Posted on 07/12/2005 7:24:23 PM PDT by bayourod
WASHINGTON - A military investigation into FBI reports of prisoner abuse at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, recommended that the base's former commander be reprimanded, but a top general rejected the recommendation, according to a congressional aide familiar with the inquiry's findings.
In the latest examination of a facility that has become a battleground over the U.S. treatment of detainees from the war against terrorism, the aide said investigators recommended that Army Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller be reprimanded for failing to oversee the interrogation of a high-value detainee, which was found to have been abusive.
But Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, commander of U.S. Southern Command, instead referred the matter to the Army's inspector general, said the aide said, who described the still unreleased report on the condition of anonymity because the Pentagon has not released it.
Craddock concluded that Miller did not violate any U.S. laws or policies, the report said, according to the aide.
The investigation also found that interrogators violated the Geneva Convention and Army regulations three times at the base, the aide said. It was unclear from the aide's description whether the report specified those three instances.
The investigation also found that interrogators' behavior did not reach the level of torture or inhumane treatment, although it described instances of abuse or inappropriate actions by interrogators, according to the aide's description. These included the use of duct tape and female interrogators touching prisoners inappropriately, the aide said.
The report was the latest in a series of investigations into a facility that for critics has become a symbol of the U.S. mistreatment of prisoners it has taken in its campaign against terrorism and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Last month, President Bush left open the possibility that Guantanamo prison would be closed. But since then, he and other U.S. officials have defended the facility, with Vice President Dick Cheney telling an interviewer that the prisoners are "very well treated down there. They're living in the tropics."
Amnesty International has called the facility "the gulag of our time," a characterization that both Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld have dismissed.
There have also been repeated accusations that American personnel have mistreated the Quran, the Muslim holy book. A past Pentagon investigation found only five such instances.
The new investigation was conducted by Air Force Lt. Gen. Randall M. Schmidt and Army Brig. Gen. John T. Furlow after FBI agents' allegations of abuse at Guantanamo surfaced last year.
FBI agents at Guantanamo alleged that interrogators placed lit cigarettes in prisoners' ears and shackled them into a fetal positions for hours, forcing them to soil themselves.
Craddock, Schmidt and Furlow were set to brief the Senate Armed Services Committee on their findings on Wednesday.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the congressional aide and another U.S. official, the report found:
_ Female interrogators inappropriately touched detainees, including rubbing perfume on one and massaging another's back. Investigators documented that a woman in one case smeared what she described as menstrual blood _ it was fake _ on a prisoner, but they recommended no further action on the allegation because it happened some time ago.
_ Interrogators also threatened one high-value prisoner by saying they would go after his family. This was in violation of U.S. military law, the investigation found.
_ Military interrogators impersonated FBI and State Department agents to prisoners. This practice was stopped after the FBI complained.
_ Interrogators improperly used duct tape on a detainee. An FBI agent said a prisoner was bound on the head with duct tape, his mouth covered, because he was chanting verse from the Quran.
_ Interrogators used cold, heat, loud music and sleep deprivation on prisoners to break their will to resist interrogation. These techniques were approved at certain times at Guantanamo.
_ Chaining a detainee to the floor in a fetal position was not authorized; however, the investigation could not confirm an FBI agent's allegation that detainees were left in this positions for long periods to soil themselves.
The report said the military should review how it determines the legal status of prisoners at Guantanamo, and decide what forms of treatment and interrogation techniques will be allowed.
There are about 520 prisoners at Guantanamo, while more than 230 others have been released or transferred to the custody of their home governments. Only a few have been charged with any crime.
Those held at Guantanamo are mostly Afghans, Pakistanis and others captured after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001. They were labeled "enemy combatants," which the Bush administration decided did not give them status as prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions.
Associated Press writer Devlin Barrett contributed to this report.
With Chris Matthews and the crew's at MSNBCBSNBCNBCnnABCSPAN - yes. With us and the Red Staters - no.
F all the detaines. I say we video tape their beheadings on Arab TV.
Remember once there was a terrorist convoy spotted in either Afghanistan or Iraq, and it was fairly certain that Osama baby was in it?
If I remember right, the Rules of Engagement prohibited the field commanders from making (?) the decision to destroy them all, so it went up the chain of command all the way to DC where...
Tah Dah! an attorney prevented the approval to destroy the enemy!
Preposterous? Yeah.
But to my knowlege, the name of that idiot attorney was never revealed. Even today, I would love to know who the loser is.
There's that nameless, faceless *@($#*$)(@&$&#)@_@)@(#* FBI agent again...
Would anybody care to hazard a guess as to the party affiliation of this aide?
Yeah, that's what I think, too.
Would anybody care to lodge a complaint concerning the "inhumane and abusive" treatment Achmed is receiving at Gitmo?
I thought not.
I guess bottom line question would be: if the safety and lives of my family and my country depended on these two, would I rather have them in charge? or the prisoners they are "protecting"?
Assuming that riduculous choice were an option?
I know what my choice is. The ones with an uncompromising commitment to win!
Do you want it to?
Neither President Bush nor his administration, "decided" not to give Geneva Convention protections. The GENEVA CONVENTION DOES NOT GIVE TERRORISTS protection. Somebody read the bloody thing for the love of God! Sick of hearing this crap!!!
No country - No identifying uniform - Targets civilians = NO GENEVA CONVENTION PROTECTION.
American personnel have mistreated the Quran koran
REMOVE the damn korans - END OF PROBLEM.
BTW, I want my money back. I object to buying korans for these koranimals.
If they are still alive, there was no abuse.
Will this have legs?
HEL! NO
Note that the article references these allegations made about interrogators by FBI agents:
The new investigation was conducted by Air Force Lt. Gen. Randall M. Schmidt and Army Brig. Gen. John T. Furlow after FBI agents' allegations of abuse at Guantanamo surfaced last year. FBI agents at Guantanamo alleged that interrogators placed lit cigarettes in prisoners' ears and shackled them into a fetal positions for hours, forcing them to soil themselves.
We now know that Peter Strzok and Lisa Page were FBI sources for Devlin Barrett [a Hillary sympathizer since 2005 ] ...so were they also the "FBI agents" mentioned in the article who fed him this tale, and whether or not it was true, was their motive political rather than any real concern about human rights?
I wonder, since Feinstein brought up the detainee bleeding heart crap out of the blue not long ago.
Were either of these agents ever at Gitmo, and could they have misrepresented themselves as Gitmo insiders to the reporter in order to plant a politically charged story?
Wouldn't it be interesting if it was Lisa Page?
Note that at the bottom of the article a reporter is named as a contributor ...Devlin Barrett.
Turns out that Devlin Barrett is mentioned in Peter Strzok and Lisa Page’s lovey dovey anti-Trump emails. They used Devlin as a conduit for the political activism. Maybe they have been doing it for a very long time...as far back as 2005.
I really think this involves something else per my Gitmo source: This general’s wife was having an affair with a Marine. General confronted the Marine very publicly.
Next night, Marine was found floating dead in the bay.
As I understand from source, the “real” investigation is still ongoing. Maybe this was an attempt to cover up this murder investigation.
Source also told me that Gitmo is a “mess” that it’s in “chaos,” that there were already decisions not to transfer new prisoners in because it’s not well run.
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