COLONEL CLIFFORD ACREE 

MAJOR MICHAEL CRAIG BERRYMAN 

STAFF SERGEANT (RET.) TROY DUNLAP 

COLONEL (RET.) DAVID EBERLY 

LIEUTENANT COLONEL (RET.) JEFFREY FOX 

 COMPLAINT

CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER (RET.) GUY HUNTER 

SPECIALIST DAVID LOCKETT 

LIEUTENANT COLONEL H. MICHAEL ROBERTS 

MAJOR RUSSELL SANBORN

COMMANDER LAWRENCE SLADE 

-------------------------------------------

MAJOR (RET.) JOSEPH SMALL

STAFF SERGEANT DANIEL STAMARIS 

CAPTAIN (RET.) R. DALE STORR

MAJOR ROBERT SWEET 

LIEUTENANT COLONEL (RET.) JEFFREY TICE

LIEUTENANT (RET.) ROBERT WETZEL 

COMMANDER JEFFREY ZAUN 

MRS. CYNTHIA ACREE

MRS. LEIGH BERRYMAN 

MRS. GAIL STUBBLEFIELD 

MR. RONALD DUNLAP

__________________
MRS. BARBARA EBERLY 

MR. TIMM EBERLY 

DR. ROBERT FOX

MR. TERRENCE FOX

MRS. PATRICIA BORDEN

MRS. NANCY GUNDERSEN 

MR. TIMOTHY FOX 

MRS. MARY HUNTER 

MS. LAURA HUNTER 

MR. WILLIAM (RAY) HUNTER 

MS. MARY ELIZABETH (LILY) HUNTER 
____________________________________

MRS. PATRICIA ROBERTS 

MRS. STARR BARTON

MRS. ANNA SLADE 

MRS. LEANNE SMALL 

MR. DAVID STORR

MR. DOUGLAS STORR

MS. DIANE STORR 

MR. ARTHUR SWEET 

MRS. MARY ANN SWEET 

MR. MICHAEL SWEET

MRS. JACQUELINE WETZEL

_________

MR. WILLIAM WETZEL

MR. JAMES WETZEL 

MR. EDWARD WETZEL 

MS. MARGARET WETZEL

MR. PAUL WETZEL 

MRS. KATHLEEN FARBER 

MRS. ANNE KOHLBECKER

MRS. SALLY DEVIN 

MR. CALVIN ZAUN 

MRS. MARJORIE ZAUN 

MS. LINDA ZAUN LESNIAK

 Plaintiffs, 

v.

THE REPUBLIC OF IRAQ 

c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs 

Baghdad, Republic of Iraq, 

THE IRAQI INTELLIGENCE SERVICE 

c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs 

Baghdad, Republic of Iraq, 

and 

SADDAM HUSSEIN in his official capacity as 

PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF IRAQ 

c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs 

Baghdad, Republic of Iraq 

Defendants. 

Plaintiffs, Americans held as prisoners of war (POWs) by the Republic of Iraq during the Gulf War and their principally affected family members, bring this action against the Republic of Iraq, the Iraqi Intelligence Service, and Saddam Hussein, in his official capacity as President of Iraq, for personal injury caused to the POWs by their torture while held by Iraq in Kuwait and Iraq and personal injury to their family members in the United States and elsewhere caused by these acts of torture against their loved ones. Plaintiffs seek redress for bodily harm, emotional distress, economic damages, pain and suffering, solatium and punitive damages to prevent future mistreatment of American prisoners of war and their families. Plaintiffs, as and for their Complaint, allege as follows:

This Court has jurisdiction over all matters in this action with respect to 28 U.S.C. § 1330 (1994) as a claim for relief with respect to a foreign state not entitled to immunity under §§ 1605-1607 of that title, including particularly 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(7) (1994 & Supp. V 1999), as amended, which provides a general exception from immunity of a foreign state for any case in which money damages are sought for personal injury caused by an act of torture or the provision of material support or resources for such torture by a state designated as a state sponsor of terrorism at the time the torture occurred. Relevant to this provision, the Republic of Iraq was designated as a state sponsor of terrorism on September 13, 1990, prior to its torture and mistreatment of American POWs and their families during the Gulf War as specified in this Complaint. Further, the claimants in this action are nationals of the United States and the Defendants in this action have been afforded a reasonable opportunity to arbitrate the claims herein for acts occurring in the Republic of Iraq in accordance with accepted international rules of arbitration. A copy of correspondence affording Defendants this opportunity is attached hereto at Tab A. A further offer to enter into such arbitration concerning the claims herein for acts occurring in the Republic of Iraq in lieu of such claims in this action has been filed with this Complaint and is attached hereto at Tab B.

This action (brought pursuant to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, as amended, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1330 & 1602-11 (1994 & Supp. V 1999)) is filed within the limitation period for actions under 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(7), as set out in § 1605(f). The Government of the Republic of Iraq, the Iraqi Intelligence Service, and Saddam Hussein, in his official capacity as President of the Republic of Iraq, were immune from suit in this action prior to the 1996 Amendments to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act by the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214, 1241 (1996) ("FSIA"), which added § 1605(a)(7) to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. As such, the limitation period is tolled until effective enactment of these amendments on April 24, 1996, and the ten-year limitation period begins in that month and year and runs until April 2006. Further, the 1996 Amendments adding § 1605(a)(7) were intentionally and specifically made applicable by Congress to "any cause of action arising before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act." See FSIA § 221(c), 104-132, 110 Stat. (April 24, 1996), reprinted at 28 U.S.C.A. § 1605 note "Effective and Applicability Provisions." Similarly, the September 30, 1996 "Flatow Amendment," enacted shortly thereafter to clarify the scope of causes of action and damages available to plaintiffs under the amended § 1605(a)(7), is to be read with the earlier amendment passed just five months before. The Flatow Amendment is Public Law 104-208, Div. A, Title I, § 101(c) [Title V, § 589] (Sept. 30, 1996), 110 Stat. 3009-172, reprinted at 28 U.S.C.A. § 1605 note (West Supp. 2001). See Flatow v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 999 F. Supp. 1, 12-15 (D.D.C. 1998). Specifically, this Court said in the Flatow case: "28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(7) and 28 U.S.C.A. § 1605 note apply retroactively for the purposes of establishing subject matter and personal jurisdiction." 999 F. Supp. at 13 (emphasis omitted).

Venue is properly in this district pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1391(f)(4). Defendants are "foreign states" as defined by 28 U.S.C. § 1603(a) & (b). Defendant, the Republic of Iraq, is a foreign state and, as such, is a "foreign state" as defined by 28 U.S.C. § 1603(a). Defendants, the Iraqi Intelligence Service and Saddam Hussein, in his official capacity as President of the Republic of Iraq, are "agencies or instrumentalities of a foreign state" as defined by 28 U.S.C. § 1603(b) and, as such, are also "foreign states" within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1603(a).

On August 2, 1990, the Republic of Iraq invaded and occupied the State of Kuwait in an act of aggression in violation of the United Nations Charter. Subsequently, following United Nations Security Council authorization, an international coalition of thirty-three nations joined active hostilities against Iraq on January 16, 1991, to enforce the international rule of law and compel Iraq to leave Kuwait. Plaintiffs in this case are a group of American national POWs tortured by the Defendants in Kuwait and Iraq while in the custody and physical control of the Government of Iraq during the course of the international response against Iraq’s aggression, as well as principally affected members of the POWs’ families. Plaintiff POWs are truly American heroes who voluntarily placed themselves in harm’s way so that others could live in peace and freedom. They, and their family members, have responded with great courage, dignity and fortitude to the Iraqi government’s brutality and its profound and long lasting effects on their lives.

The American POW Plaintiffs fell into Iraqi hands on varying dates during the conflict but beginning as early as January 17, 1991. All such Plaintiffs were brutally tortured by officials of the Republic of Iraq during their captivity. Treatment while in the hands of Iraqi intelligence personnel was barbarous. As will subsequently be specified in this Complaint, the torture varied for each of the POW Plaintiffs, but the overall torture of American POWs by officials of the Republic of Iraq included severe beatings with pistols and rifles, weighted rubber hoses, truncheons, blackjacks, fists, belts, metal pipes, batons, and sticks, including an axe handle. It further included mock executions; threatened castration; threatened amputation of fingers and other dismemberment; threatened death; threats to send their body parts to their families in the United States; systematic starvation; systematic exposure to freezing cold; deprivation of medical care; purposeful aggravation of existing injuries; electrical shock with a device wrapped around a POW’s head; injection of a mind altering substance; kicking, including with steel-toed boots; cupped hand blows to the ears; beating with a mallet on the knees; handcuffs and restraints so tight as to cut off circulation, damage nerves, and cause the hands to swell and turn purple; use of cattle prods and stun guns; being knocked unconscious, sometimes repeatedly; blows to the legs and neck with a heavy pendulum-like object; whipping with a cat-o’-nine-tails; confinement in darkness; confinement in filthy conditions exposing them to contagion and infection; burning with cigarettes and heated spoons; being led blindfolded into walls and stairwells; being urinated and spat upon; mental suffering about the agony that their families must be enduring when the POWs were not permitted by the Iraqi authorities to inform their families that they were alive; living in constant fear of death and torture, a climate intended to create humiliation and degradation; and other atrocities causing great suffering and serious injury in clear violation of the internationally accepted obligations of the Government of Iraq.

Injuries and illnesses sustained during this torture by American POWs generally included a fractured skull, broken bones, including a broken leg and broken vertebrae, broken tibia, broken facial structure, burns, torn muscles, chipped teeth, broken noses, a dislocated jaw, a dislocated shoulder, a torn rotator cuff, perforated eardrums, injuries to knees so severe as to cause lameness, painful joints, injury to kidneys, numbness and nerve damage, hearing impairment, impairment of the sense of smell, infections including eye infection, dysentery, nausea, severe weight loss, massive bruises (in one case so severe and extensive that the bruising was described "as if the body had been dipped in indigo ink"), and other injuries. In at least one case, a POW Plaintiff was so severely starved he ate the scabs off his own body. Pain and suffering of the POWs during this torture and their mental suffering and anguish resulting during their period of confinement by Iraq were intense and extreme. The effects of this brutal treatment by Defendants have continued in years since.

The POWs suffered not only unspeakable and prolonged physical pain but also intense and prolonged mental anguish and harm, both during the actual infliction of torture and throughout their captivity. They lived constantly in terror of further torture of the type their captors had already inflicted upon them, new and unknown tortures, and the fear of death and dismemberment repeatedly threatened by their captors. They heard fellow prisoners’ anguished cries during beatings, sometimes even recognizing the victims’ voices. Hearing the terrorizing beatings gave the POWs a vivid preview of what they and their fellow POWs could expect and greatly contributed to their anguish. Even the sound of the jailers’ keys filled them with fear. Iraq’s forcing of video "confessions" for propaganda purposes not only generated fear and anguish during the torture compelling these propaganda "confessions," but it also generated tremendous guilt about any acquiescence to their captors’ demands. The POWs also suffered intense and prolonged mental anguish because of the suffering of their family members and the effects upon their family relationships resulting from their torture by Iraq. Among other things, POWs and their family members suffered prolonged mental anguish and harm from Iraq’s intentional and total failure to comply with its obligations designed to provide rapid notification to family members of a detained POW. Some POW Plaintiffs have also suffered professional set-backs and economic damages as a result of Iraq’s tortious actions.

This torture of American POWs, while they were in the custody and physical control of the Republic of Iraq, producing severe pain and suffering, physical and mental, was intentionally inflicted by Defendants for the purpose of obtaining information or a confession, punishing the POWs for their lawful actions in support of the United Nations coalition or for insisting on their rights as POWs while in Iraqi captivity, and in discrimination against them. Iraqi actions against American POWs as set out in this Complaint are a paradigm of the meaning of "torture" as that term is defined in section 3 of the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991, incorporated into 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(7) by § 1605(e)(1). Section 3 of the Torture Victim Protection Act clearly mandates that "torture" includes not only severe pain or suffering for the purpose of interrogation or in an effort to obtain a "confession," but also severe pain or suffering for the purpose of "punishing that individual for an act that individual or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed," or "intimidating or coercing that individual or a third person" or "for any reason based on discrimination of any kind," and further includes "suffering" [the Act uses the disjunctive "or" rather than the conjunctive "and" in the phrase "pain or suffering"] inflicted for any of the above purposes. The POW Plaintiffs’ custody and physical control by Iraq demonstrates a recurrent pattern implicating all of these meanings of torture under the Act, from beatings upon capture and during captivity as punishment and discrimination against them for carrying out their lawful military duties as members of the United Nations Coalition, beatings and other tortures during interrogation and efforts at forcing verbal and video "confessions," efforts to use them as human shields to coerce the United Nations Coalition, and severe suffering inflicted in barbarous conditions of captivity.

The POW Plaintiffs’ claims for money damages against Defendants for personal injury caused by torture and the provision of material support or resources for such acts of torture, including claims for economic damages, solatium, and pain and suffering fall squarely within 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(7), as amended.

The Plaintiffs who are close family members of the POW Plaintiffs have suffered prolonged mental anguish and harm as a result of Iraq’s brutal torture of their loved ones and, in the case of many family members, direct injury in the United States as a result of elements in that torture. Their anguish resulted from the Government of Iraq’s lack of notification as required by international law that their spouse or loved one had been taken prisoner by Iraq and was still alive, their knowledge of Defendants’ general disregard of humanitarian standards (including particularly their knowledge of Iraq’s past record of brutal torture of POWs), Defendants’ placing of certain injured POWs on public display, Defendants’ publicly announced policy of placing American POWs as hostages at strategic military targets, Defendants’ refusal to let the International Committee of the Red Cross (the "ICRC") check the prisoners’ conditions, and Defendants’ chilling public taunts and threats to coalition forces, such as "we will drink your blood!," "show no mercy toward them," and "we will send you back to your kinfolk as lifeless corpses." The tortious mistreatment of POW loved ones by Defendants, both when originally suspected and when it became fully known to close family members, caused further prolonged mental anguish about the well-being of their loved ones. The omission by the Government of Iraq of its internationally accepted obligations to comply with provisions of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War designed for the prompt notification of family members that a loved one has been taken prisoner and is not simply missing in action, was part of the Republic of Iraq’s intentional effort at physical and mental torture of American POWs. It produced not only personal injury to the POWs as part of their torture, but also personal injury to their close family members in the United States and elsewhere. Indeed, the spouses of POW Plaintiffs who did not know the fate of their loved ones quite literally did not know whether they were wives or widows. Iraq’s January 21, 1991 announcement through Baghdad Radio that allied POWs would be placed in strategic sites was not only an announced violation of the POW Convention but it further added to the concern for the POWs’ safety. Every day brought more anguish and disappointment for family members as they waited for the ICRC to be allowed access and to hear the fate of their loved ones. Subsequently, the residual effects of Iraq’s torture of their loved ones, and their own mental anguish resulting from Iraq’s mistreatment, have had lasting effects on family relations. This has, in some cases, included effects on the marriages and parent/children relations of tortured POWs. Similarly, for some family members, Defendants’ brutal torture of the POWs has had harmful effects on health and well-being, has impacted their professional choices, and has even created a continuing condition of fear, particularly with respect to terrorism, foreign travel and personal safety.

Plaintiff family members’ claims for money damages against Defendants are not only covered as solatium under 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(7), as amended, but they also fall squarely within the personal injury contemplated by 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(7). Their personal injuries were caused by acts of torture to their loved ones, and they are American national claimants within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(7).

Plaintiffs in this case also seek substantial punitive damages. Creating incentives for terrorist nations, and their agencies and instrumentalities, such as Iraq, President Saddam Hussein, and the Iraqi Intelligence Service to comply with their obligations not to torture prisoners of war serves an important public purpose. Plaintiffs are motivated in this case not only to obtain appropriate recompense for their own injuries but also to take action which will serve to deter President Hussein, the Iraqi Intelligence Service, the Republic of Iraq and any other nation in the future from torturing American prisoners of war. As such, Plaintiffs seek to establish a 501(c)(3) Foundation for the assistance of American and allied prisoners of war and missing in action and their families. Plaintiffs intend that, if feasible, a substantial amount of any punitive damages awarded in this case should go to the benefit of this Foundation.

Punitive damages are specifically available in this case. The September 30, 1996, "Flatow Amendment" to § 1605(a)(7) expressly provides for money damages, including punitive damages, for "[a]n official, employee, or agent of a foreign state designated as a state sponsor of terrorism . . . while acting within the scope of his or her office, employment, or agency . . . ." See FSIA, Div. A, Title I, § 101(c), Pub. L. No. 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009-172 (1996) [Title V, § 589], reprinted at 28 U.S.C.A § 1605 note (West 1997 Supp.). And of relevance to an action under the Flatow Amendment, certainly an official of the United States would be liable for the torture of prisoners of war if such an act were carried out in the United States. Treatment of legally qualified prisoners of war consistent with the POW Convention is mandated by United States laws, directives and regulations. Similarly, 28 U.S.C. § 1606 contemplates the availability of punitive damages against an agency or instrumentality of a foreign state; and an "agency or instrumentality of a foreign state" is defined by 28 U.S.C. § 1603(b) to include "a separate legal person, corporate or otherwise . . . which is an organ of a foreign state . . . ." Thus, individuals acting in their official capacities, and certainly the official in charge of a totalitarian state such as Defendant Saddam Hussein, are not only officials and agents, but are also considered "agencies or instrumentalities of a foreign state" within the meaning of § 1605(a)(7) of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, and on both counts are subject to causes of action including punitive damages. See Flatow, 999 F. Supp. at 26. Similarly, the Iraqi Intelligence Service is an "agency or instrumentality of a foreign state" within the meaning of § 1603(b) and is thus fully subject to punitive damages.

It is well known that punitive damages are meant both to punish for outrageous conduct and to deter the defendant and others from such conduct in the future. Thus, according to the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 908(1) (1977), punitive damages are "to punish . . . [a defendant] for his outrageous conduct and to deter him and others like him from similar conduct in the future." In awarding punitive damages in this case, the Court should consider the exceedingly heinous nature of the acts of torture of American prisoners of war committed against these Plaintiffs and their families; the severe and continuing harm to Plaintiffs caused by Defendants’ reprehensible actions; that such acts are repugnant to civilized society and are criminal acts banned by international law as "grave breaches" of the laws of war; that such acts were carried out by Defendants as part of a systematic effort to obtain information to carry out their war of aggression in defiance of the United Nations Security Council and to punish and intimidate Allied POWs for lawfully carrying out the United Nations mandate to defend against Iraqi aggression; that Saddam Hussein as the President of Iraq is the dictator of a single party totalitarian state controlling substantial oil wealth and continuing to defy United Nations sanctions agreed by him as a condition of ending the Gulf War; that the harassment of American POWs includes actions suggesting an intention to treat Jewish POWs more severely than POWs from other ethnic backgrounds; and that only very sizable awards would be likely to deter such torture of American POWs by agencies or instrumentalities of Iraq or other terrorist states in the future. See Flatow, 999 F. Supp. at 33 (enumerating factors which may be considered in determining an appropriate amount of punitive damages). See also Jenco, 154 F. Supp. 2d at 38-40; Restatement (Second) of Torts § 908(2) & Cmt.(c)(1977).

Plaintiff Colonel Clifford Acree is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Florida. While holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Marine Corps, Colonel Acree was held as a prisoner of war by Iraq from January 18, 1991, when his plane was shot down over Kuwait, until March 5, 1991, when he was released. He is a POW Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mrs. Cynthia Acree is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Florida. She is the spouse of Colonel Clifford Acree and was his spouse throughout his period of captivity. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Major Michael Craig Berryman is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Florida. While holding the rank of Captain in the United States Marine Corps, Major Berryman was held as a prisoner of war by Iraq from January 28, 1991, when his plane was shot down over Kuwait, until March 5, 1991, when he was released. He is a POW Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mrs. Leigh Berryman is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Florida. She is the spouse of Major Michael Craig Berryman and was his spouse throughout his period of captivity. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Staff Sergeant (Ret.) Troy Dunlap is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Illinois. While serving in the United States Army, Staff Sergeant Dunlap was held as a prisoner of war by Iraq from February 27, 1991, when his helicopter was shot down over Iraq, until March 5, 1991, when he was released. He is a POW Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mrs. Gail Stubblefield is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Illinois. She is the mother of Staff Sergeant Troy Dunlap. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mr. Ronald Dunlap is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Illinois. He is the brother of Staff Sergeant Troy Dunlap. He is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Colonel (Ret.) David Eberly is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Virginia. While serving in the United States Air Force, Colonel Eberly was held as a prisoner of war by Iraq from January 22, 1991, three days after his plane was shot down over Iraq, until March 5, 1991, when he was released. He is a POW Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mrs. Barbara Eberly is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Virginia. She is the spouse of Colonel David Eberly and was his spouse throughout his period of captivity. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mr. Timm Eberly is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Virginia. He is the son of Colonel David Eberly and Mrs. Barbara Eberly. He is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Jeffrey Fox is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of South Carolina. While serving in the United States Air Force, Lieutenant Colonel Fox was held as a prisoner of war by Iraq from February 19, 1991, when his plane was shot down over Iraq, until March 5, 1991, when he was released. He is a POW Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Dr. Robert Fox is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Rhode Island. He is the brother of Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Fox. He is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mr. Terrence Fox is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Virginia. He is the brother of Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Fox. He is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mrs. Patricia Borden is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Massachusetts. She is the sister of Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Fox. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mrs. Nancy Gundersen is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Colorado. She is the sister of Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Fox. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mr. Tim Fox is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Georgia. He is the brother of Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Fox. He is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Chief Warrant Officer (Ret.) Guy Hunter is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of North Carolina. While serving in the United States Marine Corps, Chief Warrant Officer Hunter was held as a prisoner of war by Iraq from January 18, 1991, when his plane was shot down over Kuwait, until March 5, 1991, when he was released. He is a POW Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mrs. Mary Hunter is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of North Carolina. She is the spouse of Chief Warrant Officer Guy Hunter and was his spouse throughout his period of captivity. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Ms. Laura Hunter is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Florida. She is the daughter of Chief Warrant Officer Guy Hunter and Mrs. Mary Hunter. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mr. William (Ray) Hunter is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Georgia. He is the son of Chief Warrant Officer Guy Hunter and Mrs. Mary Hunter. He is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Ms. Mary Elizabeth (Lily) Hunter is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of North Carolina. She is the daughter of Chief Warrant Officer Guy Hunter and Mrs. Mary Hunter. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Specialist David Lockett is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Texas. While serving in the United States Army, Specialist Lockett was held as a prisoner of war by Iraq from January 30, 1991, when his two-truck convoy mistakenly crossed the Saudi Arabia-Kuwait border, until March 4, 1991, when he was released. He is a POW Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Lieutenant Colonel H. Michael Roberts is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Florida. While holding the rank of Captain in the United States Air Force, Lieutenant Colonel Roberts was held as a prisoner of war by Iraq from January 19, 1991, when his plane was shot down over Iraq, until March 5, 1991, when he was released. He is a POW Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mrs. Patricia Roberts is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Ohio. She is the spouse of Lieutenant Colonel H. Michael Roberts and was his spouse throughout his period of captivity. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mrs. Starr Barton is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Florida. She is the stepdaughter of Lieutenant Colonel H. Michael Roberts. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Major Russell Sanborn is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Florida. While holding the rank of Captain in the United States Marine Corps, Major Sanborn was held as a prisoner of war by Iraq from February 9, 1991, when his plane was shot down over Kuwait, until March 5, 1991, when he was released. He is a POW Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Commander Lawrence Slade is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Virginia. While holding the rank of Lieutenant in the United States Navy, Commander Slade was held as a prisoner of war by Iraq from January 21, 1991, when his plane was shot down over Iraq, until March 4, 1991, when he was released. He is a POW Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mrs. Anna Slade is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Virginia. She is the spouse of Commander Lawrence Slade and was his spouse throughout his period of captivity. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Major (Ret.) Joseph Small is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Wisconsin. While serving in the United States Marine Corps, Major Small was held as a prisoner of war by Iraq from February 25, 1991, when his plane was shot down over Kuwait, until March 5, 1991, when he was released. He is a POW Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mrs. Leanne Small is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Wisconsin. She is the spouse of Major Joseph Small and was his spouse throughout his period of captivity. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Staff Sergeant (Ret.) Daniel Stamaris is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Alabama. While serving in the United States Army, Staff Sergeant Stamaris was held as a prisoner of war by Iraq from February 27, 1991, when his helicopter was shot down over Iraq, until March 5, 1991, when he was released. He is a POW Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Captain (Ret.) R. Dale Storr is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Washington. While serving in the United States Air Force, Captain Storr was held as a prisoner of war by Iraq from February 2, 1991, when his plane was shot down over Kuwait, until March 5, 1991, when he was released. He is a POW Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mr. David Storr is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Virginia. He is the brother of Captain R. Dale Storr. He is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mr. Douglas Storr is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Washington. He is the brother of Captain R. Dale Storr. He is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Ms. Diane Storr is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Montana. She is the sister of Captain R. Dale Storr. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Major Robert Sweet is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of West Virginia. While holding the rank of Lieutenant in the United States Air Force, Major Sweet was held as a prisoner of war by Iraq from February 15, 1991, when his plane was shot down over Iraq, until March 5, 1991, when he was released. He is a POW Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mr. Arthur Sweet is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of West Virginia. He is the father of Major Robert Sweet. He is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mrs. Mary Ann Sweet is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of West Virginia. She is the mother of Major Robert Sweet. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mr. Michael Sweet is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of West Virginia. He is the brother of Major Robert Sweet. He is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Jeffrey Tice is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Nevada. While holding the rank of Major in the United States Air Force, Lieutenant Colonel Tice was held as a prisoner of war by Iraq from January 19, 1991, when his plane was shot down over Iraq, until March 5, 1991, when he was released. He is a POW Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Lieutenant (Ret.) Robert Wetzel is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Colorado. While serving in the United States Navy, Lieutenant Wetzel was held as a prisoner of war by Iraq from January 17, 1991, when his plane was shot down over Iraq, until March 4, 1991, when he was released. He is a POW Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mrs. Jacqueline Wetzel is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Colorado. She is the spouse of Lieutenant Robert Wetzel and was his fiancée throughout his period of captivity. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mr. William Wetzel is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Florida. He is the father of Lieutenant Robert Wetzel. He is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mr. James Wetzel is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Delaware. He is the brother of Lieutenant Robert Wetzel. He is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mr. Edward Wetzel is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of New Jersey. He is the brother of Lieutenant Robert Wetzel. He is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Ms. Margaret Wetzel is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Florida. She is the sister of Lieutenant Robert Wetzel. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mr. Paul Wetzel is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Colorado. He is the brother of Lieutenant Robert Wetzel. He is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mrs. Kathleen Farber is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Maryland. She is the sister of Lieutenant Robert Wetzel. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mrs. Anne Kohlbecker is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of New Jersey. She is the sister of Lieutenant Robert Wetzel. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mrs. Sally Devin is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of New Jersey. She is the sister of Lieutenant Robert Wetzel. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Commander (USNR) Jeffrey Zaun is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of New York. While serving as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy, Commander Zaun was held as a prisoner of war by Iraq from January 17, 1991, when his plane was shot down over Iraq, until March 4, 1991, when he was released. He is a POW Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mr. Calvin Zaun is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of New Jersey. He is the father of Commander Zaun. He is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Mrs. Marjorie Zaun is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of New Jersey. She is the mother of Commander Zaun. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Plaintiff Ms. Linda Zaun Lesniak is a United States citizen and a resident of the State of New Jersey. She is the sister of Commander Zaun. She is a Family Member Plaintiff.

Defendant the Republic of Iraq is a "foreign state" as defined by 28 U.S.C. § 1603, whose activities of torture and resulting tortious personal injury of American POWs and their families as set forth in this Complaint are within the exceptions to jurisdictional immunity of a foreign state pursuant to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, as amended. On September 13, 1990, following its invasion of the State of Kuwait, Acting Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger caused to be published in the Federal Register his determination that Iraq was a state sponsor of terrorism. See Determination Iraq, 55 Fed. Reg. 37, 793 (Sept. 13, 1990) (stating that "Iraq is a country which has repeatedly provided support for acts of terrorism") (originally to be codified at 15 C.F.R. § 785.4(e), now redesignated as 15 C.F.R. § 785A.4(e)); Daliberti v. Republic of Iraq, 146 F. Supp. 2d 19, 25 (D.D.C. 2001). The Republic of Iraq was so designated throughout the period in which the acts complained of in this Complaint occurred, and it remains so designated. Its officials, employees and agents carried out the torture and related mistreatment of American POWs in Kuwait and Iraq, with the resulting personal injury to plaintiff POWs and their family members as set forth in this Complaint, while acting within the scope of their office, employment or agency. Irrespective of individual and institutional responsibilities that also exist, the Republic of Iraq is responsible for the torture of Plaintiffs.

Defendant the Iraqi Intelligence Service is an "agency or instrumentality of a foreign state" as defined by 28 U.S.C. § 1603(b) and, as such, is a "foreign state" within the meaning of § 1603. The Service and its officials and employees are officials, employees or agents of the Republic of Iraq who participated in and provided material support and resources to the acts of torture and related mistreatment of American POWs and their families as set out in this Complaint. A Department of Defense Report to Congress, discussed subsequently in this Complaint at paragraph 80, notes that the POWs were held at the Iraqi Intelligence Service Regional Headquarters, which was apparently intended to be the POWs’ main long-term incarceration site. Moreover, an official United States Report to the United Nations Security Council, discussed subsequently in this Complaint at paragraphs 81-87, notes that "the POWs’ treatment while in the hands of Iraqi intelligence . . . personnel was barbarous, cruel, and in clear violation of the GPW."

Defendant Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq, is an "official" of Iraq within the meaning of § 1605(a)(7), as amended. Similarly, for purposes of § 1605(a)(7), as amended, he is also an "agency or instrumentality of a foreign state" as defined by 28 U.S.C. § 1603(b) and, as such, is a "foreign state" within the meaning of § 1603. Saddam Hussein is the President, and dictator, of a single-party totalitarian state and is simultaneously the Head of the State, the Chair of the Governing Council, the Chairman of the Party, the exclusive appointing authority for all government offices, the director of the budget, the Commander-in-Chief of the Military, and at least the de facto head of the Intelligence Service and all other agencies and instrumentalities of Iraq. See Hill v. Republic of Iraq, Civ. Act. No. 99-3346 (TPJ), Slip Op. at 20 (Dec. 5, 2001). As President of Iraq at the time of the torture of American POWs, and the resulting injury to them and their family members as set out in this Complaint, Defendant Saddam Hussein is responsible for their tortious and unlawful treatment while acting within the scope of his office. He is sued in his official capacity as President of Iraq, an office he continues to hold at the time of filing of this Complaint. In that office, he has both direct command responsibility for the torture and related mistreatment of American POWs in Kuwait and Iraq and responsibility for provision of material support to such acts by Iraqi forces. Further, all of the assets of Iraq are ultimately subject to the direction and control of Defendant Saddam Hussein.

On August 2, 1990, at the direction of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, a massive Iraqi force attacked the State of Kuwait. Within days, Kuwait was completely occupied. Subsequently, Saddam Hussein ignored repeated binding United Nations Security Council resolutions condemning the Iraqi invasion and demanding immediate and unconditional withdrawal. In response, on November 29, 1990, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 678, authorizing United Nation member states "to use all necessary means" to uphold and implement these earlier Security Council resolutions and "to restore international peace and security in the area."

After an extensive effort to obtain Iraqi compliance without the use of force, on January 16, 1991, an international coalition force of thirty-three nations led by the United States commenced active hostilities against Iraq to enforce the rule of law. Initial actions by the defensive coalition focused on air operations intended to gain air superiority, to reduce the effectiveness of Iraqi ground forces, and to degrade the threat of Iraqi Scud missile and potential nuclear, chemical and biological capabilities. On February 24, 1991, following expiration of a coalition deadline for Iraq unconditionally to withdraw its forces from Kuwait, the coalition forces began a ground campaign to force compliance by Iraq with the Security Council mandate.

From January 17, 1991, until repatriation over several days from March 3-9, 1991, a number of coalition forces, including the American POW Plaintiffs in this Complaint, fell into Iraqi hands as Allied POWs. Most were in planes that were downed over Iraq or Kuwait. Some were severely wounded when captured. All told, a total of twenty-one American service members were held in captivity by Iraq during the Gulf War. Seventeen of those American service members, and certain of their close family members, have joined in this action.

The American POWs were physically abused by their Iraqi captors in violation of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, known widely as the "Third Geneva Convention" or simply the "POW Convention," and were otherwise mistreated in violation of the POW Convention or the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field, known as the "GWS Convention." All POWs joining in this Complaint were tortured by Iraq during their captivity, a grave breach of the POW Convention. The individual circumstances of that heinous torture, and the resulting physical injury, pain and suffering, and other damages, in the case of each of the POW Plaintiffs is subsequently set out in this fact section of the Complaint under the heading Plaintiff Specific from paragraphs 97 to 363.

The American POWs generally were held by Iraq in unsanitary conditions, without adequate clothing or heat to protect them from the severe cold, and were subjected to starvation diets. They were required to sleep on concrete or tile floors with no bedding. Their cells were infested with large cockroaches. This severe mistreatment resulted in continuing pain and illness, including "bed sores" all over their bodies, aching and soreness on pressure points from sleeping on the hard floor, cramping, dysentery, giardiasis, and rapid and substantial weight loss, and such mistreatment was the cause of severe and prolonged suffering.

The POWs were also placed by Iraq in legitimate military targets and used as human shields, in violation of the POW Convention. On January 21, 1991, Iraq brazenly announced this policy of discrimination and coercion over Baghdad Radio, presumably both as part of its overall climate of torture of the POWs and to coerce the Coalition into restricting its legitimate defensive efforts. This intentional act by Defendants was also squarely within the meaning of "torture" as defined by section 3 of the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991, as incorporated into § 1605(a)(7), which defines "torture" to include intentional infliction of suffering for the purpose of "intimidating or coercing that individual or a third person" or "for any reason based on discrimination." When Allied forces bombed the Iraqi Regional Intelligence Service Headquarters, a legitimate military target, on February 23, 1991 with 2000-pound bombs (not knowing that POWs were illegally being incarcerated by Iraq at that site), many of the POW Plaintiffs narrowly escaped death. Indeed, it may well have been the near miraculous cancellation of subsequent sorties against the Headquarters that thankfully spared the lives of many of the POW Plaintiffs.

None of the American POWs was permitted the right of correspondence to notify their families of their "capture, address and state of health" as required by the Geneva POW Convention. The requests of both the American POWs and the ICRC for notification of capture pursuant to the provisions of the POW Convention were systematically turned down by Iraq, as a calculated part of their ruthless torture of the American POWs and their family members. Indeed, for the POWs, this was a special dimension of the torture and mental anguish as they worried about their loved ones. This worry for the well-being of family members was compounded by their tormentors’ threats of more beatings if they did not disclose their family members’ home addresses. This generated fear of plans to target family members with terrorism and further fear that the POWs would be chopped up and have their body parts sent home to their families, as had been threatened. For spouses and other family members in the United States, the tortious failure by Iraq to permit notification, as part of what was really an extraordinary overall ecology of torture for the POWs, produced further mental anguish as the fate of loved ones went unanswered. For those who learned of their spouse’s or relative’s capture through released Iraqi propaganda tapes or otherwise, the mental agony was in knowing of the likelihood that their loved one was being subjected to torture. This was based on what was known from Iraqi treatment of POWs during its previous eight-year war with Iran, estimates from the Defense Intelligence Agency known to our military, information of torture and abuse then coming out of occupied Kuwait, and the horrific condition of the POWs as revealed by Iraq’s own propaganda tapes. A further source of anguish for the POW family members was that their loved ones were to be used as human shields at strategic targets, as had been announced by Iraq over Baghdad Radio only five days after hostilities began. The individual circumstances and effects of this mental anguish of the spouses and other principally affected family members during the captivity of their loved ones is subsequently set out in this fact section of the Complaint under the heading Plaintiff Specific from paragraphs 364 to 595.

The American POWs and their families have continued to suffer over the years since repatriation in many ways as a result of Iraq’s brutal torture of their loved ones. For many tortured POWs and family members, the physical and mental effect of the torture and mental anguish produced lasting damage, with effects on their marriages, effects on relations with their family members, effects in their employment and professional life, and other long-lasting effects. Again, the individual circumstances of these lasting effects are subsequently set out in this fact section of the Complaint under the heading Plaintiff Specific from paragraphs 97 to 595.

Official confirmation of the torture and other mistreatment of United States POWs by Iraq during the Gulf War appears in an April 10, 1992, U.S. Department of Defense Report to Congress on the Conduct of the Persian Gulf War. Appendix O to this Report, entitled "The Role of the Law of War" includes the following points about the Iraqi mistreatment and torture: "[o]n arrival in Baghdad, most Air Force, Navy, and Marine POWs were taken immediately to what the POWs referred to as ‘The Bunker’ (most probably at the Directorate of Military Intelligence) for initial interrogation. They then were taken to what appeared to be the main long-term incarceration site, located in the Iraqi Intelligence Service Regional Headquarters (dubbed ‘The Biltmore’ by the POWs). Since this building was a legitimate military target, the detention of POWs in it was a violation of Article 23, GPW [the Geneva Prisoner of War Convention]; POWs thus were unnecessarily placed at risk when the facility was bombed on 23 February. In contravention of Article 26, GPW, all U.S. POWs incarcerated at the ‘Biltmore’ experienced food deprivation. U.S. POWs also were provided inadequate protection from the cold, in violation of Article 25, GPW. . . . All U.S. POWs suffered physical abuse at the hands of their Iraqi captors, in violation of Articles 13, 14, and 17, GPW. Most POWs were tortured, a grave breach, in violation of Article 130, GPW. Some POWs were forced to make public propaganda statements, in violation of Article 13, GPW. In addition, none were permitted the rights otherwise afforded them by the GPW, such as the right of correspondence authorized by Article 70. Although the ICRC had access to Iraqi EPWs [enemy prisoners of war] captured by the Coalition, ICRC members did not see Coalition POWs until the day of their repatriation." See Appendix O, "The Role of the Law of War," in U.S. Department of Defense Report to Congress on the Conduct of the Persian Gulf War (10 April 1992), reprinted in 31 Int’l Legal Materials 615, at 630 (1992).

Further official confirmation of the brutal torture and mistreatment of American Gulf War POWs in violation of the most basic of civilized standards for the treatment of POWs is provided in a report of the United States Government transmitted by the Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States to the President of the United Nations Security Council on March 19, 1993, entitled "Report on Iraqi War Crimes (Desert Shield/Desert Storm)." [U.N. SCOR Rep., U.N. Doc. S/25441 (1993) ("Report")] This Report to the Security Council prepared by the War Crimes Documentation Center of the Judge Advocate General of the Army and dated January 8, 1992, includes the following with respect to the torture of American POWs: "Specific Iraqi war crimes, which have been extensively documented by the War Crimes Documentation Center include . . . [t]orture and other inhuman treatment of Coalition and U.S. prisoners of war, in violation of Articles 13, 17, 22, 25, 26, 27, and 130, GPW . . . [and] [u]sing Coalition prisoners of war as human shields to render military objectives immune from military operations, in violation of Article 23, GPW." Report at 16-17; "Each American POW was subjected to physical torture and/or mental abuse, and many of the types of torture projected by DIA [Defense Intelligence Agency], including the use of electrical shocks and the holding of mock executions, were frequently used." Report at 21. The Report concludes its discussion of the mistreatment of POWs with the summary that "Iraq committed numerous grave breaches of the GPW with regard to its treatment of U.S. POWs during the Persian Gulf War. As summarized above, most of the male POWs endured torture and inhumane treatment, ‘causing great suffering or serious injury.’" Report at 38.

This Report also notes, of relevance with respect to a general climate of torture and fear and pervasive discrimination against coalition force POWs, that not only were the POWs subject to physical abuse during interrogation, but they were also routinely the victims of abuse "because their captors felt like abusing them." Report at 25. In this connection, the Report notes "[a]ll of the POWs suffered physical abuse which did not occur during interrogation." Id. One POW, for example, described being "beaten constantly during transport, including [being beaten] to the rhythms of a song on the radio." Id.

With respect to torture during interrogation, this Report says "[a]ll of the male POWs except two reported physical abuse or torture during interrogation. Typically, the POWs were tortured when they refused to answer questions such as: – the types of weapons carried on a pilot’s aircraft . . . ." Report at 28. As a partial description of this torture during interrogation the report says: "The abuse or torture during interrogation included: . . . multiple beatings with sap mitts, blackjacks, batons, rifle butts . . . a pistol . . . dry-fired in his mouth . . .; hit on legs including broken leg, and neck with heavy pendulum-like object (he felt that his skull was going to crack . . .) . . .; threatened with dismemberment . . .; struck on right ear three times, perforating eardrum . . . beaten with mallet on both knees . . .; assaulted twice with cattle prod . . . assaulted with stun gun . . . shocked with ‘Talkman’ . . .; struck seventy to one hundred times with rubber hose and hit on ear with cupped hands over twenty times in two to three hour interrogation . . . automatic pistol dry-fired next to ear . . .; threatened with castration . . .; beaten severely with 4' long bamboo stick . . . beaten with cat-o’-nine-tails . . .; head ground into floor by interrogator . . .; and flogged with cat-o’-nine-tails . . . ." Report at 29-30.

As to living conditions during captivity, the Report says "[a]ll of the POWs reported harsh living conditions at odds with the mandates of the GPW. They described the cells as extremely cold and barren . . . . The POWs were not issued adequate clothing, blankets, or bedding to protect themselves against the cold. They suffered extreme food deprivation." Report at 34.

Further, with respect to Iraq’s mental torture of POWs by not letting them notify their loved ones of their captivity, the Report says "Iraq ‘provided no information regarding U.S. . . . POWs’ during hostilities" and "Iraq . . . never complied with the POWs’ requests . . . to fill out capture cards." Report at 37. The fear and anguish of family members either knowing or hoping that their MIA loved ones had been taken as POWs would be considerably heightened by Iraq’s announcement on January 21, 1991, over Baghdad Radio, that allied POWs would be placed in strategic sites. Report at 32. With respect to this announcement in flagrant disregard of the POW Convention, the Report states, "Iraq kept its promise." Id.

With respect to the Article 16 obligation in the Geneva POW Convention not to discriminate in treatment of POWs based on "race, nationality, religious belief or political opinions or any other distinction founded on similar criteria," this Report on Iraqi War Crimes describes how "[a]t least six American male POWs were ‘accused’ or suspected of being Jewish by the Iraqis and underwent circumcision inspections and other forms of physical and psychological harassment as a result . . . . [One] POW . . . related one incident when, after having already been accused of being Jewish, he was told one afternoon that he would be executed that very evening. He was then asked whether he wanted to go to a Protestant or Catholic church to make his peace with God. He believes that the Iraqis were trying to trick him into saying that he wanted to go to a synagogue instead . . . . [Another] POW . . . reported that he became quite uneasy when he was quizzed on Christian doctrine . . . because he was suspected of being Jewish. The prevalence of this harassment implies an intention by the Iraqis to treat Jews more severely than POWs from other ethnic backgrounds . . . ." Report at 28.

This official United States Report on Iraqi War Crimes also makes clear the responsibility of President Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi Intelligence Service, and the Government of Iraq for the torture of American POWs. Thus, the Report says "[t]he investigation concludes that Iraqi violations of the law of war were widespread and conducted pursuant to the orders or with the approval of the national leadership of Iraq." Report at 6. The Report further notes that "the Center [the War Crimes Documentation Center] has accumulated extensive circumstantial evidence to support a prima facie case that the mistreatment of U.S. prisoners of war occurred with at least the acquiescence, and probably at the direction, of the Iraqi leadership." Report at 11. Further, it points out "[r]esponsibility for the treatment of . . . prisoners of war in Iraqi hands clearly lay with the Government of Iraq and its senior officials." Report at 18. In addition, it says "Saddam’s complete and pervasive control of his military as well as objective evidence of that control in the form of orders signed by him or issued under his authority show that the charged violations of the GPW were committed as a result of his orders, were carried out with his knowledge and approval, or were acts of which he should have had knowledge." Report at 37-38. The Report also particularly notes the barbarous treatment of American POWs while in the hands of Iraqi intelligence officials. Thus, it says "the POWs’ treatment while in the hands of Iraqi intelligence . . . personnel was barbarous, cruel, and in clear violation of the GPW." Report at 35-36.

The publicly available evidence consistently shows that Iraq’s infliction of severe and prolonged pain and suffering on the American POWs in Iraq’s custody and physical control was intentionally inflicted for the purpose of obtaining information or a confession, punishing them for being members of the United Nations coalition defending against Iraq’s aggression, or discriminating against them as Americans or members of the coalition armed forces, thus squarely meeting the definition of torture as defined in "section 3 of the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991" for purposes of 28 U.S.C. §§ 1605(a)(7) and 1605(e)(1). For example, in an interview taped on January 21, 2002, for Fox News’ program "The O’Reilly Factor," Air Force Major Robert Sweet described his torture by Iraq as: "they beat on you with some kind of radiator hose. Hurts like hell . . . . you sit in a chair, and the guy’s wailing on you . . . [and it takes] . . . hours . . ." As to explanations for the torture by his captors: ". . . it was just . . . you’re American, criminal, and all that standard stuff . . . . every time I would get interrogated . . . they’d take you out, beat . . . you, ask you questions . . . ." It should be noted in this connection that it is not only the beatings and other horrors inflicted during interrogation that meet the relevant statutory definition of torture for purposes of §§ 1605(a)(7) and 1605(e)(1), but also the "revenge" beatings inflicting severe pain and suffering as "punishment" for an act that individual or a third person has committed or is suspected or having committed, or intimidating or coercing based on "discrimination of any kind" because the individuals were Americans or members of the United Nations coalition armed forces carrying out their legitimate military assignments. Both of these modes of torture repeatedly run through the Iraqi treatment of the American POWs, from their initial capture through interrogation and captivity. Nor is the legal definition of torture as the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering for punishment or discrimination (that is, as including "revenge"), as well as for the obtaining of information or a confession, peculiar to the legal definition of the term. Webster’s New World Dictionary (Third College Ed. 1988), also defines torture to include: "the inflicting of severe pain to force information or confession, get revenge, etc." Id. at 1412. This ordinary language use of the term also includes "any severe physical or mental pain; agony; anguish."

The trauma of Iraqi torture for the coalition POWs and their families has produced a number of books by POWs or family members describing the terror and mental anguish. Because these books provide a publicly available detailed look at Iraq’s torture from the POWs and family members themselves, this Complaint sets out a few excerpts from these books. Obviously, the fact that an individual Plaintiff has not had either the opportunity or the inclination to write about their horrific torture by Iraq, and its effects on themselves and their families, should not in any way affect their legal right to monetary damages in this action.

A book by John Nichol and John Peters, two United Kingdom Royal Air Force POWs, entitled Tornado Down, presents a riveting description of the daily horror for coalition POWs held by Iraq. In an audio tape of the book, read by the authors, Nichol describes a brutal beating and mock execution of Commander Larry Slade, one of the Plaintiffs in this action, witnessed by Nichol when they shared the same cell and he and Commander Slade were punished for a communication with other prisoners. Nichol describes how he watched "frozen with horror" as Slade was "punched to the ground," receiving "a concerted, merciless avalanche of furious blows and thudding kicks." Nichol described how "when he [Commander Slade] stopped moving they kicked him viciously hard a few more times for good measure," and he concluded that "it was as bad, if not worse, than anything in the interrogation." Nichol goes on to describe the mock execution of himself and Larry Slade, as the Iraqis pulled their gun and pointed at Slade saying "you are dead" and "you are now going to die," moving closer to Larry until he could see down the barrel of the gun, and then pulling the trigger, "click." He described the setting as one in which they were "a heart beat away from death," and he indicated how the Iraqi "sneered at the expression on our faces [after the mock execution], and walked away laughing." See Tornado Down, read by John Nichol and John Peters (audio book Hodder Headline Audiobooks 1996, at tape 4); see also John Nichol & John Peters, Tornado Down, at 212-13 (Penguin Books 1998).

Another book, The Gulf Between Us, A Story of Love and Survival in Desert Storm, written by Cynthia B. Acree with Colonel Cliff Acree, USMC, vividly describes both the horrifying torture endured by one of the American POW Plaintiffs and the agony of his wife through the continuing ordeal. Colonel Acree describes how his "trip to hell" began when his Marine OV-10 was shot down by a SAM missile over Kuwait on January 17, 1991. His torture from the Iraqis began in Kuwait shortly after he was taken captive. He describes how he and his back seat Aerial Observer and fellow Marine, Chief Warrant Officer Guy Hunter, were beaten while still in Kuwait: "Eight to ten Iraqis descended upon Guy and me and began pummeling us. They hit and kicked us in the head, the stomach, the groin, you name it. Handcuffed and blindfolded, we never knew where the blows were coming from and were helpless to dodge them. . . . Each blow to my head made my neck feel like it was being slashed with a knife. Unable to shield myself, I gritted my teeth as more thugs joined in the beating frenzy. The men shouted and laughed hysterically, relishing their chance at revenge. After several minutes of gang battering, they took off our blindfolds. Blood trickled down to my chin." Cynthia B. Acree with Colonel Cliff Acree, The Gulf Between Us, A Story of Love and Survival in Desert Storm, 63-64 (Brassey’s 2001). He also describes the threat by his Iraqi interrogators, while he was still being held in Kuwait, to kill or dismember him if he did not cooperate: "‘You must answer this question immediately or you will be shot . . . .’" Id. at 63. "‘You must answer all questions or you will be subject to extreme pain and torture.’ He stared into my face. ‘The last Iranian prisoner of war I interrogated was a pilot who would not cooperate with us,’ he said. I stiffened, holding my breath. ‘They removed one testicle from him – over a period of three days. Then they removed his other.’ He seemed to find the memory pleasing. ‘Then they cut off his toes and then they cut off his fingers. He begged them to kill him.’ Sweat ran down my back." Id. at 66. Colonel Acree continues, describing the beating he and Guy Hunter received while in transit from Kuwait to Iraq: "Periodically, and without warning, they beat Guy and me with their fists, with the butts of their rifles, and with blackjacks, leather-covered bludgeons that act like spring-loaded whips. For seven or eight hours they beat us. The awkward position of my wrists cinched up behind my back was excruciating, but the cuffs tightened automatically if I tried to move. By now my hands were swollen to twice their size. They had no feeling and were turning blue. Metal prongs skewered my wrists; the handcuffs were severing nerves." Id. at 74.

Colonel Acree’s torture only got worse in Iraq. In chapters describing his treatment at an Iraqi Interrogation Center on January 19 and 20, he writes how, after his interrogators learned of a neck injury, they concentrated on beating his neck: "‘You are lying! . . . If you continue lying, you will soon die.’ After the next blow, it took every ounce of my control not to cry out. . . . The pain was unbearable. I had learned an important lesson: Conceal your injuries." He continues: "Being savagely beaten for a minute would feel like Einstein’s idea of eternity. The minutes go on and on, and you have no idea if they’ll ever stop – or stop before you’re dead." Id. at 79. "My turn at interrogation would come. The dread, the apprehension, the fear – waiting to be hauled to my feet was pure terror." Id. at 85. "The interrogations were gruesomely the same: me in a chair, blindfolded and handcuffed; an interrogator; and three to five heavy-handed types with a gung-ho enthusiasm for brutality. That first day at the interrogation center, the beatings continued around the clock. Every beating started out with fists and then graduated to a variety of instruments." Id. at 85-86. Colonel Acree further described how he was subjected to a terrifying inspection of his genitals. "I made it through the inspection with my genitals intact. Much later I learned the purpose of this bizarre inspection: The Iraqis were looking for pilots who were Jewish, unaware that many American males are circumcised regardless of their religious beliefs." Id. at 87. In these Chapters about the Iraqi interrogation center, Colonel Acree describes beating after beating, repeated mock executions, injection with a drug which made the whole right side of his body numb, and other tortures. Id. at 90-97. And he describes how he was forced to go in front of a television camera for Iraqi propaganda: "I didn’t have many options left. I had been knocked unconscious I don’t know how many times. My brain was jarred, my flesh was bruised and torn. My captors hit me so hard, so often, and with so many instruments, I expected the next blow to kill or cripple me. I didn’t know that my skull was cracked and my facial bones were broken. All I knew was I hurt like hell and wouldn’t survive this much longer. I had no choice but to face that camera." Id. at 93.

This book also describes the mental agony of Colonel Acree’s wife, Cynthia B. Acree, also a Plaintiff in this case, as she hears nothing from Iraq on her husband’s capture as a POW. She learns of his captivity, rather than his death, only by the Iraqi propaganda film her husband was forced to make. She further describes her fear when the International Committee of the Red Cross had been unable to visit the POWs, and her awareness during her husband’s captivity of Iraq’s statements to the world that it would locate the POWs around potential bombing targets and use them as hostages. She writes: "After his appearance on Iraqi television, no word came on Cliff’s condition. As the days passed, my euphoria over learning that he was alive faded. I began the long wait, filled with rumors of death and endless questions: Had the Iraqis kept him alive after the filming? Was he being starved or tortured? The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in charge of inspecting conditions of prisoners of war, had tried repeatedly – and unsuccessfully – to visit the POWs. Iraq’s refusals made us even more fearful about the POWs’ health and location. On January 21, Radio Baghdad had reported that Iraq intended to locate POWs in and around likely Coalition bombing targets. The day before, Iraqi radio claimed several U.S. pilots held as human shields had been wounded in air strikes." Id. at 121.

This book by Cynthia and Colonel Acree also vividly illustrates how the pain and suffering from Iraq’s torture of the POWs, and the suffering of their families, was not ended at repatriation, but has continued. Following Colonel Acree’s release, doctors at Bethesda Naval Medical Center "reported that he had suffered a ‘chronic cervical strain from concussive trauma sustained while ejecting and during interrogative beatings . . . multiple recurrent episodes of head trauma with resultant loss of consciousness of unknown duration with associated post-traumatic periods of amnesia . . . nasal fractures . . . obvious flattening deformity and deviation of the nasal structures . . . airway obstruction caused by blunt trauma . . . olfactory nerve damage, smell ability impaired to all modalities . . . hearing loss . . . radial nerve injury and weakness of the interosseous, grip strength, and thumb extensors of both hands, right more than left, secondary to tightly bound handcuffs . . . expected complications of weight loss, malnutrition, and diarrheal disorders secondary to inadequate food intake and contaminated water sources . . .’ He would need reconstructive surgery to restore his sense of smell and normal breathing." Id. at 256-57. The book goes on to describe the repeated reconstructive surgery of Colonel Acree and the additional challenges presented for him in his military career. In their dust jacket comment about this book, George and Barbara Bush sum it up for all of the POWs and their families: "we . . . add our own two voices to praise Cliff’s devotion to duty and Cindy’s quiet courage."

Colonel David Eberly, the senior Coalition POW of the Gulf War, has also written a moving account of Iraq’s torture during his captivity. In Faith Beyond Belief, Colonel Eberly describes how he was threatened with death during interrogation and the inhumane conditions of his incarceration. He relates how, during an interrogation "the guy put the gun to my head. ‘You answer my questions or you die, here.’ We had come to the end. In my mind I could picture a scene out of the movies where the side of my head would be blown out." David Eberly, Faith Beyond Belief, A Journey to Freedom, 57 (Brandylane Publishers, Inc. 2002). He writes of another interrogation: "one of their favorite tricks was to try and ease around to my side and then smack the side of my head, trying to burst an eardrum.. . . [and] [w]ith some Arabic expletive he slam-cocked an automatic pistol he must have been holding and jammed the barrel against the side of my head. It all happened so quickly. My thoughts raced to the valley of the shadow of death . . . ." Id. at 122-23. He also describes the terror of the bombing on February 23, resulting from Iraq’s policy of using the POWs as human shields: "[k]aboom! A second stunning explosion from the other end of the building. They can’t get any closer, I thought. Are we going to die right here? I heard the ceiling in the hallway collapsing and from deep underneath the floor, pipes burst and water gushed. Over and over, I prayed. . . . I sat tight – frozen in a ball, hard-pressed against the wall. Another rocking explosion. This time seemingly on the backside of the building. . . . Inside, it seemed as though the whole place was collapsing." Id. at 131. In describing one of his jail cells he writes: "Inside the cell, conditions were appalling. We would never have left Ted, our Airedale, in such a place. The space was approximately four by five feet." Id. at 61. As Colonel Eberly was released into the custody of the International Committee of the Red Cross on his forty-third day of captivity he described his appearance following his starvation as: "I could see my pelvis area was sunken as though a soccer ball had displaced a mud hole. Someplace I had seen that skeleton before – maybe in an old WWII movie. The skin on my chest hung in folds on my ribs and, on my legs over my knees." Id. at 178. In his remarks at Andrews Air Force Base on his hero’s welcome home to America he included a tribute to the family members of the POWs, who also suffered so much. He said simply and powerfully: "And I saved the best for last. You need to know that those who waited also served." Id. at 194.

The February 4, 1991, issue of Newsweek, featuring a cover photo of a battered Lt. Jeffrey N. Zaun appearing in a coerced "confession" staged for Iraqi TV, poignantly suggests the fear generated for "those who waited" by Iraq’s staged TV "confessions," use of POWs as human shields, and other evidence as to Iraq’s likely torture of their loved ones. Indeed, this article, which was read by family members of POWs and MIAs during the War, sharpened for many the fear that their loved ones, if still alive, were being brutally tortured. A feature article in this issue entitled "Torture and Torment" describes the coerced television appearances of coalition POWs, their use as human shields, and Iraq’s past brutality to POWs in its war with Iran. It says: "Images told more than any word about the reality on the screen. Out of consideration for frightened relatives, the Pentagon refused to speculate on whether the prisoners had been beaten. Saddam refused to let the International Red Cross examine them. . . . The prevailing view was that during the first 48 hours after capture, the men had been beaten into [coerced "confessions"]. . . . Outraged, Under Secretary of State Robert Kimmitt summoned Iraq’s charge d’affaires to the State Department and shoved a copy of the Geneva Conventions into his hand along with a formal diplomatic protest. . . . The more serious warning came from Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, who said Saddam would not be able to obstruct the air war by using POWs as human shields. . . . Some [American pilots] were worried that Iraqi agents would get their home addresses and organize terrorist attacks on their families. . . . Saddam didn’t let the Red Crescent inspect his prisoner-of-war camps until his war with Iran was almost over; but a United Nations study reported many head wounds among POWs, with scars, bruises, broken teeth and other signs of frequent brutality. . . . Iraqi interrogators will probably try to pry sensitive military data from Saddam’s POWs as fast as they can. . . . Saddam and other thugs can use torture in all shapes and sizes. . . . Saddam’s prisoners, are now scattered and deployed as human shields [but the Pentagon does not know where he is holding them.] . . . . This article also vividly described the brutal torture of American POWs in Vietnam. See Tom Mathews, Torture and Torment, Newsweek, at Feb. 4, 1991, at 50-54.

The following specific information as to each POW Plaintiff is presented in alphabetical order.

Then-Lt. Col. Clifford Acree – the Commanding Officer ("CO") of his Marine squadron – was flying a twin-engine, two-seat plane for light attack, air control and reconnaissance with Marine Chief Warrant Officer Guy Hunter when the two were shot down over Kuwait on January 18, 1991 (the second day of the Gulf War). Iraqi soldiers wielding AK-47 rifles picked up Acree about ten minutes after he had landed in Southern Kuwait.

Shortly after his initial capture, a group of soldiers pushed him face down on the ground and wrenched his arms behind his back as one of them handcuffed him. Then, to get the device as tight as possible, the Iraqi stood on Acree’s handcuffs, forcing the metal claws into his wrist bone. The handcuffs were clamped so tightly around Acree’s wrists that they cut off his circulation. His hands turned purple and swelled to three times their normal size.

After being blindfolded, Lt. Col. Acree and Hunter were driven in a large SUV for about eight to ten hours to Baghdad. Iraqi soldiers were seated in front of, beside, and behind them, and they beat the two airmen the entire way, at times with the butts of rifles and blackjacks. Along the way to Baghdad, they were taken to underground bunkers for interrogations and more beatings.

The next three days in Baghdad were the most brutal for Acree. Interrogations continued around the clock, separated into episodes of twenty minutes to an hour each. During the interrogations, Acree endured violent beatings from hands, feet, and instruments. He sustained blows and kicks to his head and torso. Blindfolded and handcuffed, Acree could not see the instruments, but at times they created a swishing noise before they hit him. Other times, they were larger and packed a more devastating punch, with a telltale "whoosh" preceding each blow.

Lt. Col. Acree’s neck, injured during ejection from his plane, was a particular focus of his captors, who attacked it repeatedly over his first three days in Baghdad. Acree’s interrogators beat him into unconsciousness numerous times. This was a preferable result for him given the treatment he endured while awake.

On one occasion, he remembers hearing a sound indicating something large was about to strike him. He envisioned a 4x4 post hitting the front and right side of his head. The blow lifted him up and out of his chair and onto the floor. Before he fell unconscious, he thought this blow had killed him. When he came to, the side of his head was bleeding and rested on top of one of his captors’ boots. It was likely in this series of interrogations that Lt. Col. Acree suffered a skull fracture just below his sinus cavity. His nose was broken during this attack, as well as on several subsequent occasions.

Several times over the first few days of his captivity, Acree’s captors held mock executions in an attempt to extract information from him. During one of his early interrogations, he was asked for strategic information, and when he did not supply it, a guard put a pistol to his head. Thinking his life was about to end, Acree asked to be allowed to pray. The interrogation then continued without bullets being fired. On another occasion, an interrogator held a pistol to his head, pulled the hammer back, and asked him a tactical question. As Acree repeatedly refused to answer his interrogators’ questions, they became increasingly angry and more severe beatings ensued.

These episodes led Lt. Col. Acree to believe with certainty he would be killed. In fact, for these first four days, he maintained a constant sense that he had less than an hour to live. During one interrogation at this location, his captors lifted his blindfold. He saw an Iraqi soldier holding an AK-47 rifle and a brass bullet. The blindfold was replaced, and Acree heard the bullet being loaded into the chamber. He then felt the rifle against his chest and could tell the soldier was shaking. The possibility that the jostling rifle might discharge by accident provided more torment to the prisoner than he had already endured. The interrogator told Acree if he did not cooperate, he would be killed. Still, Lt. Col. Acree refused to cooperate with the interrogator’s demands.

During an interrogation on Acree’s third day in Baghdad, he felt someone rubbing his left arm, and then a needle being injected into it. The left side of his body grew warm and he entered a drugged state. He was determined to reveal no information that could hurt allied forces and it required all his mental effort to discern which answers contained classified information. Only through extreme effort and sacrifice was he able to withstand their efforts to extract such information.

For several days after these initial interrogations and beatings, Lt. Col. Acree could not walk or lift his head, and any movement was extremely difficult and painful.

On the night of January 31, 1991, Lt. Col. Acree was transferred to the "Biltmore" prison. At the Biltmore (as at the other prisons), he was kept in solitary confinement. His cell was just eight feet by twelve feet. The only light entering was through a slit in the steel door and a narrow window high on the back wall. A broken toilet stood toward the back of the wall, filled not with water, but with excrement. He was given only two thin blankets to sleep with on a red tile floor. The blankets provided almost no protection against the "bone-chilling" cold. As described by Acree, the cold and damp from the floor penetrated the lower blanket as if it were thrown over a block of ice. Early in his captivity, Iraqis had taken his flight suit, underwear, and warm socks and boots and replaced them with a canvas uniform and cloth shoes.

Severely malnourished at the Biltmore, Acree lost thirty pounds during his captivity as a prisoner in Iraq. While he was fed nothing for his first two days at the Biltmore, Lt. Col. Acree was soon forced to endure a starvation diet of one bowl of broth per day, sometimes with a piece of small, thin bread. At times, he ate scabs off his body to reduce his intense hunger and to stop his stomach from churning. On one occasion, Lt. Col. Acree found a piece of moldy bread lying in dirt beneath the toilet in his cell. He held it up to his face, but the bread’s stale urine smell nauseated him and he threw it back to the floor. He realized he was being methodically starved. Many days later, he again picked up the moldy bread. This time, he shoved it in his mouth and swallowed it as fast as he could. Lying in his cell he could "feel his body consuming itself."

During every moment of his time at the Biltmore, the fear of death hung over him. The worst violence occurred during interrogations. Because of his senior rank, his status as a pilot and a CO, the timing of his capture at the beginning of the war, and his resistance to interrogation, Lt. Col. Acree suffered especially savage beatings. Acree felt panic every time he heard the guards’ footsteps, as he knew he could be taken into another interrogation.

Throughout his imprisonment at the Biltmore, guards engaged in forms of torture other than physical assaults. They frequently insulted, threatened, tormented, and terrorized him. Guards spat on him and woke him when he slept. He was often told the Allies were being defeated and he would never leave the prison, even after the war was over. During his last interrogation at the Biltmore, he was told that if he did not cooperate with them the next day, they would use a new form of torture on him. Specifically, the guard said: "Tomorrow there will be ten questions. If you have ten good answers, you will have ten fingers. And if there are ten bad answers, you will have no fingers." He continued: "The torture will continue, and we will send your body home in pieces to your wife."

Fortunately for Lt. Col. Acree, that night Allied forces – not knowing of the presence of the POWs in this lawful military target – dropped four 2,000-lb. bombs on the Biltmore, an Iraqi intelligence headquarters. The bombing reduced much of the Biltmore to rubble and the POWs were transferred to the "Joliet." There, Lt. Col. Acree received one meager meal per day. While at the Joliet, Acree developed conjunctivitis and had to deal with lice infestation.

Soon, Acree was transferred to a prison termed the "Bat Cave" by the POWs. Here he developed a severe intestinal disorder, likely due to the unsanitary conditions in which he was held. Shortly thereafter, he was released to the Red Cross. Given the brutal treatment he had endured, Lt. Col. Acree remained convinced he could still be killed at any moment. It was not until he was safely out of Iraqi airspace that he believed he was truly free.

At no point during his forty-seven days in captivity did Iraq notify the ICRC, or any other organization of Lt. Col. Acree’s status as a POW. Lt. Col. Acree was virtually certain his wife had been given no information about his well-being and this caused him great concern for her emotional health. He also worried about her personal safety, as he feared his captors could locate her and cause her harm.

Even after his return to the United States, Col. Acree has not escaped the effects of the abuse inflicted upon him by Defendants. Among other things, he has undergone four painful reconstructive surgeries to repair his shattered nose and align airways in his skull. Each surgery has brought back vivid flashbacks of his interrogations.

For months after his release, Col. Acree had no feeling in his hands – a condition that caused him great concern about his ability to resume his full duties as CO and resume flying. To this day, Acree suffers ongoing numbness in two fingers of his right hand that began during his days as a prisoner in Iraq.

He has had hearing loss, and sudden noises – such as the crashing of ice cubes in a hotel icemaker or a window slamming shut – still startle him. Tomato-based soup evokes memories of his starvation diet.

Col. Acree’s neck often becomes stiff and painful, leaving him incapacitated – typically for two to five days at a time – until the problem resolves itself.

Acree has been diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder that arose from his experiences in captivity. He has also been diagnosed with "posttraumatic headaches" that are similar to migraine headaches and are traceable to the torture he endured in Iraq. He describes his quality of life, during the twelve years since his release, as "significantly degraded."

Several years after his return from captivity, Colonel Acree experienced a major depressive episode. He was placed on medical leave and required seven months of treatment.

Then-Marine Corps Capt. Craig Berryman was shot down near Kuwait City on January 28, 1991. Capt. Berryman’s wingman saw his plane hit the ground and explode, but did not see a parachute emerge. Nevertheless, Berryman did eject from his aircraft. After landing, he checked himself for broken bones and noticed that his neck was cut during his ejection. He attempted to evade capture before eventually being picked up by Iraqi troops. He was unable to make radio contact with U.S. military personnel before being captured.

Upon apprehension, Iraqi soldiers immediately began beating Capt. Berryman with their fists and rifle butts.

During his subsequent transport to Kuwait City, Capt. Berryman was taken to two bunker complexes where he received a bandage for his neck and underwent mild interrogations. Before leaving the first bunker, he was blindfolded. The third bunker was in Kuwait City itself, and the interrogations became much more serious. Here, an Iraqi officer asked Capt. Berryman tactical questions, which Berryman refused to answer, giving only his name, rank, and serial number in response. The interrogator pointed out to Capt. Berryman that his failure to make radio contact with any military personnel meant that he was assumed dead and that the Iraqis could therefore kill him with impunity. Berryman was extremely concerned that his family would have to go through life never knowing what happened to him. Indeed, Iraq never notified the ICRC or any other organization of Capt. Berryman’s status as a POW. This thought preyed on him during the entire period of his captivity.

When Capt. Berryman still declined to answer further questions, the interrogator said, "You’ve just made a big mistake." The interrogator then stepped out of the room and the two remaining guards began to beat him. They slammed rifle butts to his shoulder blades and beat his head with their fists. The guards knocked Capt. Berryman facedown on the ground, cuffed his hands behind his back, and then jerked him back up by the chain linking his handcuffs, making them as tight as they could possibly go.

Soon, the guards brought him out of the bunker and a dozen Iraqi soldiers punched, kicked, and spat on him on his way to the Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) that would take him to Basra, Iraq. Capt. Berryman tried to imagine ways he could escape. While waiting for the APC to move, he soon felt a guard running his fingers through his hair, as if to make a sexual advance toward him. This worried Berryman greatly, but before long two other guards jumped in for the trip north, and the suggestive touching stopped. The guards then began beating Capt. Berryman’s head. A boxer in college, Berryman had learned how to take a punch so the blow could be absorbed with minimal damage. Eventually, the guards figured out his strategy. Then the guard who had been running his fingers through Capt. Berryman’s hair held Berryman’s head against his knee while the other two guards alternately punched him. This technique ensured Capt. Berryman would have to take the full impact of each punch. The APC stopped at several checkpoints along the way to Basra, and Capt. Berryman was beaten by the guards at these stops.

Iraqi Republican Guard soldiers interrogated Capt. Berryman in an old school house in Basra. They asked him what religion he practiced. When Capt. Berryman answered that he was a Baptist, they accused him of being a Jew and expressed anger that he would lie to conceal this "fact." A guard then hit his left leg with an instrument that felt like a heavy stick below his knee. Berryman immediately collapsed in excruciating pain, as this blow had broken his fibula in his left leg. Another guard then used a similar club to attack his right leg. The two guards continued beating him as he rolled around on the floor, trying to protect his left leg. At one point, Capt. Berryman caught a glimpse of the guards from under his blindfold. The guard on the left had a metal pipe, and the one on the right had what appeared to be a wooden axe handle. Capt. Berryman realized that, if they kept beating him like this, he would soon die. Still, he lied when his interrogators asked questions about Allied military strategy and when they insisted that pleading ignorance was not a sufficient response.

Two guards then took Capt. Berryman to another room. The interrogator waiting in this interrogation room explained to him that they would break his other leg if he did not answer their next questions. He stalled as long as possible by claiming not to understand the interrogators’ accented English and saying that he needed to use the bathroom. The interrogator became frustrated and then allowed him to go to the bathroom. However, stopping just outside the bathroom, the two guards were joined by four other guards, who surrounded Capt. Berryman. Two guards pinned him to the wall and one of them kicked Capt. Berryman’s left leg, causing him to collapse to the ground in pain. The others swarmed, kicking and beating him. One guard used a steel-toed boot to kick a chunk of muscle out of Berryman’s leg. After several minutes, the guards picked him up and put him against a wall. One guard lit a cigarette and pressed it against Capt. Berryman’s forehead. He repeated this three times and then burned Berryman’s nose with the lit cigarette. He eventually put the cigarette out in the ejection wound in Berryman’s neck.

An Iraqi officer then came to collect Capt. Berryman and drive him to Baghdad. Once in the Iraqi capital, guards put him into a prison cell, where he tried to protect his leg as best he could. Berryman also listened closely to his environment, and he could clearly hear other American POWs being beaten by their Iraqi captors. This was among the worst sounds Capt. Berryman remembers from his experience as a POW – both because it was excruciating to hear a comrade suffering and because he knew that his turn to be beaten was just around the corner.

Soon his cell door opened and two guards entered. The larger one kicked Capt. Berryman’s left leg and punched him as hard as he could. After about five minutes of continuous beating, the two guards left. From the sounds, it appeared to Berryman that they were moving down the hallway and entering the cells of other POWs to beat them. This cycle repeated itself two more times. At the last session, Capt. Berryman asked the two guards what they wanted, and they replied that they wanted to kill him.

The next day, Capt. Berryman was driven to downtown Baghdad and taken to what he initially believed was either an abandoned warehouse or a part of a high value target, which he feared was a possible bombing target for Allied aircraft. He later learned it was a prison camp, which came to be known as the "Bungalows" by the POWs.

On the night of January 31, Capt. Berryman was taken to the "Biltmore" prison, where he was kept in solitary confinement in a six-by-ten-foot cell with almost no light and a non-functioning toilet at the back. Berryman was fed two scoops of broth and two small pieces of pita bread each day. Guards gave Berryman two thin blankets, which offered little protection against the freezing Baghdad nights. After a couple of weeks, he began to lose feeling in his hands and feet because of the severe cold. Capt. Berryman lost twenty-five pounds in thirty-seven days due to the systematic starvation and brutal cold he endured as a POW in Iraq.

The interrogations for Capt. Berryman continued at the Biltmore. They varied in length from five minutes to several hours, depending on how persistent his questioners were determined to be. The beatings during these interrogations continued as well. After a time, these beatings became almost an out-of-body experience for Capt. Berryman, as the pain was so overwhelming that his body would become numb and he seemed to watch the interrogation from a third-person’s viewpoint. In addition to fists, the guards often used instruments, including rubber hoses, clubs, and pistol barrels, in beating Capt. Berryman. During one of these interrogations, a guard put a pistol to Berryman’s head and told him that if he did not answer the remaining questions correctly, he would die. There was not a time that Capt. Berryman did not fear for his life when he was held as a POW in Iraq.

On February 23, Capt. Berryman’s interrogation was proceeding normally until the guards suddenly unlocked his handcuffs and held his hands on the table in front of him. The interrogator then stuck a knife between two of his fingers and announced that Berryman would have to answer five questions. For each insufficient answer, the interrogator would cut off one of his fingers. The fear overloaded Capt. Berryman to the point that almost any answer he gave was nonsensical. The interrogator eventually realized the tactic was not working and had the guards put the handcuffs back on before promising they would have a similar interrogation several days later.

Later that night, Allied planes bombed the Biltmore, and Capt. Berryman was transported with the other POWs to the "Joliet" civilian prison. There, a large trough served as a source for drinking water and general cleaning up, so it quickly became contaminated and unsafe to drink. Capt. Berryman contracted dysentery that severely plagued him for two years after his return to the United States and continues to cause problems today.

Capt. Berryman was released into the hands of the Red Cross on March 5, 1991. Only then did he receive appropriate medical attention for his broken leg and other injuries.

Major Berryman thinks about the torture he experienced in Iraq every day of his life. Nightmares about his time there continued for about three months after returning to the United States. He was grounded from flight status during this time as well. To this day, he cannot stand to have anyone touch his wrists, as nerve damage from the handcuffs he wore has never fully healed.

Major Berryman believes that he is more withdrawn and solitary now than before he was captured as a POW. This emotional shift inward caused great strain to his marriage that he and his wife have resolved only with significant effort.

On February 27, 1991, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Dunlap was on a search-and-rescue mission in a Blackhawk helicopter when it was shot down over Iraq. He survived the violent crash, along with U.S. Army Major Rhonda Cornum and U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Daniel Stamaris. Iraqi troops quickly captured Sgt. Dunlap and Maj. Cornum, abandoning Sgt. Stamaris at the crash cite. Dunlap was handcuffed, tied, spat upon, and kicked.

Shortly after being captured by Iraqi soldiers, a higher-ranking Iraqi officer approached, said something in Arabic, and then said in English, "Kill him." One of the soldiers put a pistol to Dunlap’s head and pulled the trigger. Fortunately, the pistol was not loaded. Then the soldiers loaded Dunlap and Cornum into the back of a truck with two armed guards.

The truck drove Sgt. Dunlap and Maj. Cornum about five miles to an underground bunker complex, where Dunlap underwent his first interrogation. The questions concerned the details of his mission, and the interrogators pounded Dunlap’s head with a pistol when he gave answers they did not like. Meanwhile, a child of about ten years of age pointed an AK-47 rifle at Dunlap to keep him from moving. He spent the next two days in this room, after which he was put in the back of another truck and taken to a town, where the guards allowed civilians to hit him and spit on him.

That night, guards locked Sgt. Dunlap in a room, tied him to a chair, and tied his hands behind his back. They then covered him with a blanket that had been soaked in kerosene and left him for the night.

The next day, Sgt. Dunlap was taken to a prison, where he remained for the next three days. At one point, guards approached Dunlap in his cell and told him to stand up. When he refused, the guards kicked his legs repeatedly until he did. Guards at the prison took numerous opportunities to kick Dunlap and slam his head with guns.

Dunlap was then taken to another prison, where more interrogations followed. During these sessions, the guards put scorching hot spoons to the back of his neck to draw more information out of him. Every time during his interrogation that they did not believe his answers, they put these hot spoons on him. The spoons burned his neck and caused blisters. The guards also repeatedly threatened to kill him, kicked him, and hit his head with pistols and rifle butts during these interrogations.

Sgt. Dunlap lost eighteen pounds in his seven days as a prisoner in Iraq due to the starvation diet he was afforded during his time there. The unsanitary conditions he endured also resulted in severe intestinal problems, including dysentery, which manifested itself several days before his release.

At no point did Iraq notify the ICRC or any other organization of Sgt. Dunlap’s status as a POW. While Dunlap requested the opportunity to send a card or a letter to his family to let them know his whereabouts, Iraq never allowed him to do so.

Sgt. Dunlap continues to have nightmares – on average twice every week – about his torture in Iraq. He indicates that these usually include Arabic shouting, gunfire and bright lights. This image can also be triggered during the day. He also suffers from sleeplessness and a loss of patience that did not haunt him before his time as a POW. Dunlap has been diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and he experiences flashbacks that take him back to his time as a POW. He also believes that his torture by Iraq may also have played a part in his subsequent divorce.

Col. David Eberly – the highest ranking Gulf War POW – was shot down while flying at 21,000 feet and 580 knots over northwest Iraq on January 19, 1990. Forced to eject at high altitude, Col. Eberly and his crewmember, Major Thomas Griffith, suffered from the effects of rapid cockpit decompression and hypoxia (the loss of consciousness due to lack of oxygen in the brain). Compounded by exposure to the high-speed windblast and the missile fragmentation wounds, Col. Eberly lost consciousness.

After regaining consciousness, Col. Eberly fearfully avoided an armed enemy search team and then rejoined Major Griffith. Together, they spent three nights evading detection by Iraqi troops. In fear for their lives, they headed toward the Iraq-Syrian border. At the border, as they approached an apparently deserted shack to get relief from the cold, they were surrounded and targeted by a barrage of automatic weapons fire. Eventually, the Iraqi soldiers ceased firing and dragged them into the shack.

The soldiers knocked them around and then took them outside where they ran them through a gauntlet of six troops who spit on them and kicked and hit them repeatedly before throwing them in the back of a pickup truck. Taken to an area commander's house, they were chained to a cot for the night.

After more threatening interrogations, they were paraded through a small town and exposed to angry mobs. Handcuffed in the back seat of a small car, they were attacked by civilians waving sticks and attempting to overturn the vehicle. A grapefruit-sized rock was used to smash the rear window.

Col. Eberly and Maj. Griffith were then driven to Baghdad. Along the way, they were again exposed to angry civilians.

After arriving in Baghdad, Col. Eberly's captors put him in a dirt-floored, wooden stall with no heat. The guards punched him at random; one in particular threatened to kill him with a knife. He was then taken to an underground bunker for more formal interrogation. Again, they threatened to kill him. This time, one interrogator put a nine-millimeter pistol to his temple and pulled the trigger when Col. Eberly refused to denounce the Allied invasion of Iraq. The videotape of this interrogation was broadcast in the United States on January 25, 1991. Interrogations continued nearly every day for a week.

Late at night on January 31, Col. Eberly and other prisoners were taken to the maximum-security area of the Iraqi Intelligence Headquarters (nicknamed the
"Biltmore"). Here, no provisions were made for toilet facilities, and the prisoners were forced to urinate and defecate in their cells. Additionally, there was no heat, and Col. Eberly was forced to sleep on the cement floor with minimal protection from the cold. Col. Eberly's daily diet was one ladle of broth and a piece of pita bread. Water was often withheld.

Col. Eberly entered Iraq weighing 145 pounds, but dropped below 100 pounds due to the starvation diet he suffered as a POW. Asking for more food or water often resulted in a smaller portion. One guard often spit at him and uttered a pejorative regarding "George Bush." Col. Eberly believed that he and the other POWs were being held as human shields against prospective allied aircraft targets.

Guards at the Biltmore put Col. Eberly through numerous psychologically-oriented interrogations. In one of these, an interrogator told him that Iraq had won a major battle to the south, that Iraqi forces had captured 20,000 POWs, and that they would make an example of him as the senior prisoner. They told him they were going to take him "downtown" and let the angry civilians kill him. With the video of the hanging of Lt. Col. William R. Higgins (who was murdered on a U.N. mission to the Middle East in 1990) fresh in his mind, Col. Eberly was severely tormented by this possibility. On two other occasions during interrogations, guards pulled the trigger on a pistol held at his head.

As the senior officer, Col. Eberly persisted in his efforts to seek better treatment for his fellow prisoners by repeatedly asking that they be given water, food, and blankets. His requests were met with threats and more harsh treatment.

On February 21 and 22, the guards dragged a sobbing prisoner from his cell, chained him near Col. Eberly's door, and beat him unmercifully. Col. Eberly heard them kick the man, slam his head against the floor, and beat him with a chain. They did not stop despite the prisoner’s screams. This was extremely unnerving to Col. Eberly and the other prisoners. During the beating the second night, the guards opened Col. Eberly's door and took him to a room down the hall. They told him to drop his pants and then inspected his genitals to see if he was circumcised. Knowing the Iraqis had cut off the genitals of Iranian POWs, this petrified him.

When Allied aircraft bombed the Biltmore on February 23, the guards dragged the prisoners onto a bus. The Arab prisoner who had suffered the savage beating outside Col. Eberly's cell was also thrown on the floor of the bus at their feet. In the dim light, Col. Eberly could see his brutal wounds. When the man started screaming again, the guards beat him with the truncheons. Then, they dragged him off the bus, and Col. Eberly could hear a chain being wrapped around the rear bumper. The bus moved forward approximately 100 feet and then stopped. Again, Col. Eberly heard the chain noise, and then the guards threw the prisoner back on the bus. The prisoner was silent. Fear of similar treatment paralyzed the Allied prisoners.

The bus took the POWs to the notorious civilian prison, Abu Gharib, nicknamed "Joliet." The next morning, the guards took the prisoners, including Col. Eberly, to a small courtyard between the cellblocks and forced them to sit crossed-legged in the sun with blankets over their heads. Col. Eberly asked to go to the toilet and then was placed near a guard. The armed civilian said, "You American." Col. Eberly asked him if he had ever been there and the guard responded, "No, but someday I will go to America and kill your family."

His cell at Joliet was even smaller than previous cells – approximately five feet by four feet. The conditions were extremely unsanitary, resulting in severe gastro-intestinal problems. Here, the prisoners were also subjected to harsh treatment and witnessed severe beatings of another prisoner. This caused increased anguish and psychological unnerving.

At no time did Iraq release Col. Eberly's name to the ICRC or any other organization to confirm his status as a POW.

Knowing the uncertainty his family faced created great psychological pain and anguish for Col. Eberly, as his captors gave him no opportunity to notify them that he was alive.

Col. Eberly continues to suffer mental torment from his facial scars and from the torture he endured as a prisoner in Iraq. Flashbacks are often triggered by seemingly unremarkable changes in his environment such as cold chills, the sound of the wind, or distant noises. He believes he is less tolerant now than before his inhumane treatment and that he avoids confrontation as a reminder of the Iraqi captors who tormented him daily with threats on his life.

Col. Eberly suffers great continuing stress from helping his family, especially his son, cope with the trauma he and they endured from his time as a POW in Iraq.

Lt. Col. Jeffrey Fox was returning to his home base in Saudi Arabia when his aircraft was shot down over southern Iraq on February 19, 1991. He immediately used his radio to call for help, but he had to abandon the rescue attempt because he was quickly overtaken by Iraqi soldiers. These soldiers drove him away on a motorcycle.

The two soldiers drove him to several bunkers, where Lt. Col. Fox went through interrogations by soldiers and civilians. Eventually, he was taken to a small room in a large building, where he was blindfolded, handcuffed, and tied to a chair. He could hear men walking around, and they began beating him. The first blow broke his eardrum and knocked Fox to the floor. They continued to beat him and ordered him not to yell in pain.

Soon, the men took him to another building where others asked Lt. Col. Fox questions about his ethnic background. These people stripped off Fox’s pants and examined his genitals to see if he had been circumcised. They then accused him of being an Israeli fighter pilot.

Lt. Col. Fox was soon taken to the "Biltmore" prison. Fox was kept in solitary confinement and given two blankets as meager protection against Baghdad’s freezing winter nights. He was fed one ladle of thin red soup – essentially greasy water – each day, sometimes with a piece of bread and minimal drinking water. His unsanitary living conditions, including a broken toilet at the back of his small, concrete cell, were standard for POWs at the Biltmore.

Whenever the guards took him to the bathroom or an interrogation, they would beat him along the way, including with blows to the head and kicks to his groin. Fox describes recurrent beatings and interrogations, including beatings with a rubber mallet or baton and strikes by hands on his neck and shoulders. He also describes kicks and strikes with a rubber baton to his right (injured) knee. No active medical care or treatment was given for his injuries.

During one questioning session at the Biltmore, the interrogator asked Fox details of the bombing of a particular site. When he did not reveal them, guards put him in a truck and drove him to a room in a different building. They said they would ask him one question, and that if he did not answer it to their satisfaction, they would kill him. They then repeated the question about the bombing, he did not answer it sufficiently, and they fired a gun near his right ear. The guards then put him back in the truck and returned him to his cell. Subsequently, Fox experienced some hearing deficit and tinnitus in the right ear.

Fox, as with other American and allied POWs, was held as a human shield to guard against prospective bombing by Allied forces. Allied forces, who did not know the location of the POWs, did bomb the Biltmore on February 23, and the POWs were moved to a civilian prison.

At no point did Iraq release Lt. Col. Fox’s name to the ICRC or any other organization to confirm his status as a POW.

On his return to the United States, Lt. Col. Fox had a hearing deficit and tinnitus in his right ear, pain and decreased range of motion in his right knee, with swelling, and some loss of extension of the right elbow. He underwent surgery for right anterior collateral ligament reconstruction and for