Iran- The Army has ordered a full-scale investigation into the sex and mud-wrestling escapade at Camp Bucca in Iraq, modeled after its sweeping probe of abuse allegations at Abu Ghraib prison.
Lt. Gen. James Helmly, commander of the Army Reserve, ordered the probe after the Sunday Daily News reported that sergeants at Camp Bucca allegedly lent their rooms to G.I.s for sex parties and arranged a wild mud-wrestling bout with scantily clad female military prison guards last year.
The investigation will be conducted under Army Regulation 15-6, the same rules that governed Gen. Antonio Taguba in his probe into the alleged torture of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison, said Maj. Michael Stella, an Army Reserve spokesman.
Helmly's order rips control of the investigation from Col. Isadore Rommes, commander of the 160th Military Police Battalion, whose soldiers allegedly organized and participated in the sexcapade.
Although the incident occurred Oct. 30, Rommes did not begin a commander's inquiry until Jan. 9 - about three months after the 160th MP Battalion had returned to its base in Tallahassee, Fla., and its members were back in civilian life.
Rommes was with the 160th when it was guarding prisoners at Camp Delta, the U.S. terror prison at Guantanamo Bay in 2002 - the same period covered in FBI memos detailing allegations of prisoner abuse there.
The mud wrestling free-for-all purportedly was staged to celebrate the departure of the 160th and the arrival of replacements from the 105th Military Police Battalion, of the North Carolina National Guard.
It happened in the same period that detainees were being transferred from Abu Ghraib to Camp Bucca. The prison, at Umm Qasr in southern Iraq, is named for New York City Fire Marshal Ron Bucca, an Army reservist who was killed at the World Trade Center on 9/11.
So far, only one low-ranking soldier has been disciplined.
Deanna Allen of the 105th MP Battalion was reduced in rank from specialist to private.
The 19-year-old soldier from Black Mountain, N.C., made headlines around the world after the Daily News published photos of her baring her breasts to ogling G.I.s during the mud-wrestling episode in October.
She has been muzzled by the Army. In an E-mail yesterday from Camp Bucca, Allen told The News: "I am still in Iraq and as of right now I am not allowed to answer any questions. I have been restricted."
In a series of photos leaked to The News, Allen is one of four female soldiers cavorting in a mud-filled pool clad only in bras and panties and surrounded by cheering male G.I.s.
Sergeants allegedly arranged the event and one purportedly acted as referee.
An initial military police report quotes a witness saying that other sergeants involved allegedly were lending their rooms to soldiers for sex.
