Utah Reservist-Linguists exposed abuses

The Salt Lake Tribune (SLT) ran an interesting feature article this weekend, exposing the "positive" (if there is one) side to the abuse scandals in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo. Within the military culture, denouncing abuse must be difficult, there is no denying it. It takes a brave individual to come forward and attempt to put an end to abuse.

The SLT tells the story of its reservist-linguists (often talented in Afghan languages and Arabic due to the missionary reach of Mormonism), and how they had been key in the revelation of abuses in various locations. Their testimony will presumably help convict various serial abusers of detainees.

Sgt. 1st Class Michael Pratt was apparently unprepared for what he found in his first few months with some of the regular Army soldiers of the 3rd Cavalry.

Among the allegations made in his testimony: That he had witnessed a soldier shoot a 14-year-old boy in the back during a raid - as the boy was running away. That matter, he claimed, was never thoroughly investigated, though fellow soldiers assured him that the rules of engagement had been followed when the teen was shot.

Later, when he learned that unqualified soldiers were conducting interrogations, Pratt again logged a compliant. In response, he testified, he was investigated - and told by other soldiers it was for blackmail purposes.

The final blow came when Pratt reported that a group of combat engineers had confiscated a large stash of currency from an Iraqi family who intended to use the money to send their daughter to Jordan for an operation. When he reported the matter to an officer in his chain of command, Pratt said, "he told me I was getting too close to the Iraqis. He accused me of losing my objectivity."

"After that incident," Pratt said. "I realized that it was pointless to report anything."

Though aware that detainees were often stuffed into lockers, wrapped with blankets and electric cords - and, Pratt alleged, sometimes beaten with a sledgehammer handle - he didn't seek an investigation.

Though he questioned the actions of the covert officers allegedly responsible for the sledgehammer tactics, Pratt didn't report them. They were, he reasoned, out of his chain of command. And in any case, he didn't even know the agents' names.

By comparison, Pratt said, the actions of soldiers like Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer were tame.

"With Welshofer, at least he'd give the detainee a chance to tell the truth," Pratt testified.

Still, Pratt said he confronted the senior soldier after he watched another officer pull a sleeping bag over an inmate, immobilizing the man with cord before slamming him to the ground. When the inmate began to pray aloud, Pratt said, the officer poured water into his mouth and cupped his hands over the inmate's face.

Welshofer, the unit's "subject matter expert" on interrogation techniques, told Pratt "the sleeping bag technique" was authorized, though only certain soldiers were allowed to use it, according to Pratt's testimony. In the following days, the record states, Pratt watched as Welshofer himself applied the technique on another inmate, sitting on the bound man's chest and stomach as he asked him questions.

"I could tell by the way he was sitting, if I was in the detainee's position, I would have had a hard time breathing," Pratt said, adding afterward: "I'm surprised that it didn't kill him." [...]

But although Pratt wanted to let someone know what he had witnessed, he didn't feel it would do any good so long as he was with the 3rd Cavalry.

"I didn't contact my chain of command because the only chain of command I had was Chief Welshofer," Pratt said. "I had reported this kind of action to the 3rd ACR chain of command before, and the response was that every time I reported something, the chain of command would investigate me . . .

"I believe that the chain of command was complicit with the unlawful activities, that is why I didn't report it to them."

On Christmas Day 2003, Pratt traveled from Iraq to Kuwait, where he met up with the Utah National Guard's officer in charge of interrogations. That officer, whose name does not appear in the transcript, would be the first senior official to take Pratt's allegations seriously.

Finally, the enlisted soldier had found the encouragement he had sought all along: "He told me I had to report it."