Smeagol-Gollum
06-05-2004, 09:25
US admits 25 deaths in custody
By Marian Wilkinson, Herald Correspondent in Washington
May 6, 2004
US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld addresses a press conference at the Pentagon, saying that abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers was totally unacceptable and promising to take action against them.
The Pentagon has admitted that 25 prisoners have died in US military custody in Iraq and Afghanistan, at least two of them murders. Ten of the deaths are still under investigation, including one involving the CIA.
The admissions came from General George Casey, who briefed Congress on the widening scandal over Abu Ghraib jail, where prisoners were sexually humiliated, abused and beaten as military police guards videotaped and photographed the scenes.
At the same time the Administration scrambled to try to stem the erosion of US credibility caused by the mistreatment of prisoners and to limit any further political damage to President George Bush.
Mr Bush will give an interview to al Ahram, the government-owned Egyptian daily newspaper, on Thursday and is planning interviews with Arab television, an official said.
His National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, told the Dubai-based Arab channel al-Arabiya that Mr Bush was "personally sickened" by pictures displaying some of the abuses.
"We are deeply sorry for what has happened to these people, and what the families must be feeling," she said. "It's just not right. And we will get to the bottom of what happened,"
General Casey blamed the abuse on what he called "a complete breakdown in discipline".
The US Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, in his first public comments on the scandal, said he did not believe that the abuses amounted to torture.
"My impression is that what has been charged thus far is abuse, which is I believe technically is different from torture." Mr Rumsfeld promised that the military would take "whatever steps necessary" to hold those responsible accountable.
But senior Republican and Democrat politicians stridently attacked Mr Rumsfeld, and expressed outrage that the Pentagon had failed to brief Congress on the scandal which has inflamed public opinion throughout the Arab world and in the US.
"We have a great sense of revulsion, not only because of these actions but we also recognise what the dangers are for American troops if they are ever taken prisoner and the kind of treatment that they would be subject to," said the Democrats' Senator Ted Kennedy.
Senator John McCain, a Republican, said: "There are so many allegations swirling around . . . that we must have a public hearing with the Secretary of Defence testifying." He said Congress had been "kept in the dark".
But as the Pentagon announced that it had widened its inquiries to include Guantanamo Bay and its detention centres in Afghanistan, a lawyer for one of the military police charged over the abuse told the Herald there was evidence that US military intelligence was in part responsible for the Abu Ghraib mistreatment.
Gary Myers said an order from the office of General Ricardo Sanchez, the senior US military commander in Iraq, turned control of the jail over to military intelligence last November, just when the abuses were escalating.
"The commander of the 205 MI [military intelligence] brigade assumed responsibility for the Baghdad confinement facility made an MI officer rather than a military police officer effectively responsible for the military police units conducting detainee operations at that facility."
Mr Myers's client, Sergeant Chip Frederick, is heavily implicated in the abuses in the photographs and is facing a series of charges but claims he was assisting military intelligence. Mr Myers also said that military intelligence officers going to the jail had worn "sterile uniforms" with no indication of name, rank or unit, making it difficult to identify them.
The Pentagon insists there will be no cover-up, but General Casey said the senior intelligence officer attached to the prison, Colonel Thomas Pappas, is still in his job while the inquiry goes on.
One source told the Herald that the Pentagon has about 60 photographs from Abu Ghraib jail depicting abuse more violent than that already revealed. "The ones seen so far are the mild ones that people can live with," he said. One allegedly depicts an Iraqi teenage boy being raped.
SOURCE
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/05/1083635207631.html
COMMENT.
Disgusting. One can only wonder what the "real" numbers may be, I suspect that this story may continue to "grow".
And "a complete breakdown in discipline" is hardly an excuse, alibi, or reason not to have the guilt sheeted home to the US Army. Who, one must ask, is in fact reponsible for maintaining discipline?
And I imagine that fresh relevations will merely provoke more posts from people complaining that the US is being "bashed".
Those who do make such posts really should try, just for once, an objective perspective. If this was being done by another nation to US citizens, would that be O.K.? If not, then why is it alright for the US to do so? Morality is not determined by nationality.
By Marian Wilkinson, Herald Correspondent in Washington
May 6, 2004
US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld addresses a press conference at the Pentagon, saying that abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers was totally unacceptable and promising to take action against them.
The Pentagon has admitted that 25 prisoners have died in US military custody in Iraq and Afghanistan, at least two of them murders. Ten of the deaths are still under investigation, including one involving the CIA.
The admissions came from General George Casey, who briefed Congress on the widening scandal over Abu Ghraib jail, where prisoners were sexually humiliated, abused and beaten as military police guards videotaped and photographed the scenes.
At the same time the Administration scrambled to try to stem the erosion of US credibility caused by the mistreatment of prisoners and to limit any further political damage to President George Bush.
Mr Bush will give an interview to al Ahram, the government-owned Egyptian daily newspaper, on Thursday and is planning interviews with Arab television, an official said.
His National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, told the Dubai-based Arab channel al-Arabiya that Mr Bush was "personally sickened" by pictures displaying some of the abuses.
"We are deeply sorry for what has happened to these people, and what the families must be feeling," she said. "It's just not right. And we will get to the bottom of what happened,"
General Casey blamed the abuse on what he called "a complete breakdown in discipline".
The US Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, in his first public comments on the scandal, said he did not believe that the abuses amounted to torture.
"My impression is that what has been charged thus far is abuse, which is I believe technically is different from torture." Mr Rumsfeld promised that the military would take "whatever steps necessary" to hold those responsible accountable.
But senior Republican and Democrat politicians stridently attacked Mr Rumsfeld, and expressed outrage that the Pentagon had failed to brief Congress on the scandal which has inflamed public opinion throughout the Arab world and in the US.
"We have a great sense of revulsion, not only because of these actions but we also recognise what the dangers are for American troops if they are ever taken prisoner and the kind of treatment that they would be subject to," said the Democrats' Senator Ted Kennedy.
Senator John McCain, a Republican, said: "There are so many allegations swirling around . . . that we must have a public hearing with the Secretary of Defence testifying." He said Congress had been "kept in the dark".
But as the Pentagon announced that it had widened its inquiries to include Guantanamo Bay and its detention centres in Afghanistan, a lawyer for one of the military police charged over the abuse told the Herald there was evidence that US military intelligence was in part responsible for the Abu Ghraib mistreatment.
Gary Myers said an order from the office of General Ricardo Sanchez, the senior US military commander in Iraq, turned control of the jail over to military intelligence last November, just when the abuses were escalating.
"The commander of the 205 MI [military intelligence] brigade assumed responsibility for the Baghdad confinement facility made an MI officer rather than a military police officer effectively responsible for the military police units conducting detainee operations at that facility."
Mr Myers's client, Sergeant Chip Frederick, is heavily implicated in the abuses in the photographs and is facing a series of charges but claims he was assisting military intelligence. Mr Myers also said that military intelligence officers going to the jail had worn "sterile uniforms" with no indication of name, rank or unit, making it difficult to identify them.
The Pentagon insists there will be no cover-up, but General Casey said the senior intelligence officer attached to the prison, Colonel Thomas Pappas, is still in his job while the inquiry goes on.
One source told the Herald that the Pentagon has about 60 photographs from Abu Ghraib jail depicting abuse more violent than that already revealed. "The ones seen so far are the mild ones that people can live with," he said. One allegedly depicts an Iraqi teenage boy being raped.
SOURCE
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/05/1083635207631.html
COMMENT.
Disgusting. One can only wonder what the "real" numbers may be, I suspect that this story may continue to "grow".
And "a complete breakdown in discipline" is hardly an excuse, alibi, or reason not to have the guilt sheeted home to the US Army. Who, one must ask, is in fact reponsible for maintaining discipline?
And I imagine that fresh relevations will merely provoke more posts from people complaining that the US is being "bashed".
Those who do make such posts really should try, just for once, an objective perspective. If this was being done by another nation to US citizens, would that be O.K.? If not, then why is it alright for the US to do so? Morality is not determined by nationality.