Pentagon plans promotion for Sanchez

[Judi Lynn]

Oct. 14, 2004, 11:41PM

Pentagon plans promotion for Sanchez
Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon plans to promote Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, former head of military operations in Iraq, risking a confrontation with members of Congress because of the prison abuses that occurred during his tenure.

Senior Pentagon officials, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, privately have told colleagues they are determined to pin a fourth star on Sanchez, two senior defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said this week.

Rumsfeld and others recognize that the Texas native remains politically "radioactive," in the words of a third senior defense official, and would wait until after the Nov. 2 presidential election and ongoing investigations of the Abu Ghraib affair have faded before putting his name forward.
(snip)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2848578

[Judi Lynn]

1. Officer who oversaw Iraq prison may be promoted

Friday, October 15, 2004 - Page updated at 12:00 A.M.

Officer who oversaw Iraq prison may be promoted

By John Hendren
Los Angeles Times


BERND KAMMERER / AP


WASHINGTON — The Pentagon plans to promote Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, former head of military operations in Iraq, risking a confrontation with members of Congress because of the prison abuses that occurred during his tenure.
Senior Pentagon officials, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, privately have told colleagues they are determined to pin a fourth star on Sanchez, two senior defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said this week.

Rumsfeld and others recognize that Sanchez remains politically "radioactive," in the words of a third senior defense official, and would wait until after the Nov. 2 presidential election and ongoing investigations of the Abu Ghraib affair have faded before putting his name forward.

Top Pentagon strategists do not have a specific four-star job in mind for Sanchez, and the officials conceded that the appointment probably would not occur if Bush were defeated in his re-election bid by Democratic rival Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who has made his criticism of the conduct of the war a centerpiece of his campaign.
(snip/...)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002064012_sanchez15.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I could swear it looks as if there's a tin foil lining in Sanchez's helmet!


Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez has commanded the Army 5th Corps in Germany since June.

[Catfight]

2. Let me get this straight, if you are bad, you get promoted?

[mmonk]

3. That is correct

and if you're honest, demoted.

[Catfight]

4. Okay, just making sure the world is still upside down under Bush. n/t

[seemslikeadream]

5. The American Global Inquisition

By Katherine Yurica
Oct 12, 2004, 13:05

....

The Road to Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib is Paved with Pentecostal Chaplains

The Independent Panel’s final report on the abuse of prisoners at the prison camps in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo, reveals that about 300 allegations of abuse and torture were made, of these 66 have been substantiated. Eight cases of abuse occurred at Guantanamo, three in Afghanistan and 55 in Iraq. There were five cases of detainee deaths as a result of abuse by U.S. personnel during interrogations. There are 23 cases of detainee deaths still under investigation; twenty in Iraq and three in Afghanistan.<107>

On August 7, 2004 a New York Times report by Neil A. Lewis revealed that a Guantanamo inmate was mistreated in ways that may have violated the Geneva Conventions, “including having his life threatened, being beaten and being kept in prolonged isolation.” The affidavit of the prisoner, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a 34-year-old Yemeni, said he didn’t know how long he had been kept in isolation at Guantanamo, but he believed it was “at least eight months.”<108>

Make no mistake, abuse and torture occurred at Guantanamo!

A May 7, 2004 New York Times editorial pointed out, “The road to Abu Ghraib began, in some ways in 2002 at Guantanamo Bay,” since it was then that the Bush administration began building up a worldwide military detention system, “hidden from public view and from any judicial review.” Detainees were denied all normal legal protections. Seymour Hersh said Donald Rumsfeld set up his secret unit called the “Special Access Program,” converting a portion of the U.S. military into body-snatchers. They even had their own aircraft. Hersh said, “Everybody was under cover.” They still are under cover. Let’s look at how playing a double agent crept into the chaplaincy.

On November 4, 2002, Major General Geoffrey Miller was appointed Commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo. According to the independent panel’s findings, Miller brought Military Police (MP) together with Military Intelligence (MI) and called upon them to work together cooperatively.<109> “Military police were to collect passive intelligence on detainees. They became key players, serving as the eyes and ears of the cellblocks for military intelligence personnel. This collaboration helped set conditions for successful interrogation by providing the interrogator more information about the detainee-his mood, his communications with other detainees, his receptivity to particular incentives, etc. Under the single command, the relationship between MPs and MIs became an effective operating model.”<110>

Significantly, there is another branch of the military that was used by General Miller: the U.S. military chaplains.

Assemblies of God (AG) Army Reserve Chaplain (Maj.) Daniel Odean served as chaplain for the Joint Task Force, at Guantanamo. Odean said that his job focused, “Primarily on the Joint Detention Operations Group (JDOG) that consists of service members from all branches.”<111>

more
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_12647.shtml