FBI Says Agents in Iraq Had No Role in Prisoner Abuse

WASHINGTON — FBI agents who interviewed detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq did not witness any abuse or take part in any mistreatment, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III said Thursday.

Under FBI rules, Mueller said, agents are prohibited from taking part in interrogations involving force, the threat of force or coercion and are obligated to report any incidents they see.

“In the cases where we have been handling interviews, particularly over in Iraq, it has been done according to our standards and there has been no waiver of that,” he said in testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Also Thursday, officials confirmed that newly discovered photos from Abu Ghraib showed the body of a detainee whose death was the subject of a Justice Department inquiry.

In his testimony, Mueller said the FBI’s standards for interrogations differed from those of the CIA and Defense Department. When agents determine that those agencies’ methods conflict with FBI rules, they do not participate, he said.

Mueller said that “upon occasion” agents had raised objections about the way certain interrogations overseas were handled. “Where we have seen that, we have brought it to the attention of the authorities who were responsible for that particular individual,” he said.

He declined to say how many FBI agents were stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Mueller also said the FBI was not involved in investigations into the handling of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan or at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He confirmed that the CIA inspector-general had referred cases to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution.

One of those cases is documented in photos, first shown Wednesday by ABC, of a corpse at Abu Ghraib packed with ice in a body bag. The photos also show Army Cpl. Charles A. Graner Jr. and Spc. Sabrina Harman posing with the body, giving the thumbs-up sign.

Graner and Harman have been charged in the abuse scandal. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the dead detainee as Manadel Jamadi. The official said his case was among those referred to the Justice Department.