Nevada Guardsmen questioned on prison

Ed Koch and Stephen Curran

Thursday, June 10, 2004 | 11:15 a.m.

Military investigators were in Nevada last weekend taking statements from 14 members of the Nevada National Guard regarding the alleged abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Guard officials confirmed today.

Maj. Gen. Giles Vanderhoof, commander of the Nevada National Guard, said the interviews were routine and that the investigation was not directed at the Nevada soldiers who are members of the 72nd Military Police Company.

"This unit has been under a microscope, and in every case not the slightest thing has been found other than they performed exemplary duty -- that they acted right and proper under adverse conditions," Vanderhoof said.

"I'm convinced our folks did their job right. No Nevada Guardsman has been implicated. There had not even been a hint or suggestion of improper behavior against a Nevada Guardsman."

The arrival of investigators Sunday comes on the heels of a New York Times report that quoted detainees at the prison who said the practice of leaving prisoners naked started as far back as July 2003, three months before seven soldiers now charged with abuse -- and their Maryland-based company -- arrived at the prison.

Photos made public of naked prisoners being humiliated by U.S. troops has provoked worldwide shock and condemnation.

The 110-soldier Nevada National Guard unit served six months at the prison beginning in May 2003 and was replaced in October by the 372nd Military Police from Maryland. The 72nd returned to Las Vegas in November. The unit's deployment at the prison overlapped with the 372nd for about three weeks in October, military officials said.

Vanderhoof said the detainees' purported recollections that they were forced to be naked as far back as July is "speculation."

"I do not know whether they have the dates wrong, but I believe our folks did not do anything wrong or anything as was depicted in those pictures that were made public," Vanderhoof said.

Vanderhoof said investigators selected 14 names of soldiers they wanted to interview Sunday. They interviewed the commander and first sergeant and 12 others. Vanderhoof said he was told the 12 others were chosen at random.

Vanderhoof, calling the 72nd "one of the most interviewed (units) in U.S. history," said Nevada Guard officials also have interviewed the soldiers at length to determine if they needed counseling or have anything to report regarding how prisoners were treated.

"In all of my discussions, I'm convinced that if they were asked or pushed to do those things (forced nudity, abuse, etc.), they would have refused," he said. "They know the Geneva Convention. They know right from wrong."

Vanderhoof said the investigators' visit last weekend was part of what he believes is an attempt by the military to interview anyone who might have any knowledge of what happened as part of a thorough investigation.