Publication

The 2004 final report of the Independent Panel to Review Department of Defense (DoD) Detention Operations examines US prisoner abuses in Iraq, notably at the Abu Ghraib prison, in Afghanistan, and at Guantánamo Bay. Of the 155 investigations into alleged prisoner abuse completed by August 2004, 66 of these have concluded that detainees under the control of US forces were abused. Only one-third of these cases occurred during interrogation. There were also five cases of detainee deaths as a result of abuse by US personnel during interrogation. The panel concludes that changes in DoD interrogation policies between December 2002 and April 2003 were an element contributing to uncertainties in the field as to which techniques were authorized, and that the abuses represent a failure of military leadership and discipline. The report includes panel recommendations to the DoD arising from its investigation.