98 Prisoners Died In U.S. Custody In Terror War
************************************************************

By Rhiannon Edward
The Scotsman
Wed 22 Feb 2006

Nearly 100 prisoners have died in United States' custody in the war on terror in Iraq and
Afghanistan since August 2002, it was reported last night.

The BBC2 Newsnight programme said the figures were obtained from the Pentagon by an organization called Human Rights First.

The programme said the figures show there have been 98 deaths in U.S. custody.
At least 34 of them are : "suspected or confirmed homicides."
"that means caused by intentional or reckless behaviour," the report said.

The report claims that 11 more are deemed suspicious and that between eight and 12
prisoners were tortured to death.

A Pentagon spokesman said:
"We haven't seen the report yet. Where we find allegations of maltreatment we take them very seriously and prosecute. I believe there have been 12 independent investigations into
Abu Ghraib alone."

Last night Bob Marshall-Andrews, a Labour MP and a persistent critic of the Iraq war, said the British government must also take responsibility for what the coalition does," he said.

Mr Marshall-Andrews, the MP for Medway, said:
"This confirms in statistical terms the appalling evidence already available in footage.
Treatment of that kind is inevitably going to result in death."

"But it goes further than that. It demonstrates something we have always believed,
that this is systematic. If it is indeed systematic, then the responsibility for it must go right to the top, and that would apply to both British and American governments."