CIA contractor guilty in Afghan prisoner assault

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) – A former CIA contractor
was found guilty on Thursday of assaulting an Afghan prisoner
who later died in a case that raised new questions about the
treatment of detainees by U.S. interrogators.

David Passaro, a former Special Forces medic, was convicted
on one felony charge of assault causing serious injury and
three misdemeanor counts of simple assault. He was the first
civilian to be charged with abusing a detainee in the U.S. wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan.

During a trial that started on August 7, prosecutors said
Passaro beat Abdul Wali so badly he pleaded to be shot to end
his pain. Wali died of his injuries two days after the
interrogation in June 2003.

The indictment said Passaro worked at a U.S. military base
in Afghanistan that was frequently subjected to rocket attacks
and Wali was a suspect in the attacks.

Passaro’s lawyers portrayed their client as a good soldier
who went out of his way to offer care to Wali. They said
Passaro even performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in an
unsuccessful bid to revive him.

Guidelines given to interrogators have been an issue since
a scandal broke at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison in 2004. Prisoners
released from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba,
where the United States is keeping suspected Taliban and al
Qaeda members, also say they were tortured or abused.

Critics say U.S. government guidelines on what constitutes
torture issued since the September 11 attacks have created a
climate in which abuses of detainees have flourished.