Military intelligence blamed for abuse of Iraqi detainees

A soldier accused of abusing prisoners at the Abu Ghraib facility told his family that military intelligence officers encouraged the mistreatment.

'We have had a very high rate with our style of getting them to break,' the soldier, Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick, wrote in a Dec 18 e-mail released by his uncle. 'They usually end up breaking within hours.'

Staff Sgt Frederick said he questioned some of the abuses and was told: 'This is how military intelligence wants it done.'

Brigadier-General Janis Karpinski, the Army Reserve commander who oversaw the prison, also said on Saturday that military intelligence, not military police, dictated the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.