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Were They a Tool to Get
Iraqi Prisoners to Talk --
Or a Bizarre Soldier Diary?
By CHRISTOPHER COOPER
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
May 7, 2004; Page A8

Who took the photos of U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners and why?

Pentagon investigators are trying to determine whether the photos were one of the tools used to wrest confessions from detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison or a more innocent action -- a macabre part of some war diary being compiled by individual soldiers.

How that inquiry turns out will determine whether the Pentagon needs to revamp the way the military gathers intelligence through interrogation -- or needs to focus on counseling and training aimed at maintaining the mental health of U.S. soldiers.

Although tales of prisoner abuse by U.S. soldiers in wars past may be nothing new, creating digital documentation of battlefield transgressions certainly is. And while the soldiers and contractors caught up in the investigation of conditions at the Abu Ghraib prison represent the most serious examples, other Americans have gotten in trouble during the war in Iraq when digital evidence of their transgression was e-mailed back home.

In a report recommending punishment for a dozen U.S. soldiers and private contractors stationed at the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad, the investigating officer, Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, relies on the evidence provided by several digital photographs, which show a variety of Iraqi prisoners, many of them naked, who were forced into a variety of sexual poses. Many of those photographs showed leering U.S. soldiers in the background, and at least one of them showed a soldier having sex with a detainee, the report says.

Gen. Taguba's report doesn't say whether he believes the case suggests widespread dysfunction or whether these were the acts of a small number of deviant individuals. But he notes the opinion of Col. Henry Nelson, an Air Force psychiatrist who reviewed the case and determined that the "horrific abuses suffered by the detainees at Abu Ghraib were wanton acts of select soldiers in an unsupervised and dangerous setting." A report in the Washington Post about 1,000 photos it reviewed says the images of the abused Iraqi prisoners and their guards were interspersed with benign shots of U.S. soldiers riding camels -- suggesting the photos may have been a bizarre personal collection.

President Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld have said they believe the abuses were an aberration.

But there is evidence to suggest that the photographs of naked Iraqi prisoners may have been intended for a darker purpose. At the time the photographs were taken, the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade controlled many parts of the prison, including those areas where the abuse took place. Attorneys for some of the military personnel accused of taking part in the abuse say they believe U.S. soldiers were ordered by military-intelligence personnel to soften up Iraqi prisoners for later interrogation. Photographs documenting the abuse, they say, may have been intended to further cow the Iraqi captives.

"These photographs, they're very obviously staged. They include simulated sex acts, and they're clearly intended for internal use," says Guy Womack, a Houston attorney who is representing Army Specialist Charles A. Graner Jr. Specialist Graner, like many of the individuals facing discipline, is a reservist in the 800th Military Police Brigade. A Pennsylvania prison guard in civilian life, Specialist Graner, 35 years old, could be facing a court martial for his role in the prison scandal; he appears to be pictured in several damning images.

Mr. Womack says he has been told that Specialist Graner and his reserve cohorts didn't make a move in the Iraqi prison without the approval of military intelligence officers. Those intelligence officers, he says, were under intense pressure from superiors in Iraq and in Washington to find evidence of weapons of mass destruction and to identify insurgents. The photographs were a tool being used to harass prisoners psychologically, Mr. Womack says. "The guards are smiling in these pictures, even though they aren't jokes," Mr. Womack says, suggesting that they are pretending to be enjoying themselves as part of the psychological pressure, rather than really enjoying themselves.

One of the disciplined soldiers is a company commander, Capt. Leo V. Merck, 32, who is in trouble for another digital snapshot taken after the prison incidents. He was relieved of command and faces a court martial after a female U.S. soldier accused him of taking digital pictures of her while she was showering. Capt. Merck, a National Guard reservist, stored the incriminating photos on an Army computer, Gen. Taguba's report says.

Marine reservist Lance Cpl. Ted J. Boudreaux, who was stationed in southern Iraq last year, also faces discipline because of a digital photograph. This one showed him with two Iraqi children, one of whom is holding a sign saying, "Cpl. Boudreaux killed my dad and th[en] he knocked up my sister." The Marines began an investigation after the photograph turned up on the Internet, drawing the ire of a Washington-based Muslim civil-rights group.

Capt. Patrick Kerr, a spokesman for the Marine Reserve, says Cpl. Boudreaux insists the photograph was doctored. The picture has been spoofed numerous times on the Web -- "I think there are like 60 different versions," Capt. Kerr said. "I've seen one where Boudreaux is standing there with two Teletubbies." The military is conducting a forensic investigation of the photo to determine what the original sign said.

Civilian contractors in the war theater also are being disciplined for transmitting digital photographs. Tami Silicio, a cargo clerk at the Kuwait International Airport, was fired from her job with Maytag Aircraft Corp. when a photograph she shot of dead U.S. soldiers being shipped home was recently reprinted in the Seattle Times newspaper.

Tehran Times, Iran
U.S.-Style Democracy Comes to Abu Ghraib

Did the White House and Pentagon allow the dissemination of these photos, which have served to increase animosity toward U.S. soldiers in Iraq, as part of a larger plan? ... In one word, yes, since there were definitely ulterior motives behind this propaganda move. ... In fact, it seems that Hollywood directors and White House officials have both played a significant role in arranging these tragicomic scenes. The U.S. intention is obvious. At any rate, the people of Iraq believe that the U.S. is trying to foster sympathy for the prisoners, who are mostly elements from the former Baath regime, so that Iraqis will not feel inclined to retaliate against them after they are released.

I just know heard, but didn't catch who said it, that the photos were NOT taken from the US military, that they were from PORN films from the ME and that in some you can say the so-called prisoners smiling thru their S&M, farfetched?

Specialist Graner, 35 years old, could be facing a court martial for his role in the prison scandal; he appears to be pictured in several damning images.

Could have sworn I just heard Graner is FIVE MONTHS PREGANANT WITH CHILD?!

We seriously need to do research on Taguba and also General Kimmeth (sp) who notified the media! While we are at it lets ask Floridians to vote out Meek!

Let's make the Hilliary Connection TM'ers!
Connect the dots! Help?

Major General Antonio M. Taguba

Deputy Commanding General for Support
Third U.S. Army
U.S. Army Forces Central Command (USARCENT)
Coalition Forces Land Component Command (CFLCC)

Major General Antonio M. Taguba is currently serving as the Deputy Commanding General (Support), Third U.S. Army, U.S. Army Forces Central Command and Coalition Forces Land Component Command. Prior to this assignment, he served as the Acting Director of the Army Staff, Headquarters, Department of the Army, The Pentagon.

http://www.arcent.army.mil/welcome/dcg_support.asp

U.S. Army report on Iraqi prisoner abuse
Complete text of Article 15-6 Investigation of the 800th
Military Police Brigade by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4894001

Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, acting director of the Army Staff, Washington, D.C., to deputy commanding general for Support, Third U.S. Army, Fort McPherson, Ga., with a report date to be determined.

http://east.defenselink.mil/releases/2003/b04182003_bt259-03.html

Army appoints its second Fil-Am general

http://www.asianweek.com/080197/news.html

Taguba Yahoo Searchhttp://search.yahoo.com/search?p=maj+gen+antonio+taguba&ei=UTF-8&fr=fp-tab-web-t&n=20&fl=0&x=wrt

http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=maj+gen+antonio+taguba&ei=UTF-8&n=20&fl=0&fr=fp-tab-web-t
________________________________________________________

Also do not know how Gen. Kimmeth spells his name, maybe its in the transcript, but he went to the press with classified photos we must find him!

Ack, found it!

Timeline on MSNBC:

March 20
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt tells reporters six military personnel have been charged with criminal offenses.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4855930/

Soldier: Role was to 'make it hell' for prisoners
Reservist tells of orders from intelligence officers
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4928006/
________________________________________________________

"There is clearly a plan on the part of outsiders to come into this country and spark civil war, breed sectarian violence and try to expose fissures in the society," U.S. military spokesman Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmet told the Times

http://www.yaleherald.com/article-p.php?Article=3036

Radio 4 interrupts a coalition spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, to score a cheap point

http://www.blacktriangle.org.uk/blog/archives/000676.html

Saturday | February 07, 2004

Who killed Dr. Mayah?
It is not clear who the "they" is so the article brings the view of Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, a spokesman for the occupation forces, to clarify:

http://www.nowarblog.org/archives/001710.html

Kimmet Faints During Briefing
There was no immediate explanation for the apparent fainting spell suffered by Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the deputy head of operations in Iraq, who delivers daily briefings to Baghdad-based journalists alongside the top U.S. coalition spokesman Dan Senor

http://intlnews.typepad.com/intlnews/2004/04/kimmet_faints_d.html

Coalition Provisional Authority Briefing
Pentagon ^ | Nov. 18, 2003 | Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, Deputy Director Operations and Dan Senor, Senior Advisor to CPA
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1024768/posts

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, Deputy Director for Coalition Operations and Dan Senor, Senior Adviser, CPA Thursday, April 1, 2004
http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2004/tr20040401-0575.html

Brig. Gen. Mark T. Kimmitt, commanding general, XVIII Airborne Corps Artillery, with duty as deputy director for operations, C-3/chief, military spokesman, Combined Joint Task Force-7, Iraq, to deputy director, plans and policy, U.S. Central Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.

http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2004/nr20040422-0640.html
Yahoo Search

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=brig+gen+mark+kimmet+&ei=UTF-8&fr=fp-tab-web-t&n=20&fl=0&x=wrt