Lawmakers told of PoW abuse months ago

Separately, a suspended Army officer in Iraq wrote to Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania that he was being unfairly punished after "pictures of naked prisoners" were discovered. He sent the letter six weeks before the CBS program "60 Minutes II" first broadcast photographs of the prisoners on April 28.

The strongest reply any of them got was a note saying what they already knew that the Army was investigating, according to documents released last week by Specter's office and the family of Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Ivan L. "Chip" Frederick.

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Frederick, of the Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company, faces a general court-martial on charges of conspiracy to maltreat detainees, dereliction of duty, maltreatment of detainees and wrongfully committing an indecent act.

In late February, his family sent letters or e-mails to 11 Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee, plus three of their local congressional members and Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, seeking information on Frederick's status, said Frederick's uncle, William W. Lawson, of Newburg, W.Va.

A Feb. 23 letter from Lawson to Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia said Frederick was relieved of prison-guard duty without explanation Jan. 14, two days before the Army publicly announced a criminal investigation of alleged prisoner mistreatment.

"At some point, something went wrong at the prison related to mistreatment of PoWs," Lawson wrote.

Rockefeller responded on March 2 that the Army could not act on the request unless it came from Frederick's wife or mother.

Mark Ferrell, a spokesman for Rockefeller, said the letters sent on behalf of Frederick were "consistent with what had been in the news about a Pentagon inquiry into prisoner abuse but gave no indication that widespread abuse existed." Still, he said, several people on Rockefeller's staff have had telephone conversations with Lawson since receiving his letter in February.