Haunted by The Iceman

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So far in the case, the Navy has imposed administrative penalties on eight members of the Seal team that abducted al-Jamadi; the team leader was court-martialed but found innocent of abuse and other charges. The CIA referred al-Jamadi's death to the Justice Department, which has spent months reviewing the case and considering whether to bring criminal charges against anyone and had no comment. Swanner has not been charged with any crime and continues to work for the CIA.

Al-Jamadi's demise deeply unsettled his captors, according to the investigations. The guard who first determined that the prisoner was no longer alive told CIA agents, "This guy's dead--it's on you." Another guard later said the agents "didn't know what the hell to do." A CIA employee reported being told by a colleague to "keep his mouth shut about the incident and not say anything about it in e-mail." When Abu Ghraib's military-intelligence commander showed up, a witness heard him say, "I'm not going down for this alone." To avoid roiling the other prisoners and prevent decomposition of the body, al-Jamadi's corpse was iced down and held in the interrogation room overnight. The next day, wrapped in a body bag, covered with a blanket and with an intravenous tube taped to his arm, al-Jamadi was spirited out of Abu Ghraib as if he were merely an invalid. The location of his remains has not been made public.