Wolfgang Bauer (journalist)

Wolfgang Bauer (born 1970) is a free journalist since 1994 after studying Islamic Studies, Geography and History. He was a reporter for the German magazine Focus. Zeit Dossier, Neon/Nido, Greenpeace Magazin, Geo und National Geographic. In 2011 he was awarded with the European Award for Excellence in Journalism Columbus.
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.

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. 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. 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.

Major Chris Belcher, speaking on behalf of the Department of Defense, stated that he was unaware of the incident.