Abu Ghraib Investigator (Taguba) Points to Pentagon

[grytpype]

Source: Washington Post

Abu Ghraib Investigator Points to Pentagon

By Josh White and Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, June 17, 2007; A07

The Army two-star general who led the first investigation into detainee abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq believes that senior defense officials were involved in directing abusive interrogation policies and said that he was forced to retire early because of his pursuit of the issue, says an article to be published tomorrow in the New Yorker magazine.

Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba said that he felt mocked and shunned by top Pentagon officials, including then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, after filing an exhaustive report on the now-notorious Abu Ghraib abuse that sparked international outrage and led to an overhaul of the U.S. interrogation and detention policies. Taguba's report examining the 800th Military Police Brigade put in plain terms what had been documented in shocking photographs.

In interviews with New Yorker reporter Seymour M. Hersh, Taguba said that he was ordered to limit his investigation to low-ranking soldiers who were photographed with the detainees and the soldiers' unit, but that it was always his sense that the abuse was ordered at higher levels. Taguba was quoted as saying that he thinks top commanders in Iraq had extensive knowledge of the aggressive interrogation techniques that mirrored those used on high-value detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and that the military police "were literally being exploited by the military interrogators."

...

"I know that my peers in the Army will be mad at me for speaking out, but the fact is that we violated the laws of land warfare in Abu Ghraib," Taguba said, according to the article. "We violated the tenets of the Geneva Convention. We violated our own principles and we violated the core of our military values. The stress of combat is not an excuse, and I believe, even today, that those civilian and military leaders responsible should be held accountable."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/16/AR2007061601074.html?nav=rss_world

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Mainstream media picking up on Sy Hersh's interview with General Taguba!

[saigon68]

1. Gangster Cheney the War Criminal responsible for torture

He loves the killing, as a coward he is more than happy to let others kill and torture

He loves the mayhem, even though as a chicken hawk he PERSONALLY dodged the draft 5 times

[daleo]

5. I bet Rummy knew too

They are both criminals. I wouldn't doubt that Bush knew.

[EFerrari]

7. It was probably his effen' idea. n/t

[BikeWriter]

2. K&R

[proud patriot]

3. why are some these bastards still covering up for Rummy

x(

[Gregorian]

4. Janis Karpinski also knows this.

She said in a recent interview I watched on LinkTV, that Major-General Geoffrey Miller wanted to "Gitmoize" Abu Ghraib.

In Taguba's 2004 report- "General Taguba's comprehensive 53-page report on prison abuse in Abu Ghraib, "a very good job" in the words of Senator McCain, stops the buck at the brigade-commander level."

That was from this link- http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FE13Aa02.html


Unfortunately I just tossed some notes I had taken from a recent documentary on General Miller. The guy makes Full Metal Jacket look like Bambi.


From another 2004 interview, Karpinsky said this about Miller, regarding Abu Ghraib-

"He came up there and told me he was going to 'Gitmoize' the detention operation." ("As Insurgency Grew, So Did Prison Abuse," Washington Post, May 9).

"Clearly someone is not telling the truth, and since all three officers were interviewed under oath, Karpinski and Pappas by Army investigator Major General Antonio Taguba, and Miller by the Senate Armed Services Committee, someone has committed perjury. My bet is that the perjurer is Miller. The evidence so far, two versus one, suggests this. If Miller did lie under oath to the Senate, this is very serious.

Tom Garner
Pensacola, Florida"

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/04/05/con04239.html

[saigon68]

8. Miller, like Gangster Cheney, is also a War Criminal

Another cowardly little man who encouraged men being led naked on leashes like dogs

[EFerrari]

6. This is a good man. K&R

[BikeWriter]

9. "Hold someone accountable today!" (My new meme.)

Spread the word, DUers!

[Rose Siding]

10. Does anyone really believe that the f'ing SEC DEF didn't LOOK at the pictures?

nyt has dirita's spin on taguba's accusation that rum "misled" congress-

snip>
He also questioned Mr. Rumsfeld’s claims that he had been unaware of the extent of the abuse and that he had not seen photographs documenting it until months after the Army began an investigation into the allegations in January 2004. General Taguba said senior Pentagon officials had been briefed on the case and given accounts of the pictures early in the investigation.

When he briefed Mr. Rumsfeld the day before a May 7, 2004 Congressional hearing, he said Mr. Rumsfeld had complained then about not having a copy of his report. But General Taguba said he had submitted copies to superiors two months earlier.

Lawrence Di Rita, a former top aide to Mr. Rumsfeld, said Mr. Rumsfeld had not viewed the photographs because he had been advised by lawyers that doing so “could materially affect the ongoing criminal investigation.” He said Mr. Rumsfeld finally looked at the pictures the day before his Congressional testimony, the same day he was briefed by General Taguba.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/washington/17ghraib.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1182055525-99Jx55Q+wloFnGtlSSXhXw

Was don as delusional as the apostles at justice, thinking it would be a one day story??!! If not, then SURELY he saw. the. pictures. Isn't ANYONE in charge?

[emilyg]

11. good. R

[1776Forever]

12. Aspartame Rumsfeld brain tumors - What's New? Video link

Sadly this is just one more little dirty "secret" that Rumsfeld has been a part of. In 1983 I was told by a nurse in a training class that worked on an aspartame "Nutrasweet" physician testing team that she wanted us all to raise our right hand and say we would never ingest this substance because she knew it would cause some major physical problems from the testing board she had been a member of.

If you didn't know about Rumsfeld part in this the following video will tell you all about it.

http://www.soundandfury.tv/pages/rumsfeld.html

The site states the following:

Aspartame was passed despite FDA scientists' disapproval by a significant force in politics: Donald Rumsfeld.

When we started the documentary, "Sweet Misery", we did not know that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was the CEO of Searle at the time aspartame was approved. Not until our first interview with Dr. Jim Bowen.

According to a G.D. Searle's salesperson, Patty WoodAllott, Donald Rumsfeld stated "he would call in all his markers and that no matter what, he would see to it that aspartame be approved this year."

This interview with consumer attorney Jim Turner reveals how Donald Rumsfeld "called in his markers" as part of Reagan's transition team in 1981. Here is why G.D. Searle felt compelled to reapply for aspartames approval one day after Reagan's inauguration.

This is despite rejection of aspartame over brain tumors.
:cry:

[Blackhatjack]

13. Taguba is krytonite to Rumsfeld .... war crimes charges now appropriate?

Take a close look at Taguba and you see a straight honest by the book 2 star general who did his job, was fired for doing it, and the one person who can likely 'expose' Rumsfeld and his flunkies for lying to Congress and helping to carry out and cover up war crimes.

Taguba deserves the medal of freedom and he gets forced into early retirement.

It kind of exemplifies how far we have fallen as a nation based on the rule of law and high moral ground....

[datadiva]

14. Rumsfeld has a lot to answer for

I just finished reading the article. Major General Taguba is a truly honorable man. What a shame that every officer in the military who acts for the good of the country is treated the way they treated this man. I only hope people realize that our most honorable men who serve their country as he did get just the opposite of what they deserve. I sincerely hope there is a hell because the whole bunch of them need to rot there.

Edited for spelling

[calteacherguy]

15. There needs to be a Congressional investigation to hold people accountable. nt

[OregonBlue]

16. And expose U.S. war crimes, I don't think this will ever happen.