Iraqi man jailed by U.S. is now out for revenge

NAJAF, Iraq — Dhia al-Shweiri spent several stints in Baghdad's notorious Abu Ghraib prison, twice under Saddam Hussein's rule and once under American. He prefers Saddam's torture to the humiliation of being stripped naked by his American guards, he said Sunday in an interview with The Associated Press.

Now the 30-year-old, who used to work in a fabric shop, is a die-hard fighter in the al-Mahdi Army, the fanatic militia of a Shiite Muslim cleric who has vowed to take on the Americans.

Al-Shweiri said that while jailed by Saddam's regime, he was electrocuted, beaten and hung from the ceiling with his hands tied behind his back.

"But that's better than the humiliation of being stripped naked," he said. "Shoot me here," he added, pointing between his eyes, "but don't do this to us."

For months, human rights groups and former prisoners had complained of mistreatment at detention centers, but their protests were widely dismissed as politically motivated until the U.S. command started an investigation in January. Six American soldiers are now facing courts-martial.

The allegations exploded onto the world stage this past week after CBS' "60 Minutes II" broadcast images allegedly showing Iraqis stripped naked, hooded and being tormented by their U.S. captors.

An internal U.S. Army report found that Iraqi detainees were subjected to "sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses," according to The New Yorker magazine.

On Saturday, Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper published a front-page picture of a British soldier apparently urinating on a hooded prisoner. The newspaper said it had been given the pictures by serving soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment.

America's top general, Gen. Richard Myers, said Sunday there was no evidence of "systematic abuse," and the actions of "just a handful" have unfairly tainted all American forces.

However, Amnesty International said it has uncovered a "pattern of torture" of Iraqi prisoners by coalition troops and called for an independent investigation into the claims of abuse.

Dan Senor, spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority, said the U.S. investigation will be full and aggressive. "Careers will be ended, and criminal charges are going to be leveled," Senor said on CNN.

Al-Shweiri said he was not surprised to see TV images of smiling U.S. soldiers posing by naked, hooded inmates who, in one photograph, were piled in a human pyramid.