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'60 Minutes II' To Air Soldier's Video Diary

"60 Minutes II" will air new abuse material in the form of a soldier's videotaped diary Wednesday night:

The CBS newsmagazine (8 p.m. EDT Wednesday) obtained the video diary of a soldier, whose name was withheld, talking about conditions at Camp Bucca and Abu Ghraib in Iraq where Iraqi prisoners were held. "We've already had two prisoners die ... but who cares?" the soldier says on the tape. "That's two less for me to worry about."

The tape reflects the soldier's dislike for the prison camp and the prisoners, according to CBS. "I hate it here," she says. "I want to come home. I want to be a civilian again. We actually shot two prisoners today. One got shot in the chest for swinging a pole against our people on the feed team. One got shot in the arm. We don't know if the one we shot in the chest is dead yet."

From the '60 Minutes' show site:

Throughout the tape, the soldier records her anger at the thousands of Iraqi prisoners under U.S. control at Camp Bucca. "They usually have three a week that break out and, of course, every time that I'm working they never do it," she says. "It's 'cause they are scared of me. I actually got in trouble the other day because I was throwing rocks at them."

...[Guards] Lisa Girman's and Canjar's families tried to bring attention to the problems at Camp Bucca last year. They called Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's office repeatedly and talked to his staff, but got no response. Their letters to the White House and two senators were also unanswered.

The AP reports that Lisa Girman's commander said she engaged in vigilante just to revenge the rape of Pvt. Jessica Lynch:

A female Army soldier in the notorious 320th Military Police Battalion meted out "vigilante justice" on Iraqi prisoners she believed had raped former POW Jessica Lynch, according to a letter from her battalion commander obtained by The Associated Press. Lt. Col. Jerry L. Phillabaum, the troubled battalion's commander, leveled the allegation in a rebuttal to charges against his leadership of the 320th, some of whose soldiers were charged with abusing prisoners last fall at the Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad.

The soldier Phillabaum named, then-Master Sgt. Lisa Girman, 35, called her former commander's description of the incident "completely false" and said Phillabaum was an "incompetent" leader trying to cover up his shortcomings by blaming others.

The guards and commanders can fingerpoint all they want. We think the fault lies with Bush and Rumsfeld. The buck stops there. Boot Bush.

< NJ May Mandate Recording of All Interrogations | Arrogant Incompetence >
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