LAW is about to catch up to torturers.
Published on Saturday, April 30, 2005 by Hearst Newspapers
Commanders Responsible for Abu Ghraib
by Helen Thomas
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon has got to be kidding. It turns out that only those rogue enlisted men and women and one woman general are to blame for the horrifying treatment of prisoners and detainees of the Iraqi war, according to Lt. Gen. Stanley Green, the Army inspector general.
He cleared four senior army officers of any responsibility for the abuse of prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison after reviewing the results of 10 separate inquiries into the prison abuse, some of which the world was able to view though photos.
In effect, his report is the final word unless there are some brave members of Congress who are willing to investigate the role of the military higher-ups who gave the green light for the severe interrogation of prisoners in U.S. custody.
The responsibility ultimately lies with President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, then White House counsel, who decided that the Geneva Conventions on Humanitarian Treatment of Prisoners of War didn't apply in the "war on terrorism."
Among the military hierarchy, only Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, an Army reserve officer who commanded the military police unit at Abu Ghraib, has paid a price. Karpinski, who was relieved of her command and given a written reprimand, claims she is a "scapegoat" and plans to fight the charge.
The military has targeted 125 individuals with either criminal or administrative charges in connection with 350 cases of abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan. Six low-ranking servicemen have been convicted or pleaded guilty to abuse-related charges.
In a recent interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Karpinski pointed to the role of Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who had been sent from his duty at the Guantanamo Bay, prison -- known as "gitmo" -- to Iraq where his orders were to "gitmoize" Abu Ghraib. Miller told officers there "to treat the prisoners like dogs."
more... http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0430-25.htm
Commanders Responsible for Abu Ghraib
by Helen Thomas
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon has got to be kidding. It turns out that only those rogue enlisted men and women and one woman general are to blame for the horrifying treatment of prisoners and detainees of the Iraqi war, according to Lt. Gen. Stanley Green, the Army inspector general.
He cleared four senior army officers of any responsibility for the abuse of prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison after reviewing the results of 10 separate inquiries into the prison abuse, some of which the world was able to view though photos.
In effect, his report is the final word unless there are some brave members of Congress who are willing to investigate the role of the military higher-ups who gave the green light for the severe interrogation of prisoners in U.S. custody.
The responsibility ultimately lies with President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, then White House counsel, who decided that the Geneva Conventions on Humanitarian Treatment of Prisoners of War didn't apply in the "war on terrorism."
Among the military hierarchy, only Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, an Army reserve officer who commanded the military police unit at Abu Ghraib, has paid a price. Karpinski, who was relieved of her command and given a written reprimand, claims she is a "scapegoat" and plans to fight the charge.
The military has targeted 125 individuals with either criminal or administrative charges in connection with 350 cases of abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan. Six low-ranking servicemen have been convicted or pleaded guilty to abuse-related charges.
In a recent interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Karpinski pointed to the role of Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who had been sent from his duty at the Guantanamo Bay, prison -- known as "gitmo" -- to Iraq where his orders were to "gitmoize" Abu Ghraib. Miller told officers there "to treat the prisoners like dogs."
more... http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0430-25.htm
posted by Christy at 7:10 PM
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