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Report Links U.S. General to Iraq Prison Abuse Case
Reuters ^ | May 23, 2004 01:07 AM ET | Staff

Posted on 05/23/2004 1:40:19 AM PDT by Anti-Bubba182

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A lawyer for a soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib abuse case said a captain at the Iraqi prison has charged that Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez was present during some unspecified "interrogations and/or allegations of the prisoner abuse," The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

Citing a recording of a military hearing obtained by the newspaper, The Post said the military lawyer, Capt. Robert Shuck, was told that Sanchez, the highest-ranking U.S. military officer in Iraq, and other senior officials were aware of what was taking place at Abu Ghraib.

Shuck is assigned to defend Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick, one of the seven U.S. soldiers, four men and three women, accused of abuses at the prison. One pleaded guilty on Wednesday and was imprisoned.

The Post reported on Saturday that Frederick had been accused by military police officers involved in the scandal of being an organizer of the abuse.

The U.S. Congress and the Pentagon are both investigating the revelations of physical and sexual abuse of Iraqi inmates at the prison outside Baghdad that have surfaced in the past month. Details of the abuse, including graphic photos and sworn depositions, have shaken the Bush administration as it attempts turn back sovereignty to the Iraqis on June 30.

The Post on Saturday published testimony of soldiers speaking of fun and sadistic pleasure in abusing prisoners. A day earlier it published new images, including video, of Iraqis being beaten and sexually humiliated.

The newspaper said Shuck made the allegation regarding Sanchez at an April 2 hearing, stating he had been told that by the company commander, Capt. Donald Reese.

"Are you saying that Captain Reese is going to testify that General Sanchez was there and saw this going on?" the military prosecutor asked, according to the transcript.

"That's what he told me," Shuck said.

A Defense Department spokesman referred questions to U.S. military officials in the Middle East. The spokesman told The Post that statements by defense lawyers or their clients should be treated with "appropriate caution." The hearing was held at Camp Victory in Baghdad, the newspaper said, and that it obtained a copy of an audio recording.

Shuck was quoted as saying, "Present during some of these happenings, it has come to my knowledge that Lieutenant General Sanchez was even present at the prison during some of these interrogations and/or allegations of the prisoner abuse by those duty (noncommissioned officers)."

The newspaper said Reese did not testify that day, instead invoking the military version of his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The Post said Reese has not been granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony.


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: iraqipow; prisonabuse; ricardosanchez; wot
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This report was also on Fox TV.
1 posted on 05/23/2004 1:40:36 AM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
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To: Anti-Bubba182

So Sanchez is 'Big Steve'?


2 posted on 05/23/2004 1:57:30 AM PDT by cgk (that's my story and i'm sticking to it)
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To: cgk
I don't think so.

Big Steve

"..As of this writing, Army Sgt. Charles A. Graner, Jr., one of the soldiers court martialed, seems to have defined his defense. His lawyer appeared on one of the many news programs last week and explained that Sgt. Graner was ordered to do the things he did by a superior, someone he could only identify as “Big Steve.” Who Big Steve was he did not know. And oddly, neither does Sgt. Graner..."

It could be that "Big Steve" is a total fabrication by Graner. Also, General Sanchez is so high profile over there that someone would recognize him if he came to the Prison.

3 posted on 05/23/2004 2:05:01 AM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
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To: Anti-Bubba182

This is very interesting. What is our leftie press hiding?

And what part did Capt. Carolyn A. Wood have in it?


4 posted on 05/23/2004 2:07:35 AM PDT by familyop (Essayons)
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To: Anti-Bubba182

I think Graner would know if Gen Sanchez was present.....sheeeesh!


5 posted on 05/23/2004 2:18:00 AM PDT by mystery-ak (*They are all Pat Tillman's*........Rush)
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To: Anti-Bubba182

The chance of LTG Sanchez going to the prison and seeing anything remotely like those photographs is infinitely small.


6 posted on 05/23/2004 2:18:32 AM PDT by claudiustg (Go Sharon! Go Bush!)
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To: familyop
'Rules of engagement'

"..On Wednesday, Pentagon officials testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee that a female Army officer identified only as "Captain Woods" drafted a set of interrogation "rules of engagement" used in Iraq. Those rules had been posted at Abu Ghraib by October, and became public during hearings into the abuses at the prison.

The list shows two sets of procedures -- those approved for all detainees and those requiring special authorization by Sanchez. Among the items requiring approval from Sanchez were techniques such as "sensory deprivation," "stress positions," "dietary manipulation," forced changes in sleep patterns, isolated confinement and the use of dogs.

Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said at a May 12 hearing that some of those techniques went "far beyond the Geneva Conventions." Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld countered that they all had been approved by Pentagon lawyers.

Wood was the head of the military intelligence unit that controlled the interrogation center at Abu Ghraib. On Friday, the New York Times reported that Wood's unit developed aggressive rules and procedures while it was stationed in Afghanistan and imported them to Iraq..."

None of the purported "Rules of engagement" involve the worst of the abuses.

7 posted on 05/23/2004 2:20:42 AM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
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To: Anti-Bubba182

So a defense lawyer (ahem) claims Gen. Sanchez witnessed the abuse at Abu Gharib. Stay tuned for another round of hearings with the General addressing these claims and diverting his attention from the war. Heaven help us.


8 posted on 05/23/2004 3:03:25 AM PDT by Quilla (God bless America, President George W. Bush, our brave troops, and Freepers everywhere.)
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To: claudiustg; All
I agree, I think his involvement in the prison had more to do his cleaning up after General Karpinski than any coverup or involvement in the abuse.

I don't know if anyone else noticed this, but the worst abuses look to have happened on Nov. 8, BEFORE the formal takeover of authority by MI. If Karpinski was running her command with any sufficient degree of competence this would not have happened. She said herself the visit were "unusual" and that Sanchez had not visited any other prison under his command.

Prison visits by general reported in hearing

...Sanchez visited the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade's operation, which encompassed Tier 1A at Abu Ghraib, at least three times in October, according to Brig. Gen. Janis L. Karpinski, who was in charge of U.S. detention facilities in Iraq as commander of the 800th Military Police Brigade. That month, the serious abuses documented in published photographs -- naked detainees shackled together, a guard posing with a prisoner on a dog leash -- began....."

In an interview yesterday, Karpinski said the number of visits by a commanding general struck her as "unusual," especially because Sanchez had not visited several of the 15 other U.S. detention facilities in Iraq.

Karpinski has said that she is being used as a scapegoat for the command failures at Abu Ghraib.

The general, a reservist from South Carolina, said she was not present during Sanchez's visits because her brigade had surrendered authority over that part of the prison to intelligence officers. She said she was alerted as a courtesy while the three-star general was planning to travel to the prison. Karpinski added that Sanchez might have visited without her knowledge after the intelligence officers were given formal authority over the entire prison on Nov. 19.

*************

Prison abuse peaked on single day

"..WASHINGTON - Many of the worst abuses that have come to light from the Abu Ghraib prison happened on a single November day amid a flare of insurgent violence in Iraq, the deaths of many U.S. soldiers and a breakdown of the American guards' command structure.

Nov. 8 was the day U.S. guards took most of the infamous photographs: soldiers mugging in front of a pile of naked, hooded Iraqis, prisoners forced to perform or simulate sex acts, a hooded prisoner in a scarecrowlike pose with wires attached to him..."

************

US officer says prison guards tried to cover up abuse of Iraqi prisoners

"..In an interview with the Washington Post, the general sought to distance herself from the prison scandal.

"The prison, and that particular cell block where the events took place, were under the control of the MI [military intelligence] command," she said.

She conceded that she "probably should have been more aggressive" about visiting the cell block, particularly after military intelligence officers went "to great lengths to try to exclude the ICRC (International Committee for the Red Cross) from access to that interrogation wing". .."

***********

An Exercise in Hypocrisy

"..Gen. Taguba had harsh words for Brig. Gen. Janet Karpinski, who was supposed to be running the prison. He scornfully recounts a four-hour interview with Karpinski where, he notes in what should be headed "the interview with the weeping general," the lady became very "emotional." Here were his allegations against Karpinski:

# Failing to ensure that MP soldiers at theater-level detention facilities throughout Iraq had appropriate SOPs for dealing with detainees and that commanders and soldiers had read, understood and would adhere to these SOPs.

# Failing to ensure that MP soldiers in the 800th MP Brigade knew, understood and adhered to the protections afforded to detainees in the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

# Making material misrepresentations to the Investigation Team as to the frequency of her visits to her subordinate commands.

# Failing to obey an order from the CFLCC commander, LTG McKiernan, regarding the withholding of disciplinary authority for Officer and Senior Noncommissioned Officer misconduct.

# Failing to take appropriate action regarding the ineffectiveness of a subordinate commander, LTC (P) Jerry Phillabaum.

# Failing to take appropriate action regarding the ineffectiveness of numerous members of her Brigade staff, including her XO, S-1, S-3 and S-4.

# Failing to properly ensure that the results and recommendations of the AARs and numerous 15-6 Investigation reports on escapes and shootings (over a period of several months) were properly disseminated to, and understood by, subordinate commanders.

# Failing to ensure and enforce basic soldier standards throughout her command.

# Failing to establish a Brigade METL.

# Failing to establish basic proficiency in assigned tasks for soldiers throughout the 800th MP Brigade.

# Failing to ensure that numerous and reported accountability lapses at detention facilities throughout Iraq were corrected.

Gen. Taguba concluded that there isn't a shred of evidence that any officer or Pentagon official above Karpinski had any responsibility for the prisoner abuse. .."

9 posted on 05/23/2004 3:04:04 AM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
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To: Anti-Bubba182
THIS BS statement from one of the defense Attorney for one of the SICKOS !

WP = IS The real enemy of the AMERICAN troops in IRAQ
10 posted on 05/23/2004 3:20:47 AM PDT by KQQL (@)
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To: Anti-Bubba182

Who cares?

I don't.

Can roto rootor think of more important issues to cover?

Will they drag this out forever?


11 posted on 05/23/2004 3:26:36 AM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: Anti-Bubba182

Great summary! This Karpinski "person" is a passive-aggressive piece of work. Whining, weeping and crying to evade responsibility. Next she'll plead PMS and disgrace all the competent women doing their jobs properly.


12 posted on 05/23/2004 3:28:21 AM PDT by lainde (Heads up...We're coming and we've got tongue blades...And panties!)
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To: Quilla
So a defense lawyer (ahem) claims Gen. Sanchez witnessed the abuse at Abu Gharib.

Not exactly, I don't think.

"Are you saying that Captain Reese is going to testify that General Sanchez was there and saw this going on?" the military prosecutor asked, according to the transcript.

"That's what he told me," Shuck said.

Can you say "weasel words"?

13 posted on 05/23/2004 3:33:09 AM PDT by maryz
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To: lainde
Thanks. She is more of a villain in this case than she will ever get blame for. She can thank her petticoats and the PC end of the military for that.

The dead giveaway on Karpinski in this case was immediately after the story broke she was all over the media covering her overstuffed behind. She appeared on TV with her attorney numerous times and claimed she didn't know from 'nuthin'.

I don't think real leaders do that.

14 posted on 05/23/2004 3:34:53 AM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
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To: nmh
"Will they drag this out forever?"

They will drag this as far as they can. This (so they think) makes "W" look bad.
Reality? I think the undecided will see it for what it is. Piling on! ! !
Remember Slick? Remember every time he got caught his poll numbers went up. I think it was the piling on factor.

15 posted on 05/23/2004 3:37:11 AM PDT by DeaconRed (Yes Virginia, There are Evil People in the world who want to destroy the USA.)
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To: lainde

Gen. Karpinski has not been behaving in a manner commensurate with her rank. Her timeline doesn't match the known events. Alcoholism perhaps?


16 posted on 05/23/2004 3:39:35 AM PDT by claudiustg (Go Sharon! Go Bush!)
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To: Anti-Bubba182

Thanks for a wonderful concise reply and timeline.


17 posted on 05/23/2004 3:45:04 AM PDT by stocksthatgoup (Polls - Proof that when the Main Stream Media wants your opinion, they will give it to you)
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To: Anti-Bubba182

How much good do you think her television appearances will do Karpinski's career as a business consultant? Any potential client who watched one of her performances would be a fool to hire her.


18 posted on 05/23/2004 3:47:44 AM PDT by Poodlebrain
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To: stocksthatgoup

Thanks.


19 posted on 05/23/2004 3:51:40 AM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
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To: Anti-Bubba182

With that star she must have figured she was in the safety zone.


20 posted on 05/23/2004 3:52:08 AM PDT by claudiustg (Go Sharon! Go Bush!)
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