The U.S. Army released documents that reveal that the American troops have in at least two incidents kidnapped and jailed the wives of Iraqi suspects in order to of "leverage" their husbands to surrender, The Associated Press reported.
The documents describing the two incidents which took place in 2004 are among hundreds the Pentagon was forced to release under U.S. court order to meet an American Civil Liberties Union request for information on detention practices.
In one memo, a Pentagon intelligence officer describe an incident that occurred on May 9, 2004 during a U.S.-led raid on what is said to be a suspect house in Tarmiya, northwest of the Iraqi capital, according to
AP.
"During the pre-operation brief it was recommended by TF personnel that if the wife were present, she be detained and held in order to leverage the primary target's surrender," the 14-year veteran officer said, adding that "the 28-year-old woman had three young children at the house, one being as young as six months and still nursing," wrote the intelligence officer, whose signature was blacked out on this for-the-record memorandum about his complaint.
The U.S. forces held the woman for two days and then released her after he complained, he further stated.
The second incident, described in sketchy detail in e-mail exchanges among six U.S. Army colonels, took place in June 2004. It involved a number of female detainees who were held in northern Iraq by the Stryker Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division.
An e-mail sent by a military police colonel to staff officers of the U.S. northern command, stated that the Iraqi police would not take control of the women, held without charges being brought against them.
Another one sent by a command staff officer to an officer of the unit holding the women, stated that "What are you guys doing to try to get the husband — have you tacked a note on the door and challenged him to come get his wife?"
Two days later, the brigade's deputy commander advised the higher command, "As each day goes by, I get more input that these gals have some info and/or will result in getting the husband."
"These ladies fought back extremely hard during the original detention. They have shown indications of deceit and misinformation," he went on.
A U.S. intelligence officer reported that in one case, a secretive task force locked up the young mother of a nursing baby, while in the second, involving another female detainee, one American colonel suggested to another that they catch her husband by tacking a note to the door telling him "to come get his wife."
You can find the First document Here:
http://www.aclu.org/torturefoia/released/t2614_2616.pdf
E-mail exchange: http://www.aclu.org/projects/foiasearch/pdf/DOD044843.pdf