Identifying A Torture Icon

Salon.com

The New York Times tried to tell the story of the man behind the infamous Abu Ghraib photo. But the paper may have had the wrong prisoner.

By Michael Scherer

Mar. 14, 2006 The New York Times announced Monday night that it would review the accuracy of a recent Page One story that claimed to identify the hooded detainee shown in one of the most iconic photos of abuse from Abu Ghraib, after Salon presented evidence suggesting that the paper had identified the wrong man.

In an apparent scoop on Saturday, the Times reported that Ali Shalal Qaissi, a former Baath Party member, had been photographed standing on a cardboard box, hooded, with his arms spread, a blanket around his shoulders and electrical wires extending from his hands.

But Army documents obtained by Salon contradict the Times' account. An official report by the Army's Criminal Investigation Command (CID) concluded that the photo the Times said showed Qaissi actually showed another detainee, named Saad, whose full name is being withheld by Salon to protect his identity. According to the official report, this second detainee was nicknamed "Gilligan" by military police at Abu Ghraib.

The documents were among many photos and files obtained by Salon last month, from a uniformed member of the military who spent time at Abu Ghraib and is familiar with the CID probe.

More:http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/03/14/torture_photo/index.html