Red Cross Report Describes Systemic Abuse in Iraq

The document goes well beyond conditions at Abu Ghraib to identify what the Red Cross considered "serious violations of international humanitarian law" as established by the Geneva Conventions.

Military intelligence officers told Red Cross monitors that 70 to 90 percent of captives in Iraq last year had been arrested by mistake, the report stated. Some Iraqi families roamed the country for weeks trying to uncover the fate of their imprisoned relatives, who had disappeared into the military detention apparatus.

Much of the behavior most troubling to Red Cross monitors was brutality toward newly arrested Iraqis by soldiers who had captured them. Ill-treatment toward new captives was so frequent and consistent, the Red Cross said, that it seemed to reflect a "usual modus operandi" by certain units.

Poor military supervision of battle units may have been a factor, according to the report.

Three months before the Defense Department opened an investigation into conditions at Abu Ghraib, Red Cross investigators assigned to monitor compliance with the Geneva Conventions notified U.S. authorities of many of the harsh measures.