Ex-Abu Ghraib chief blames Rumsfeld
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Tuesday 06 July 2004, 2:50 Makka Time, 23:50 GMT  

The ex-head of Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison has told a California newspaper that the US secretary of defence directly authorised Guantanamo-style interrogation tactics.

Brigadier General Janis Karpinski told the Santa Clarita-based Signal newspaper on Monday that Pentagon documents would reveal that more stringent interrogation methods were personally approved by US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld.

During inquiries into the prisoner scandal, Karpinski maintained that overseeing the treatment and interrogation of Iraqi detainees was "taken out of her hands by higher-ranking officials, acting on orders from Washington".

However, interviewed for four hours by Major General Antonio Taguba – she was heavily criticised for a lack of leadership at the prison.

Earlier accounts
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A detailed account given to Army investigators by  Karpinski in May named two other officers who appear to have been at the heart of command decisions.

She claimed Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, commander of ground forces in Iraq, and the new US prison chief, Major General Geoffrey Miller, are ultimately responsible for what happened at Abu Ghraib – including the decision to permit lethal force.

Karpinski's account appeared in the classified annex to the Army's own investigation of prisoner abuse and has been confirmed by her attorney.
   
Formally admonished over the abuse scandal, she insisted that the decision to transfer control of Abu Ghraib to "military intelligence officials" came up at a September 2003 meeting with Miller, then in charge of the infamous Guantanamo Bay prison.

Reply to criticism
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The brigadier general is now telling the Signal that methods she alleges were approved by Rumsfeld included "dogs, food deprivation and sleep deprivation".

But a spokesman for the Pentagon retorted: "Mr Rumsfeld did not approve any interrogation procedures in Iraq.  

"The Secretary of Defence was not in the approval chain for interrogation procedures, which would have remained within the purview of Central Command, headed by Gen John Abizaid," he told The Telegraph of London.

Moreover, in May, Stephen Cambone - the under-secretary of Defence for intelligence - publicly denied charges Rumsfeld had approved Guantanamo-style interrogations in Iraq.

Own goal?
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But measures taken by the government to prove its innocence may have complicated the issue.

Last month, the White House took the unusual step of releasing hundreds of internal documents and debates concerning interrogation procedures at Guantanamo.

Extreme interrogation techniques at the camp, it was revealed, now require the explicit approval Rumsfeld.

The Bush administration insists, however, that the notorious abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib was an aberration on the part of a handful of rogue soldiers.

A Pentagon spokesman said that all relevant documents on interrogation techniques in Iraq would be made public but could not say when.

Suspension
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In the meantime, Karpinski has been suspended from duty pending ongoing investigations into abuse of prisoners at the Baghdad prison.  

In a recent interview with the BBC, she complained of being turned into a scapegoat for the scandal, arguing that the running of the prison was taken out of her hands.

Karpinski, who was responsible for military police guarding all Iraqi jails at the time prisoners were abused by US troops there, also told the BBC she met what she thought was an Israeli specialist at a Baghdad interrogation centre.
   
"He was clearly from the Middle East and he said: 'Well, I do some of the interrogation here and of course I speak Arabic, but I'm not an Arab. I'm from Israel'," she said.

"My initial reaction was to laugh because I thought maybe he was joking, and I realised he was serious," said Karpinski who has been suspended from her command for failings at Abu Ghraib but has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

The Israeli government denied that any of its security personnel had been active in Iraq.

Related Story:
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http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A2551A26-815D-4596-AB2B-93E134B4FF25.htm

I mean really, after the godless atrocities that have been committed by warring factions/countries over the last 1500 years? Panties on their heads, naked & piled up, a doggie barking in your face? Being humiliated by a girlie?

Does any of this match the Battan Death March or the current and PREVIOUS beheadings of American civilians (Daniel Pearl)in the Mid-East? Or the abuse and/or execution of American soldiers (and civilians) by the French, English, Mexicans, North Koreans, Chinese, Japanese and each other (civil war) et al over the last 200 years?  Hell no, it doesn't even compare.  These motherfuckers were humiliated!  

 Oh No! They've put a tampon in Ali babba's mouth and put lipstick on his face to make him look like a fool!  Oh, please great allah, strike down the infidels who stole Ali Babba's self esteem!!

 No sir, Abu Gahraib or however the phuck it is spelled was nothing more that an opportunity for our enemies around the world (and those at home)to knock us around a little bit more.

Is America a great country because we adhere to higher standards?  

Can a people who adhere to higher standards still win?

Now that is some clear thinking!  StartingThiking must be Teddy Kennedy.

I suspect that he was subjected to something a bit more serious than having underware put on his head.  Even YOUR underware would probably not have killed the guy.

ourselves to".

Take pride that America has high standards.  It is one of the things that makes our country great.

As I understand it, CIA contractors worked around her and over her head.  They took the pics to prove they were doing the job as ordered.  Then somebody with a conscience leaked them to the press...  

No comment on our (your?) enemies at home.  

/Zin

And that's the only one that we KNOW about, because there were witnesses who talked.  As pointed out by another poster, many other folks died at Abu Ghraib, of causes that have not been fully disclosed.

. . . The effort to determine what happened at Abu Ghraib has evolved into a sprawling set of related investigations, some of them hastily put together, including inquiries into "TWENTY-FIVE" (25) suspicious deaths. Investigators have become increasingly concerned with the role played not only by military and intelligence officials but also by C.I.A. agents and private-contract employees . . .


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Just because you don't know what's going on Bribite, doesn't mean that others hide from trying to find out the facts, maybe you should try it some time.