Maine troops appalled by abuses

WATERVILLE – Maine National Guard troops now serving in Iraq’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison want people to know that they weren’t involved in the abuses that took place there.

The Guard’s 152nd Field Artillery took over the prison’s management in March from the 800th Military Police Brigade, which was in charge of Abu Ghraib when the abuses occurred.

A member of the 152nd, Pfc. Eric Willetts of Winslow, sent an e-mail to the Morning Sentinel newspaper in Waterville that said there was no excuse for the way the Iraqi prisoners were treated.

“[Those soldiers] did not represent the military values that we all must follow,” said Willetts, who was serving as a tower guard at the prison west of Baghdad. “When I heard what they did, I was disgusted.”

Soldiers say they are frustrated that the Maine prison unit has been persistently mistaken for their predecessors.

“My unit was not here when all of this was happening,” Willetts wrote. “But we are definitely feeling the backlash from it all.”

The abuses have sparked international outrage and experts say set back the U.S. military position in Iraq. They have also eclipsed much of the military’s rebuilding efforts in Iraq, some soldiers say.

Maine’s troops have been unfairly tainted by association, say the soldiers and their parents.

“The boys there guarding the prison now are Maine boys,” said Chuck Paradis, the father of Spc. Peter Paradis, Willetts’ childhood friend in the 152nd. “The [abuse] cases happened as late as February. Then it stopped. That’s because Maine boys are there now.”

Spc. Paradis e-mailed the Sentinel, saying that recent news reports continue to mistake the 152nd soldiers as the abusers. But he said it was not a total surprise.

“We were prepared for reports like these because we were told of the ongoing investigation … when we arrived,” he wrote. “For the most part, we were told to just follow our rules of engagement and not to exceed our job limitations.”

In their e-mails, Willetts and Paradis spoke of 12-hour shifts, six days a week, and convoy trips to get supplies from the Baghdad International Airport. Their tour is scheduled to continue through February.

Another 152nd soldier, Spc. Justin Poirier of Old Orchard Beach, phoned his mother to say that the positive work done at the prison has been overshadowed by news of the abuse. Poirier is teaching some prisoners to speak English and learning some Arabic from them, his mother said.

“What’s going on there [at the prison] is not what’s going on in the media,” said Jo Poirier. “It’s scary, because I’m afraid of retribution from the Arab world.”