US guards at the Abu Ghraib prison stripped Iraqi prisoners naked; mocked, struck and kicked them; and "in the crudest of humiliations forced them to hit each other," the Los Angeles Timeswebsite is reporting.
The site said that Specialist Jeremy Sivits, the first soldier to face a court-martial in the abuse scandal, has told investigators "a harrowing tale" of how guards led by Spc Charles Graner abused the detainees during nightly rounds.
Spc Sivits said all of the abuse was committed without the knowledge of their superiors. "They believe in doing the right thing. If they saw what was going on, there would be hell to pay." He said Spc Graner warned him not to say anything, telling him: "You did not see [this]".
It quotes documents in which Spc Sivits claimed Spc Graner was always "joking, laughing . . . acting like he was enjoying it".
Spc Graner's attorney was not available for comment but has said his client and other soldiers were under pressure by military interrogators to "soften up" the detainees.
According to the LA Times, Spc Sivits said the soldiers appeared to be enjoying abusing the prisoners.
Spc Sivits described how inmates were forced to strip and form a human pyramid and how US soldiers jumped on them when they were handcuffed and piled on the floor.
He also said Spc Graner hit one man so hard that he fell unconscious and that other soldiers forced naked detainees to masturbate.
Spc Sivits (24), one of seven military police officers facing charges in the case, will plead guilty at a court-martial proceeding next week, the Washington Postreports. He admitted in a sworn statement that he photographed the abuse but failed to report it, according to the newspaper.
His offer to plead guilty was accepted by the staff judge advocate overseeing his court-martial, the newspaper said. But it said it could not be determined to which charge he would plead guilty.
AP