MEMORANDUM FOR CORRESPONDENTS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BACKGROUND. The Army is continuing its effort to keep the public informed by releasing 1,199 pages of criminal investigations pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act litigation with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The 13 cases were provided to the Assistant U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York on February 26 for subsequent release to the ACLU. This release brings the total number of Report of Investigations released to the ACLU to 129. In all 13 of the cases released in this mailing, final disposition has occurred.

Facts:

1) Breakdown of cases:

1 Undetermined Manner of Death

3 Justifiable Homicide

1 Alleged Rape

1 Alleged Larceny

7 Alleged Assaults or Cruelty and Maltreatment

2) The allegations and circumstances in each of these 13 cases were investigated and the cases were closed. The investigations failed to support any criminal charges.

3) In three of the investigations alleging assault or cruelty and maltreatment, there was insufficient evidence to prove or disprove that a crime occurred and in the remaining four investigations, the allegations were unfounded. It's important to review the information and evidence in each of these cases, and it's equally as important to point out that in a number of the alleged assault, cruelty and maltreatment cases, the allegations were made weeks, months and even up to a year after the alleged incident (s) occurred. For example, one case involved an allegation made in a U.S. newspaper article in July 04. The article alleged a detainee was the victim of assault and maltreatment between 7 Oct. and 12 Dec. 2003. A criminal investigation located the alleged victim who subsequently denied he was ever assaulted or mistreated. Another investigation established that the offenses of cruelty, maltreatment and threatening communications did not occur as alleged by a detainee who reportedly heard about an alleged incident via a rumor. The same detainee making the allegation refused to provide a sworn statement to support his allegations. Additionally, a thorough investigation determined there was insufficient evidence to support an allegation of rape. Investigation into the larceny allegation revealed that a former Soldier made the false allegation. The larceny case was unfounded and the former Soldier was charged with making a False Official Statement.

4) The two Justifiable Homicide cases involved detainees participating in a riot at a detainee facility. An investigation concluded that the guards demonstrated the proper escalation of the use of force, using non-lethal methods first. The other Justifiable Homicide case involved an enemy combatant involved in an attack against elements of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Forces - he was wounded in the attack and evacuated to the Medical Treatment Facility at Abu Ghraib where he died a few days later of his injuries.

5) The Army continues to investigate and hold people accountable when appropriate:

§ 341 Investigations

§ 226 of these investigations are closed or completed

§ 159 of these closes/completed investigations required no disposition since the allegations were not substantiated

§ 120 actions have been taken against 109 Soldiers with the following disposition:

- 32 Courts-Martial actions

- 56 Non-Judicial punishments

- 32 Administrative actions (relieved of duty, separated from service, reprimanded)

Investigations may result in a finding of "insufficient evidence" for a variety of reasons, including the inability to identify, locate and/or interview the alleged victim(s), lack of physical evidence to substantiate claims of abuse or contradicting witness accounts of an alleged incident. Investigations are unfounded when the results of the investigation establish that a criminal offense did not occur.

The Army's Criminal Investigation Command stands prepared to reopen any investigation should additional information become available that warrants further investigative action. In fact, CID has done so on a number of occasions when new information or evidence has come to light.