General Suggests Abuses at Iraq Jail Were Encouraged

nytimes.com ^ | May 2, 2004 | PHILIP SHENON

[Destro]

In other words - suspected terrorist detainees were being given the third degree via psychological not physical abuse to get them to break - what went wrong is that they allowed the goobers to take snapshots (I guess intelligence was not there to supervise the goobers 24/7).

That makes sense - especially since the men were hooded - so they would not recognize their interrogators - When you see hoods on prisoners it is because they re being interrogated by intel operatives who rather not be recognized.

[Destro]

bump

[ambrose]

[ambrose]

One of the problems I saw is that guards were laughing and full of joy. They were engaging in sadistic pleasures, not going about the business of obtaining useful information via unsavory means.

[Destro]

Oh, yea - those guards in the photos were not interrogators - probably used by the interrogators to get the atmosphere going? and when the interrogators turned their backs the guards did not stop? That is the thesis this general is putting out there. There can be some truth to what she said but who knows?

[WOSG]

"what went wrong is that they allowed the goobers to take snapshots (I guess intelligence was not there to supervise the goobers 24/7)."

Aside from the depraved behavior, that's the thing that gets me, that someone took a picture of it. Not for any official reason but as an asinine joke.

Vile and *stupid*.

[Drango]

Whoever is to blame...some generals need to lose some stars. Not just for the torture mind you, but for the fact that it also got out and there are pictures of it...how stupid can you get?

[Trust but Verify]

Yikes! Put a bag over HER head! Seriously, what's sickening is a General who allows this to go on under her command and then blames others.

[Destro]

agreed- Israel for example practices shaking torture as a way to get info out of deadly terrorists. That is not a scene you want to see in pictures - was this an American version of such a thing and they got lax and allowed a relaxed atmosphere to take hold? Who knows - no excuse for the guards - If I was ordered or encouraged in that behavior by intel officers I would decline and file a report with my superior officers.

[vpintheak]

This has been the biggest boon to the leftists in a long time. This will not die down any time soon.

[Destro]

If the general is claiming this - and she may be trying to cover her ass with a lie - this will not die down for sure.

[P8riot]

every one of thes b@st@rds ought to be court martialled on 2 counts each of being stupid. First and foremost for doing it, and last for taking pictures.

[what's up]

It is shameful for this General to be speaking thru the media.

She needs to save her comments for the legal action which lies ahead. She knows the current media climate; she's giving fodder for those who are tearing down the American position.

Maybe she's a Clinton-era liberal-type General?

[Jeff Chandler]

This general should act like a professional and keep her mouth shut.

[Darryl Newhart]

Calling this "torture" is an exercise in hyperbole.

He11, I've heard of college hazings that were more 'agonizing'.

This soldiers should be drummed out of the military, but charging them with anything more than simple assault is just overkill.

[FairOpinion]

"In other words - suspected terrorist detainees were being given the third degree via psychological not physical abuse to get them to break - what went wrong is that they allowed the goobers to take snapshots (I guess intelligence was not there to supervise the goobers 24/7). "

===

YOU GOT IT!!!!

It is amazing how a vast majority of FReepers fell into the trap of the liberal media.

The reason for this type of method is because public nudity is a major humiliation in Muslim societies.

""The worst thing in Arab culture is for a man to be naked in front of another man," said Gulshen Beyatli, director of Arabs Without Borders in San Francisco."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/05/01/MNG9M6E9C51.DTL

I read somewhere, unfortunately I didn't save THAT link, that prisoners were forbidden to talk with each other, and when they did anyway, this was their punishment.

From one of the incredibly few articles, which even mention who the prisoners were:

"The US military now holds several thousand prisoners at Abu Ghraib, most of them rounded up on suspicion of carrying out attacks against US-led forces."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1098210.htm

And from another article:

"60 Minutes also quoted, however, from an e-mail which Frederick reportedly sent to his family, in which he said of Iraqi prisoners: 'We've had a very high rate with our styles of getting them to break; they usually end up breaking within hours.' "

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/10521131?source=Daily

[monkeywrench]

I'm sure there are clinton type era liberals in place. They've infiltrated everything else.

[Polybius]

Maybe she's a Clinton-era liberal-type General?

The speed at which she threw out the "I Am a Victim" Card leads me to believe that you are correct.

[Cicero]

I suspect that this general benefited from equal opportunity promotion during the clinton regime. I have news for her: it's a leader's responsibility to supervise her troops.

Also I agree. Somebody really screwed up letting pictures be taken. Some of our troops misbehaved. But I'd like to ask the liberal critics whose prisoner they would rather be, ours or Saddam's?

[LowOiL]

what's sickening is a General who allows this to go on under her command and then blames others.

BINGO ! No excuses, the buck stops here.