The U.S. general formerly in charge of Abu Ghraib prison says she has evidence Israelis were involved in interrogating Iraqi detainees 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 Israeli during a visit to a Baghdad intelligence center with a top occupation 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," Karpinski told BBC radio in an interview broadcast 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," Karpinski added.
Meanwhile, Israel's Foreign Ministry told the BBC that reports of Israeli troops or interrogators in Iraq were "completely untrue."
Karpinski was suspended from command of the 800th Military Police Brigade after the publication in April of photos showing soldiers abusing and humiliating naked Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib. She has said she did not know about the abuse and is being made a "scapegoat" in the scandal. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
