaissi uses this photograph on his business card.

Lawyers and human rights workers who are investigating the abuse at Abu Ghraib maintain that the official government reports of abuse are far from comprehensive, containing several possible inaccuracies and omissions. "We don't think the investigation is complete at all," said Pyle, the lawyer representing Qaissi. He spoke by phone from Amman, Jordan, where he and other lawyers were meeting with alleged victims of U.S. detention policy.

Up to this point, the investigations by the U.S. military, and statements by military police, have indicated that there was only one detainee, the man named Saad, who was forced to stand on a cardboard box with wires connected to his hands. This detainee was suspected of involvement in the kidnapping and murder of two U.S. soldiers. According to Army documents, Saad was being held by CID, the same military agency that would later lead the investigation into abuse at the prison.

Next page: "Your inquiry is great example of democracy," Qaissi tells Salon