The Pentagon's ghost investigation

Nearly two years ago, a top general urged a probe into illegal "ghost detainees" held at Abu Ghraib prison. But according to the Pentagon, it never happened -- and never will.

By Mark Benjamin and Michael Scherer

Read more: Politics, News, CIA, Torture, Michael Scherer, Abu Ghraib, Mark Benjamin

"11:37 p.m., Nov. 4, 2003. Detainee died during an interrogation by OGA, and was placed in the shower area of tier 1, hard site ... No NDRS or ISN numbers, as he was never processed in the system." (Editor's note: Official identification by Army investigators.)

May 17, 2006 | WASHINGTON -- In spite of a strong recommendation by a top Army general, the Pentagon has failed to investigate the military's role in handling "ghost detainees," prisoners secretly held and interrogated by the U.S. government at Abu Ghraib prison and elsewhere in Iraq. Nearly two years ago, in multiple meetings, Army Gen. Paul J. Kern briefed Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and top Army officials about the need for such a probe. In an interview with Salon, Kern, now retired, said he left those briefings with the expectation that an investigation would be carried out. According to a Department of Defense spokesman, however, no Pentagon investigation has taken place, nor is one planned.

Kern headed a major investigation in 2004 into detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib, known as the Fay-Jones report. "When we finished the report, we felt there was an unfinished part that needed to be done with respect to ghost detainees," Kern told Salon. Based on his findings, Kern concluded that the Pentagon needed to look into the arrangement, between the Army and the CIA, under which the military held prisoners in secret -- a violation of the Geneva Conventions.

In addition to his multiple briefings with Pentagon leaders, in August 2004 Kern publicly called for an investigation into the matter of ghost detainees. And on Sept. 9, 2004, Kern told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, then headed by Joseph E. Schmitz, had "agreed" to conduct an investigation. Kern told Salon last week, "I look forward to it being finished."

But an investigation was never started. Gary Comerford, a spokesman for the Defense Department's inspector general's office, told Salon, "The Department of Defense inspector general has not undertaken an investigation into the ghost detainee issue, and none is planned."

The absence of an investigation by the military -- which could also shed light on the CIA's role at Abu Ghraib and in the broader war on terror -- is another obstacle to uncovering the full truth about what took place at the prison. To date, all U.S. government investigations into detainee abuse have been controlled by the Rumsfeld Pentagon, a process critics say has been far from adequate.

Few details are known about the ghost detainee operation, which was run in the intelligence wing of the prison. Past reports, along with testimony from Army investigations obtained by Salon, draw at least an outline of the operation: The CIA would covertly deliver prisoners, interrogate them and remove them. The Army would house the detainees in the intelligence wing -- with no official record of their existence -- and military police would take them to and from CIA interrogations.

In his testimony to Congress in 2004, Kern said that the number of ghost detainees who had passed through Abu Ghraib was "in the dozens, to perhaps up to 100." At least one ghost detainee is known to have died during interrogation by the CIA inside Abu Ghraib.

Kern told Salon that he had attempted to dig deeper into the murky ghost detainee operations while heading the Abu Ghraib investigation in 2004. But he was rebuffed repeatedly by staffers in the Defense Department's inspector general's office, who told him that ghost detainees fell outside Kern's jurisdiction. According to Kern, they insisted that it was a job for the inspector general's office.

When asked about a ghost detainee investigation during Senate hearings this February, Rumsfeld sidestepped the issue. "It is the CIA inspector general that is doing that," Rumsfeld said. A spokesman in Rumsfeld's office told Salon that he would provide an explanation for the missing Department of Defense inquiry, but after a week referred the matter to another spokesman who handles issues concerning the department's inspector general's office. That spokesman did not respond to Salon.

Comerford, the spokesman for the inspector general's office, also told Salon, "Our office received no request for any investigations on ghost detainees."

Critics of the Pentagon leadership fear that the lack of any investigation into ghost detainees by the military leaves a gaping hole in the quest for accountability.

"Having the CIA look into it is irrelevant because the CIA is not responsible for the actions of U.S. soldiers," Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., a member of the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement to Salon. "Hiding detainees runs contrary to military doctrine and is a violation of both U.S. and international law. If someone broke the law, it is important to figure out why they did so, who gave the orders, and to hold them truly accountable."

Reed has read the report of the CIA inspector general's investigation into the matter, which is classified. "I do not believe there has been an adequate investigation into the handling and treatment of ghost detainees," he maintains.

Next page: Could Rumsfeld be charged with a war crime?