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Exclusive: Marine Sergeant Comes Forward to Report Abuse at Guantanamo Bay
October 12, 2006 5:15 PM
The Pentagon says it is fully cooperating with a brand new investigation into allegations of prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay.
The allegations come from a Marine Corps sergeant, 23-year-old Heather Cerveny, who spent a week at the base in late September as a legal aide to a military lawyer representing detainees.
In a sworn affidavit filed with the Pentagon Inspector General, Sgt. Cerveny says she met several Navy prison guards at a club on the base where, over drinks, they described harsh physical abuse.
THE BLOTTER RECOMMENDS
"One sailor specifically said, 'I took the detainee by the head and smashed his head into the cell door,'" Sgt. Cerveny tells ABC News in an exclusive interview.
She says she was "shocked" to hear several guards from different parts of the camp speak openly of mistreating prisoners.
"Everyone in the group laughed at all their stories of beating detainees," she recalled. "None of them looked like they cared. None of them looked shocked by it."
One of the guards "was telling his buddy, 'Yeah, this one detainee, you know, really pissed me off, irritated me. So I just, you know, punched him in the face.'"
Sgt. Cerveny says the guards also talked about taking away detainees' privileges "even when they're being good" and denying their requests for water. In her affidavit, she states she was told "they do this to anger the detainees so they can punish them when they object or complain."
When asked why, she claims a guard named Steven told her it's "because he hates the detainees and that they are bad people. He stated that he doesn't like having to take care of them or be nice to them," she says in the affidavit.
Sgt. Cerveny says the guards told her they worked at Camps 5 and 6. When she asked one of the guards about the consequences of their actions, "He said nothing. Everyone in the group was laughing."
They stopped laughing when they found out she worked for a marine defense lawyer.
The sergeant's superior officer, Lt. Col. Colby Vokey, says in his opinion, "These are crimes. These are offenses. Serious abuse of power is what we're seeing here...This is not humane treatment."
He says Sgt. Cerveny was initially reluctant to report what she heard, but he told her to start writing up her affidavit on the flight home.
Sgt. Cerveny says, in the end, she felt a duty to report what she heard, even if she might be accused of betraying the ranks. "What it comes down to for me, morals and simple rights and wrongs. And I don't think a uniform changes that."
The investigation into these new allegations comes as the military and the White House insist any problems in the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo have long since been fixed.
President Bush has said, "Our troops can take great pride in the work they do at Guantanamo Bay, and so can the American people."
About 440 terror suspects from around the world are being held at Guantanamo, including some the Bush administration has designated as "high-value detainees."
Read Sergeant Cerveny's Affidavit.
October 12, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (136)
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BS
Posted by: Tammy | Oct 12, 2006 7:39:17 PM
Yeah Right and tomorrow they'll be saying that the guards at Gitmo flushed a koran down the toilet. O they already accused them of that Come on It's election season - you know-DIRTY DEEDS DONE DIRT CHEAP. DIRTY DEEDS DONE DIRT CHEAP
Posted by: Scotty | Oct 12, 2006 7:39:19 PM
Let's see. A young woman and young men are drinking. Young men try to be macho and impress young woman? Nah. There's enough evidence. Hang 'em. Good scoop ABC.
Posted by: Jan Dank | Oct 12, 2006 7:43:36 PM
Attention previous Pundits:
If you watch the interview, you will see that Sergeant Cerveny was demanded by her superior to file the affadavit. What part of superior do you not understand?
Posted by: Roy | Oct 12, 2006 7:50:00 PM
Guys, it happened. Now we can expect our people to beaten and abused because after all, it's what we did to them.
Somebody up the ladder should pay. I forgot. We just did in the our bill of rights no one has to be accountable except the next soldier captured by the opposition. Don't you feel like your head is being slammed into a wall.
Posted by: Peter | Oct 12, 2006 7:50:39 PM
So here we find a young lady who actually has the heart to stand up for, what we all generally believe in (humnan rights.) And of course we criticize her for standing up in the face of hate from her peers. Everyone has everything backwards these days there are a few things people are entitled to no matter what the crime, and abuse is not one of them, unless they are sentenced to a punishment. We have our own problems here in the states lets stop with the different standards for everyone punish these people responsible accordingly they're not better then me in any way; are they better than you?
Posted by: Chris A | Oct 12, 2006 8:07:35 PM
We need to remember that these prison guards will be "let loose" in 1 to 4 years. If we allow this mistreatment to continue in Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib, when these men/women guards get out of the military, they will probably beat the crap out of anyone who looks at them "in the wrong way." The sad thing is these guards are probably Christians, what does that say for Christianity; smash your neighbor's head in the door when he/she makes you upset.
Posted by: Robert Thole | Oct 12, 2006 8:13:09 PM
Hello??? Is anybody paying attention??? Where are all the comments on how stupid these sailors are for running their mouths, true or not????
Posted by: Lisa | Oct 12, 2006 8:14:24 PM
I hate what this has done to this country. It's disgusting. No wonder the rest of the world finds us so hypocritical.....because we are.
Posted by: Carl | Oct 12, 2006 8:22:00 PM
This should be discouraging to everyone. Beyond reflecting poorly on the U.S. military, it is a symptom of a decay in the leadership. Military members are supposed to be disciplined in the face of challenges. This abuse indicates a lack of leadership. That was what was found at Abu Garib and now we are seeing it in Gitmo. I'm disappointed in my fellow military members and concerned that this will metastasize into someting worse.
Posted by: Doug | Oct 12, 2006 8:22:30 PM
This woman is exceptionally courageous to to come out with this. These are not tall tales about torture ... remember the Abu Graib pictures. How many would believe that our soldiers were doing that?
Sickening , what we have come to .
Torture, indefinite detention with no charges filed and not even a right to a trial. Is this the democrazy we want to export?
Posted by: Luke | Oct 12, 2006 8:41:04 PM
This woman is exceptionally courageous to to come out with this. These are not tall tales about torture ... remember the Abu Graib pictures. How many would believe that our soldiers were doing that?
Sickening , what we have come to .
Torture, indefinite detention with no charges filed and not even a right to a trial. Is this the democracy we want to export?
Posted by: Luke | Oct 12, 2006 8:45:34 PM
I am utterly repulsed with the blame the troops nonsense going on here left and right.
This is frigging al Qaeda, you know the guys beheading civilians and flying planes into building. What the heck is with all the phony concern about their well being?
Posted by: ike | Oct 12, 2006 8:48:58 PM
First 99 percent sure what she is saying is baloney.
Thank you all the ones who have bashed the marines here. Al Queada loves your support.
REMEMBER TO VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT IS A VOTE FOR BIN LADEN!
Brian Ross is only pursuing reports by people accusing republicans of abusing pages by the way.
Posted by: Steph | Oct 12, 2006 8:49:01 PM
I am always amazed at the low opinion some people have of our unformed service members. The same people who believe that service members are the scum of the earth are usually the first believe that the people in gitmo are innocents caught up in some criminal CIA sweep. I would also bet that none of the people who believe this story have ever served this country, they are parasites who can only justify their existence by trying to belittle the people who serve this country with honor as I did. Have you no shame?
Posted by: Carl | Oct 12, 2006 9:00:58 PM
On everyone at Gitmo being a terrorist: Rubbish. There is no evidence of that. If there was, these people would have been tried by now. So, these sailors are beating up innocent people. [Note: innocent until proven guilty is a cornerstone of our country, even for conservatives (I hope)]
On the "Hearsay evidence" comment: Many at Gitmo are there because of yet-to-be-proven hearsay. also, the new Military tribunal rules allow for hearsay against the prisoners. Why can we not have the same against the sailors?
On "impressing the woman." I don't know what kind of women you hang out with, but who would be impressed by stories of smashing innocent people's heads into doors. Great pick up line.
On "Semper Fi" It is semper fi to the country and to the marine corps, both of which stand for much more than criminal behaviour.
Finally: How can anyone think that this does not happen, when we all saw the pictures from Abu Ghraib, know of our soldiers raping and executing innocent people in Iraq, etc?
Posted by: Craig | Oct 12, 2006 9:07:30 PM
Everything that is potentially bad for the country and the adminstration but not one word about Harry Reid's thievery.
Posted by: Mike | Oct 12, 2006 9:27:42 PM
As a Marine myself I support Sgt Cerveny. I am thankful that I am serving with such a courageous person who would be willing to risk everything to come forward with this. She did the right thing and I hope that I would have done the same thing if put in her position. I think we should all be standing in support of her. The military members of this country are and should be held to a higher standard than those of other countries. We have rules and laws for a reason. Stop bad mouthing her and be proud that you have some one with such strong morals defending your country.
Posted by: Bethany | Oct 12, 2006 9:31:42 PM
What is this concern for prisoners of war about? What we should have done is dropping a few A-bombs or, better yet, smashing a few fighter jets into their mountain top hideouts. Maybe those ex-Marines or kill-them-all patriots will volunteer for these glorious jobs?
Posted by: Phoebe | Oct 12, 2006 9:32:47 PM
SELL OUT. keep your mouth shut!!!
Posted by: Johnny | Oct 12, 2006 9:35:50 PM
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