Editorial note from Wisdom and courage on 5/8/04: This is mind boggling
-- am I reading it correctly? It tells me that (a) the General who is being
sent
to straighten
out this
mess
is
the
very
same guy
that led a 30-member team to Iraq in August and September
that focused on ways of sharpening interrogation procedures and (b) it is those
sharpened procedures that led to these abuses of detainees? Can that be possible?
See #14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21 and 22 below
If I am reading this correctly, this is Alice in Horrorland. The Fox has been sent to guard the hens.
Added note of 5/13/04 -- subsequent to the above, more
was published on this specific subject.
The fox really is guarding the hens.
----------------
General Blames Abuse on Poor Leadership /
By LOUIS MEIXLER, Associated Press Writer / 5/8/04
BAGHDAD, Iraq -
1 The head of U.S. detention centers in Iraq (news - web sites)
said Saturday the military has no plans to close the Abu Ghraib prison and
blamed the abuse of detainees there on poor leadership and disregard for
the rules.
2 Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller said the United States does intend
to cut the number of prisoners to help improve conditions but added that "we
will continue to conduct interrogation missions at the Abu Ghraib facility."
3 Miller was named head of prisons in April after Brig. Gen. Janis
Karpinski, the commander of Abu Ghraib, was suspended amid allegations of
prisoner abuse by
U.S. soldiers at the prison.
4 Six prison guards are facing criminal charges for alleged abuse
of Iraqi prisonerss, and one has already been charged.
5 President Bush vowed Saturday that "we will
learn all the facts and determine the full extent of these abuses. Those
involved
will
be identified. They will answer for their actions."
6 Bush said all prison operations in Iraq will be reviewed "to
make certain that similar disgraceful incidents are never repeated."
7 Miller said he visited all 14 prison facilities in Iraq to review
procedures and that an Army team of 31 specialists was in the
country retraining prison
guards, a process that would last until June 30.
8 "
We will ensure that we follow our procedures," he said. "It is
a matter of honor. We were ashamed and embarrassed by the conduct
of a very, very small
number of our soldiers...On my honor, I will ensure that it
will not happen again."
9 Miller said the "alleged abuses and abuses we have discovered
from the investigations appear to be due to leaders and soldiers
not following the
authorized policy
and lack of leadership and supervision."
10 Miller insisted that Iraqi prisoners were now being treated
in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and that interrogation
teams were following
Army guidelines
while trying to get "the best intelligence as rapidly
as possible."
11 "
I am satisfied that that system is following the provisions of the Geneva Conventions
and assisting the coalition in providing actionable intelligence
to help us win this fight for the freedom of Iraq," he said.
12 He said earlier in the week that he would halt or restrict
some interrogation methods, especially eight to 10 "very
aggressive techniques," including
using hoods on prisoners, putting them in stressful
positions and depriving them of sleep. He said those
methods are
now banned without
specific
approval.
13 Miller said there were no plans to close Abu Ghraib and that
if orders are received to close the lockup, the military would
probably shift the mission to another
facility, Camp Bucca, south of Basra. Abu Ghraib
was a notorious prison under Saddam Hussein where detainees were routinely
tortured
and sometimes executed.
14 Miller, the former commander of the U.S. detention center at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, led a 30-member team to Iraq in August
and September that focused on ways
of sharpening interrogation procedures.
15 In a report on the Abu Ghraib scandal, Maj. Gen.
Anthony Taguba wrote that the team recommended "that
the guard force be actively engaged in setting
the conditions for successful exploitation of
the internees." Some military
police at the prison have said they were instructed
to "soften up" the
prisoners before interrogation.
16 "
There was no recommendation ever by this group ... that recommended that the
military police become actively involved in
the interrogation," Miller
said.
17 Miller said he recommended that guards should monitor prisoners
closely and pass on information to interrogators.
18 Military police "should be involved in passive intelligence
collection," Miller
said.
19 One of the soldiers facing charges, Spc. Sabrina Harman, said
she and other members of the 372nd Military
Police Company took direction from Army military intelligence
officers, CIA operatives and from civilian
contractors who conducted interrogations.
20 In an interview by e-mail from Baghdad, Harman told The Washington
Post it was made clear that her mission
was to break down the prisoners.
21 "
They would bring in one to several prisoners at a time already hooded and cuffed," Harman
said. "The job of the MP was to
keep them awake, make it hell so they
would
talk."
22 Harman, 26, is one of two smiling soldiers seen in a photo taken
at Abu Ghraib as they stand behind
naked, hooded Iraqi prisoners stacked in a pyramid.
23 Miller said that in part he used his experience at Guantanamo
to help reshape the interrogation
process.
24 Miller has said that by the end of his stint at Guantanamo in
March, intelligence tips had increased
dramatically and that about three-quarters of the 600 detainees
had confessed to some involvement
in terrorism and many had exposed former friends. The detainees there were
largely suspected of ties
to the Taliban or the al-Qaida
terror network.
25 Miller said he had a "high level of confidence" that
proper procedures were now
being implemented in Iraq.
26 "
We may make honest mistakes ... but there will be no mistakes of moral turpitude," he
said.
Copyright © 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.