Brigadier General Karl Horst of the US 3rd Infantry Division, who was involved in the operation, said the prisoners were "in need of medical care".
The Iraqi police were more forthcoming. "These men were in a very bad way. They have obviously been tortured, some had been there a long time and they were very frightened," said an officer calling himself Yasin. He would not give any other name: "I don't want to end up in one of these rooms myself."