Memo Says 2 Officials Who Saw Prison Abuse Were Threatened

[mcscajun]

from Associated Press:

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- U.S. special forces accused of abusing prisoners in Iraq threatened Defense Intelligence Agency personnel who saw the mistreatment and once confiscated photos of a prisoner who had been punched in the face, according to U.S. government memos released Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The special forces also monitored e-mails sent by defense personnel and ordered them "not to talk to anyone" in the United States about what they saw, said one memo written by the Defense Intelligence Agency chief, who complained to his Pentagon bosses about the harassment.



http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/07/politics/07cnd-abus.html?hp&ex=1102482000&en=423be6557d198090&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[genieroze]

1. Are you kidding? eom

[maddezmom]

2. drip, drip, drip

[maddezmom]

8. looks like FBI was in CYA mode big time

The memos reveal behind-the-scenes tensions between the FBI and U.S. military and intelligence task forces running prisoner interrogations at Guantanamo and in Iraq as the Bush administration sought better intelligence to fight terrorists and the deadly Iraq insurgency.

"These documents tell a damning story of sanctioned government abuse -- a story that the government has tried to hide and may well come back to haunt our own troops captured in Iraq," said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the New York-based ACLU.

The documents were released only after a federal court ordered the Pentagon and other government agencies to comply with a year-old request filed under the Freedom of Information Act filed by the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Physicians for Human Rights, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans for Peace.

A spokesman for U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida, which directs special military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, declined to comment on specific allegations.

[TankLV]

15. Not "abuse" - "TORTURE". Tell it like it is, goddammit!

Not you - the military.

[saigon68]

3. MORE WAR CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR

And the BEAT goes ON !!!!

[DemoTex]

5. And the Bu$h regime threatens to withhold foreign aid ...

Coercing countries to join in a vote to provide immunity from prosecution for war crimes for US officials and military personnel.

[UpInArms]

4. more from your link

"These documents tell a damning story of sanctioned government abuse -- a story that the government has tried to hide and may well come back to haunt our own troops captured in Iraq," said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the New York-based ACLU.

The documents were released only after a federal court ordered the Pentagon and other government agencies to comply with a year-old request filed under the Freedom of Information Act filed by the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Physicians for Human Rights, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans for Peace.

A spokesman for U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida, which directs special military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, declined to comment on specific allegations.

:argh:

Gonzales will become our Attorney General and he wrote the freakin' memos that "sanction" abuse and torture.

Gonzales believes that our Constitution is "quaint" along with the Geneva Convention.

:argh:

:nuke:

[Just Me]

17. As I previously stated: Gonzales is a conspirator to commit war crimes.

He wrote the memo (advancing no legal precedent but rather creative legal bullshit rationalization) that advanced breaches of our Constitution and the Geneva Convention.

Boy o' what beacons of liberty and justice these neo-fascists are,...NOT!!!

[Rose Siding]

6. The FBI requested that there be documentation for their protection

snip>
An e-mail to Thomas Harrington, an FBI counterterrorism expert who led a team of investigators to Guantanamo, records "somewhat heated" conversations in which Pentagon officials admitted that harsh interrogations did not yield any information not obtained by the FBI.

Another December 2003 e-mail notes the FBI's Military Liaison and Detainee Unit, which "had a longstanding and documented position against use of some of DoDs interrogation practices," requested certain information "be documented to protect the FBI."

[msgadget]

7. Don't forget the first person accounts by

Reuter's journalists. http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=495

>NBC newsman who was with them were arrested last Jan. 2 by soldiers in the 82nd Airborne Division as they were filming the aftermath of the downing of an American helicopter. The Iraqi staffers say they were handcuffed as one in a press jacket shouted, "Reuters, Reuters, journalist, journalist," in English and were then carted off to the Forward Operating Base Volturno Army camp in a Humvee. (Two of them had active press credentials and a third, whose card had expired, had one waiting for him when he returned to Baghdad.)

The men claim that at Volturno, they were subjected to three days of mental and physical abuse. This included beatings, sexual humiliation, and sleep deprivation. <

>A defense attorney for one of the soldiers involved in the Abu Ghraib case wants them as witnesses as proof that the military misbehavior was the result of White House policy and not the work of individual soldiers.<



Edit: spelling, as usual

[Must_B_Free]

9. Just a "few more bad apples", heh, er, uh

just 'blowin' off a little steam' with some innocent fraternity-style pranks...

Come on - it's not like the terrorists are real men or something, why, they don't even count as human...

Do they?

[Supersedeas]

24. we are not to speak of the apples--Peterson, more Peterson

a seed planted in the US Media freezer.

[sattahipdeep]

10. Reverse of the way the muslims believe........yes?

we r the infidels?

The other side sees us as infidels........an we see them as
sub-human...psychology....makeing the oposition something
other than human so u feel u r doing right by humiliating degradeing and torture.

[0007]

11. Who gave the military guard orders? Who gave the CIA

order to interrogate? Who gave the mercenaries orders to help torture the Iraqi prisoners?

These are simple questions that Rumsfeld and junior don't want answered.

[Supersedeas]

26. does seem to be a pattern of intimidation and deception...yet the Media

would rather tackle tough issues like the parent on strike.

[maddezmom]

12. wow, the text of this article has changed quite a bit

wonder who got to the author???


BTW in the first one, there were 2 pages. Anyway...did anyone catch that MG Miller is now in charge of housing in DC and he left today, IIRC???

[maddezmom]

13. AP link still has the ref to MG Miller being reassigned

Many memos refer to Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, whose mission as head of the Guantanamo prison from October 2002 was to improve the intelligence gleaned from terror suspects. In August 2003, Miller was sent to Iraq to make recommendations on interrogation techniques to get more information out of prisoners. He was posted to Abu Ghraib in March 2004.


One FBI e-mail released by the ACLU said Miller "continued to support interrogation strategies (the FBI) not only advised against, but questioned in terms of effectiveness."


Miller left Iraq on Tuesday for a new assignment in Washington, with responsibility for Army housing and other support operations, and could not be reached for comment.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=2&u=/ap/20041208/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/prisoner_abuse

[calimary]

14. Please somebody - when does this END?

Just asking.

Again.

[ignatius 2]

16. This is intimidation that starts right at the top with our

pathologically ill commander in chief. Torture,threats,intimidation..where the hell does it stops and who has got the guts to stand up against Bush,Cheney,Rumsfeld and now Gonzales? Will congress do a damn thing but whitewash and rubberstamp this bullshit?

I heard a prisoner in this country on NPR who had been intimidated and mauled by guard dogs. Abuse and torture against war prisoners will soon if not already be accepted by a complacent American population, then the same abuse inside our own prisoners will be ignored, then of course it will be the gay and dissidents turn.

Fuck this administration, they are dragging this country into the very bowels of hell in a despicable place of hatred,violence and inhumanity.

[matt819]

18. This is like reading about organized crime

This is over the top. Surely *now* we'll see the msm take action?

Or am I dreaming?

[PurityOfEssence]

20. What do you mean "like"?

These are gangsters, pure and simple.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

19. And these assholes think we're winning the war on terrorism

[Sara Beverley]

21. And remember Rumsfeld was asked to stay on. this means to me

that Bush is totally responsible. He wouldn't shake up the line of command that actually ordered this kind of treatment.

[usregimechange]

22. kick, nt

[maddezmom]

23. another kick

[ze_dscherman]

25. Kick - and a link to the ACLU report

http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=17156&c=206