6 I Monday, Sept. 27, 2010
Promises: Waiting for Abu Ghraib amends
Pete Yost
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON Pending off
demands that he resign over the
Abu Ghraib prison scandal, then-
Defense Secretary Donald H.
Rumsfeld told Congress in 2004
that he had found a legal way to
compensate Iraqi detainees who
suffered “grievous and brutal
abuse and cruelty at the hands of
a few members of the United
States armed forces.”
“It’s the right thing to do,”
Rumsfeld said. “And it is my inten
tion to see that we do.”
Six years later, the U.S. Army is
unable to document a single pay
ment for prisoner abuse at Abu
Ghraib.
Nor can the more than 250
Iraqis or their lawyers now seek
ing redress in U.S. courts. Their
hopes for compensation may rest
on a Supreme Court decision this
week.
The Army says about 30 former
Abu Ghraib prisoners are seeking
compensation from the U.S. Army
Claims Service. Those claims are
still being investigated; many do
not involve inmate abuse.
The Army said that U.S. Forces-
Iraq looked at its records and
could not find any payments to for
mer detainees. The Army also
cannot verify whether any such
payments were made informally
through Iraqi leaders.
From the budget years 2003 to
2006, the Defense Department
paid $30.9 million to Iraqi and
Afghan civilians who were killed,
injured, or incurred property dam
age due to U.S. or coalition forces’
actions during combat.
The Army has found no evi-
Experts question BP’s
take on Gulf oil spill
Dina Cappiello
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON
Engineering experts probing the
Gulf of Mexico oil spill exposed
holes in BP’s internal investiga
tion as the company was ques
tioned Sunday for the first time in
public about its findings.
BP’s lead investigator acknowl
edged that the company’s probe
had limitations.
Mark Bly, head of safety and
operations for BP PLC, told a
National Academy of Engineering
committee that a lack of physical
evidence and interviews with
employees from other companies
limited BP’s study. The internal
team only looked at the immedi
ate cause of the April disaster,
which killed 11 workers and
unleashed 206 million gallons of
oil into the Gulf.
“It is clear that you could go
further into the analysis,” said
Bly, who said the investigation
was geared to discovering things
that BP could address in the short
term. “This does not represent a
complete penetration into poten
tially deeper issues.”
For example, the National
Academy of Engineering panel
noted that the study avoided orga
nizational flaws that could have
contributed to the blast. BP has
focused much of its work on deci
sions made on the rig, not with the
managers on shore.
Americans, Syrians collaborate in designing hero
Edith Lederer
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NEW YORK Comic book
fans will soon be getting their first
glimpse at an unlikely new super
hero a Muslim boy in a wheel
chair with superpowers.
The new superhero is the
brainchild of a group of disabled
young Americans and Syrians
who were brought together last
month in Damascus by the Open
Hands Intiative, a non-profit
organization founded by U.S. phi
lanthropist and businessman Jay
T. Snyder.
The superhero’s appearance
hasn’t been finalized, but an early
sketch shows a Muslim boy who
lost his legs in a landmine acci
dent and later becomes the Silver
Scorpion after discovering he has
the power to control metal with
his mind.
Sharad Devarajan, co-founder
and CEO of Liquid Comics whose
company is now turning the
young people’s ideas into pictures
and a story line, said the goal is to
release the first comic book
launching the disabled Muslim
superhero in early November
in both Arabic and English.
Snyder says he was inspired by
President Barack Obama’s effort
to reach out to the Muslim world
in his January 2009 inaugural
address.
Last month, Snyder flew 12 dis
abled Americans to Damascus to
meet their Syrian peers, and one
of their main goals was to come
dence any of those payments were
used to compensate victims of
abuse at Abu Ghraib.
So instead of compensation, the
legacy of the most infamous
detainee abuse episode from
President George W. Bush’s
tenure is lawsuits, and the court
battle mirrors the Iraq war a
grinding, drawn-out conflict.
At the U.S. Supreme Court, the
former detainees are asking the
justices to step into a case alleging
that civilian interrogators and lin
guists conspired with soldiers to
abuse the prisoners.
All the detainees, who allege
they were held at Abu Ghraib or
one of the other 16 detention cen
ters in Iraq, say they were eventu
ally released without any charges
against them.
Their case presents a funda
mental legal issue: Can defense
contractors working side by side
with military jailers be sued for
claims arising in a war zone?
The U.S. government is
immune from suits arising from
combatant activities of the mili
tary during time of war.
The ex-detainees are suing
CACI International Inc. of
Arlington, Va., and L-3 Services
Inc. of New York, formerly called
Titan Corp. of San Diego. Both
companies say the suits fail to link
any of their employees to abuse.
The Supreme Court considers
the case in private today and could
announce as early as Tuesday
whether it will take the case.
“It’s really outrageous that
there hasn’t been a widespread
commitment to compensate the
clear victims of this abuse, and it’s
extremely troubling that the gov
ernment doesn’t appear able to
Najmedin Meshkati, a profes
sor at the Viterbi School of
Engineering at the University of
Southern California, said he won
dered why BP named its report
an accident investigation when it
left critical elements out. He
asked BP to turn over information
on shift duration and worker
fatigue.
“How could you call this great
work accident investigation ...
(without) addressing human per
formance issues and organiza
tional issues and decision-making
issues?” Meshkati asked.
He referred specifically to the
confusion that occurred leading
up to the explosion, when many
workers aboard the rig were busy
with work associated with finish
ing up a well. This distraction
could have led to missed signs
that something was wrong.
“It wasn’t intended to be any
thing that it isn’t,” Bly responded.
“It was a good contribution and a
good foundation for further work
for BP itself and others.”
Other experts questioned one
of BP’s central conclusions that
the oil and gas traveled up the
center pipe, rather than the space
outside the pipe. One wanted to
know whether a device designed
to shut off an engijie when it
starts to rev as it would in the
presence of gas failed. BP said
it didn’t know if the device worked
or not.
BP’s testimony, and the ques-
up with ideas and story lines for
the new superhero.
“The only limit was the imagi
nation these kids had the
opportunity for a great story,” said
Snyder, a comic book collector
who heads HBJ Investments
LLC. “They helped create some
thing by their combined talents,
and that becomes a gift to the
world.”
Devarajan found the young
people’s imagination to be quite
amazing. “The opening question
we asked the kids was if you could
have any superpower what would
it be? I’ve asked that question in
many different groups before and
the typical answers are always
the ones you’d expect flying,
reading minds, or being super
strong,” Devarajan said.
“The fascinating thing about
this group was that I don’t think I
heard any one of those three,” he
said.
“Each of their ideas was so
originally distinct, whether the
Syrian kids or the U.S. kids,” he
said, adding that perhaps because
of their disabilities, the young peo
ple think as individuals without
being influenced by outsiders.
One girl, for example, wanted to
have the power to combine the
energy of the moon and the sun.
Devarajan said it was notewor
thy that none of the young people
wanted the hero’s power to be
something that cured their dis
ability.
“They were empowered by
their own disabilities, and they
A U.S. soldier holds a dog in front of an Iraqi detainee at Abu Ghraib prison on the outskirts of Baghdad. At
the U.S. Supreme Court, the former detainees are asking the justices to step into a case alleging that civilian
interrogators and linguists conspired with soldiers to abuse the prisoners.
document any compensation for at least one portion of the account- abuse, Lt. Col. Craig A. Ratcliff, an
victims whatsoever,” said Vince ability for these actions,” he said. Army spokesman, told The
Warren, executive directoY of the Although the U.S. military used Associated Press.
Center for Constitutional Rights, a signs, pamphlets, broadcasts and “We believe there could be sev
private group overseeing lawsuits word of mouth to let the Iraqi pub- eral reasons for this, including the
against the civilian contractors lie know how to make claims cultural and social stigma of hav
since 2004. against U.S. forces, “very few ing been detained or mistreated
“The U.S. government seems to claims appear to have been made” that could be a source of embar
have failed miserably in securing related to Abu Ghraib inmate rassment...” he said.
Kent Corser, Drilling Engineering Manager, BP North America Gas,
testifies before the National Academy of Engineering committee on
Sunday. Experts recently exposed holes in BP’s internal investigation.
tioning, lasted more than three
hours on Sunday. It was the first
time BP’s six-person investiga
tion team was questioned publicly
about its findings. Today and
Tuesday in Washington, investiga
tors will turn their attention to the
government’s response to the
spill and its impact on the econo
my and environment at a hearing
of the national spill commission
set up by President Barack
Obama.
BP's study found eight sepa
rate failures led to the oil rig acci
dent. The report blamed BP and
other companies, including
Transocean, the rig’s owner, and
Halliburton Co., which was hired
to do the cement work.
But the conclusions were made
without examining the drilling rig,
which remains on the sea floor, or
Courtesy of Liquid Comics, LLC.
The “Sliver Scorpion,” the new Muslim superhero, loses his legs in a
tragic landmine accident and must learn to come to terms with the real
ity of his disability while learning to use his newfound power.
should not be seen as a source of
weakness,” he said.
Initially, 50,000 Arabic-language
comics will be distributed
throughout Syria, and subsequent
issues will be distributed else
where in the Middle East, Snyder
said. The comic will also be avail
able worldwide in digital formats.
It will be the first in a series of
comics with international super
heroes, and while one will have
disabilities others will not,
Devarajan said. He added that
almost all the characters being
planned “are based on the seeds
that were created by these kids
together in this trip.”
The dozen Americans were
selected after a national call for
applications by The Victor
the blowout preventer, a key safe
ty device that was brought to
shore only recently. Instead, the
company relied extensively on
real-time data collected aboard
the rig to reconstruct what hap
pened. BP also did not have
access to samples of the cement
used to seal the well, and said
Halliburton refused to supply a
similar mix for testing. BP has
said the cement failed.
Halliburton officials criticized
the methodology that BP used to
draw its conclusions and claim
that the well’s design played no
role in the incident.
Thomas Roth, a Halliburton
vice president, took aim at testing
by a company hired by BP that
found Halliburton’s cement,
which was injected with nitrogen
to form a foam, was unstable.
Penada Foundation, a non-profit
educational organization that pro
motes the rights of young people
with disabilities. They included
youths who were blind, deaf,
using wheelchairs, or suffering
from Down syndrome, autism and
cognitive disabilities.
The Syrians were invited by the
Al-Amal school for the disabled
whose chairwoman, Asma Assad,
the wife of Syrian president
Bashar Assad, spent an afternoon
meeting with the youngsters.
“It must be every child’s dream
to create a superhero,” the Syrian
first lady said. “But I really do
hope that we can bring our pow
ers together our human pow
ers together—to be able to make
a difference.”
The Daily Collegian
Doctors
use Web
to help
patients
Jennifer C. Yates
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PITTSBURGH Dr. Ricardo
Munoz goes from room to room,
examining three infants, one just
three days old. He watches their
chests to see how they are
breathing, checks their vital
signs flashing on monitors above
their hospital beds and views x
rays and electrocardiograms.
And he does it all from more
than 2,500 miles away.
Wearing a headset and looking
at his laptop screen, the chief of
cardiac intensive care at
Children’s Hospital of
Pittsburgh checks on pediatric
heart patients weekly at
FUndacion Valle el Lili, a hospital
in Cali, Colombia. The pilot pro
gram started earlier this year as
a way to share the expertise of
rare pediatric specialists with
hospitals all over the world.
“Basically, this is globalization
of medicine,” Munoz said. “I
don’t need to travel. Via telemed
icine, everything is possible.”
Munoz, a native of Colombia,
had visited the 700-bed adult and
pediatric hospital before and
worked with doctors there.
From time to time, he would
consult on pediatric heart cases
but found himself at a disadvan
tage.
“I was not able to see the
patient. I was not able to see the
monitors. So my advice was
somehow a guess,” Munoz said.
So instead the hospital
explored a technological solu
tion and started their pilot
telemedicine program earlier
this year. The technology to set it
up cost about $15,000.
The system is similar to a tele
conference: A camera on
Munoz’s laptop beams his pic
ture to a monitor attached to a
wireless cart at the hospital in
Cali, and doctors there can
wheel it from room to room.
Microphones allow Munoz to
talk to the doctors and patient’s
family, and he can control a cam
era on the cart that can zoom in
to give him a better look at what
ever he wants.
Munoz is able to give advice in
real time, something doctors in
Colombia say is vital to these
critically ill children. The hospi
tal’s medical director, Dr. Martin
Watemberg, calls it more than
getting a second opinion it’s a
“simultaneous opinion.”
“We can take care of the
patients just the same way as
they would be by being in
Pittsburgh,” Watemburg said.
And the advice of the Pittsburgh
doctors is just that; it’s up to the
doctors in Colombia to make the
final decisions on patient care.
Telemedicine has existed in
one form or another for about 30
years, but has gained signifi
cantty in popularity recently.