Marine says Guantánamo guards bragged about beatings

A 19-year-old sailor referred to only as ``Bo" ``told the other guards and me about him beating different detainees being held in the prison," the statement said.

``One such story Bo told involved him taking a detainee by the head and hitting the detainee's head into the cell door. Bo said that his actions were known by others," but that he was never punished, the statement said. The paralegal was identified in the affidavit as a sergeant working on an unidentified Guantánamo-related case.

Lieutenant Colonel Colby Vokey gave the AP the statement Thursday night. He is the Marine Corps' defense coordinator for the Western United States and is based at Camp Pendleton.

A Guantánamo Bay spokesman said the base would cooperate with any Pentagon investigation. A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment.

A call to the inspector general's office was not immediately returned.

Other guards ``also told their own stories of abuse towards the detainees" that included hitting them, denying them water, and ``removing privileges for no reason," the woman said in the statement .

``About 5 others in the group admitted hitting detainees" and that included ``punching in the face," the affidavit said.

``From the whole conversation, I understood that striking detainees was a common practice," the sergeant wrote. ``Everyone in the group laughed at the others' stories of beating detainees."

Vokey called for an investigation, saying the abuse alleged in the affidavit ``is offensive and violates United States and international law."

Navy Commander Robert Durand condemned the abuse or harassment of detainees and said he would cooperate fully with the inspector general.

``The mission of the Joint Task Force is the safe and humane care and custody of detained enemy combatants," he said.