Wolfgang Bauer is a reporter for the German magazine Focus.[1][2][3]
In June 2007 Bauer reported that, when embedded with the American 82nd Airborne Division he witnessed Afghan and American soldiers, in the area of Ghazni, Afghanistan, abusing captured suspects.[1]
Bauer, and his photographer, Karsten Schoene, said they witnessed one Afghan suspect, tied a truck, and threatened that he would be dragged behind the truck if he continued to decline to answer questions.[1] The Afghan platoon leader who was questioning the suspect then had an American soldier from the 82nd Airborne Division, turn on and gun the truck's engine. Focus published a picture of the Afghan suspect, tied to the truck's bumper. Bauer called this act a mock execution and wrote that this act rose to the level of torture, and was a war crime,
Bauer wrote that, in addition, the suspect's family had been threatened.[1] In a separate incident he reported he had seen an agent of the Afghan intelligence service beat a suspect with a rifle butt, while questioning him.[3]
Major Chris Belcher, speaking on behalf of the Department of Defense, stated that he was unaware of the incident.[3]