Champion soldier says he saw no abuse

Dr. Yeropoli said most military personnel are serving their country honorably.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CHAMPION -- Americans abusing Iraqi prisoners is not the picture Army Reserve physician Lt. Col. Dave Yeropoli paints of Army military personnel at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison while he was there.
"First and foremost, let me say that I am not making excuses, nor do I condone the acts of abuse [of Iraqis] at the hands of United States soldiers that occurred beginning in June 2003," said Dr. Yeropoli, of Champion.
But the former battalion surgeon at Abu Ghraib from mid-December 2003 through March 24, 2004, said the soldiers he worked with at the prison were "dedicated people doing a great job."
"I personally experienced many acts of human kindness by U.S. soldiers toward the Iraqi security detainees," he said.
For instance, he said, he saw an American soldier take off his helmet and place it on the head of a detainee being treated at the minor surgery clinic, and then guide him to relative safety when the clinic came under mortar attack.
Yeropoli, a doctor at the Youngstown VA Outpatient Clinic, who is now attached to the 339th Combat Support Unit out of Coraopolis, Pa., said the abuses occurred before he arrived there.
Most dangerous
Also, the abuses occurred in the Military Intelligence wing of the prison, where the detainees considered the most dangerous were held. Members of Dr. Yeropoli's medical unit did not enter the MI wing unless there was an emergency. He said he was in the MI wing once during his 31/2 months in Iraq.
Another wing of the prison was operated by Iraqis to house people accused of breaking Iraqi law. Iraqi doctors took care of them, Dr. Yeropoli said.
He said there were rumors of an investigation into detainee abuse, but nothing concrete was known to him at the time. While in Iraq, he was attached to the 320th Military Police Battalion.
There is a widening investigation of abuses of Arab security detainees in the prison by U.S. military police. The abuses recently became public when photographs showing smiling American guards with Iraqi prisoners in humiliating positions were aired on television. More pictures of abuse are expected to be released, U.S. officials reported Monday.
Despite that, Dr. Yeropoli, who previously served in combat zones in Kosovo and Afghanistan, and was battalion surgeon for medical service for the security detainees, said he never saw any detainee naked or abused in any way by American forces at Abu Ghraib.
"In those months [at Abu Ghraib], I can honestly say I did not see one incident of prisoner abuse at the hands of any U.S. soldier or anyone else."
Prisoner numbers
While he was there, Dr. Yeropoli said, detainees at Abu Ghraib numbered from 6,500 to 7,000, and there were 800 to 900 U.S. personnel at the prison. The vast majority of security detainees were housed in tents, which though separated from the prison buildings, were all in the same fenced-in compound.
Dr. Yeropoli's medical team at Abu Ghraib consisted of two physicians, 22 medics and support personnel.
While he was there, the medical team began a medical clinic for cases that could not be handled where the detainees lived in the tent city. And when he left Iraq in March, he said the Army was building a combat support hospital at the prison.
"The clinic that we started at the prison was well-admired by the detainees. Once when my MPs were returning a detainee to the compound, the detainees in that compound applauded in a sign of respect and appreciation for what the medical team was doing for them," Dr. Yeropoli said.
Red Cross inspections
Dr. Yeropoli said he was also the medical liaison for the prison to the International Committee of the Red Cross when it came to inspect the prison. The International Red Cross had only favorable comments regarding the health care given to the security detainees during his time at the prison.
"I would really like the public to know that the overwhelming majority of the U.S. personnel at Abu Ghraib have and are serving their country honorably," Dr. Yeropoli said.
alcorn@vindy.com