Whoopdy frigging do, means nothing. Her farther earned those stars, not her...
Posted on 11/17/2007 7:26:42 AM PST by SandRat
FORT HUACHUCA — It was a meeting of polar opposites.
On one side of a conference room on this Southern Arizona post were three people who wanted to know why the Army teaches torture techniques.
On the other side were four soldiers — three officers and one chief warrant officer — who said the Army does not teach torture and does not condone such practices.
For some, the meeting, which was approved at the highest level of the Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca, may seem strange, since two of the three civilians have protested outside the fort in the past, alleging torture is taught at the Intelligence Center.
On Sunday, protesters, including all three of those who came to the meeting, will again station themselves near the post’s Main Gate, as counterprotesters supporting the installation also will gather.
Phone call starts process
Mary Burton Riseley recently called the Intelligence Center’s commander, Maj. Gen. John Custer to see if she could talk with him.
Although the general wasn’t available, the center’s chief of staff, Col. Jasey Briley, got on the phone and suggested a meeting with the commander of the battalion that trains human intelligence collectors, a field that includes interrogators, Riseley said.
“He (Briley) was very pleasant,” said the Cliff, N.M., Quaker, who attends the Gila Friends Meeting.
At the meeting, Riseley was joined by another Quaker, Meredith Little of Tucson, a member of the Pima Friends Meeting, and the Rev. Jerry Zawada, a Franciscan priest from Nevada and a supporter of the two priests arrested last year for trespassing on the fort during the protest.
The 309th Military Intelligence Battalion commander Lt. Col. Jeffrey Jennings gave the trio background on what his unit does, focusing on the human intelligence (Humint) collectors. He noted that in 2003 only 265 soldiers were trained in that discipline and four years later the number increased to 1,656.
“It grew because of the Army’s needs,” he said.
The three civilians took notes as the battalion commander went through slides showing the types of training and length of the different aspects covered in the more than 18-week course.
Legal training given
An important aspect of the training includes lawyers providing soldiers with information about what can be done legally under the Law of War, the Geneva Conventions, the Detainee Treatment Act and other agreements.
Zawada asked Jennings if everyone is treated the same and whether what he and the two women were being told wasn’t watered down.
Jennings said yes to the first question and no to the second.
But he said there is no way to deny “bad things happened” in the past.
The priest said he believes improper things are still happening and the government is covering it up.
“That affronts me,” Jennings said, adding it apparently doesn’t matter what he would tell the priest. “We’ve put in safeguards.”
When a detainee is to be questioned, documents are provided, including a medical screening to indicate any medical conditions, including small abrasions, the commander said.
When the questioning, which is video-taped, is completed, if there are any additional marks that could lead to legal problems for the interrogator, Jennings said.
And if during the questioning a supervisor thinks something may be getting out of hand, “it is immediately stopped,” Jennings aid.
Riseley spoke up, saying, “I have no reason to doubt Fort Huachuca.”
However, she said, along the way there has been a lot of wrong things done.
Riseley listed reported problems done by the CIA and Navy Seals, to which Jennings said he can only talk about the Army.
“My question is what is the Army doing?” Riseley responded.
Stress part of training
Jennings said the training is “to sensitize (soldiers to) where the left and right limits are.”
This includes raising the stress level of soldiers in training to be human intelligence collectors.
Stress is a normal part of training, but for the collectors a 10-day field training exercise where the soldiers work 20 out of 24 hours, while not replicating a deployment to a place such as Iraq, helps instructors see which soldiers may not be able to handle the stress.
Within the Army’s schools, the attrition rate for not graduating human intelligence collectors is 18 percent, which is high, Jennings said.
The reason could be academics, medical or something else for a decision to be made that “this guy or gal is not suited,” Jennings said.
If an instructor sees something that looks wrong, they must stop a training session, Jennings said. That is also true in the field when questioning is done.
“But there are still going to be people who are going to do wrong things,” he said.
It is a human problem, and the correct way to address it is to punish those who do wrong and not make a blanket accusation, he said.
“If a policeman beats the crap out of someone and he’s not trained to do that, do we indict every police officer?” Jennings asked.
If something is done improperly in the Army, it must be reported, he said.
Army investigates
“My experience is the Army investigates the crud out of everything,” Jennings said.
Riseley then brought up Pat Tillman and asked why the Army lied about his death.
While Jennings agreed it was a major error in not reporting sooner the former Arizona Cardinal football player had been killed by friendly fire, he said, “I was in Afghanistan and it was the absolute initial belief he was killed by enemy fire.”
Soldiers who have done things that are not allowed are punished, and that has happened in the Tillman case and other incidents.
“I can guarantee there have been courts martial,” said Chief Warrant Officer Mike Barber, the most senior human intelligence collector in the Army.
Riseley continued to express concern that reports of torture, such as the Abu Ghraib situation, are “not isolated but systematic.”
Jennings said that’s not true. He said improper actions aren’t allowed with a wink and a nod.
Political question
Riseley then brought up Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast, who at the time of the Abu Ghraib situation was the senior intelligence officer for land forces in Iraq.
“She has been raked over the coals,” Jennings said.
And, he said, she was the former commander of the Intelligence Center. During her tenure, during which Jennings served, she ensured that nothing improper is taught at Fort Huachuca, and the same is true about the current commander, he added.
Riseley asked what Jennings’ view would be if an American soldier who was captured by an enemy was put through the same interrogation process taught at the fort.
Without hesitation, the battalion commander it would be OK since what is taught meets all the requirements of international laws covering war and treatment of prisoners of war.
Then Zawada brought up waterboarding, saying if the Army says it can’t be done, why couldn’t the new U.S. attorney general say the same.
“That’s a political question, not a military one,” Jennings said.
War must be abolished and then there will be no torture, the priest replied.
“That’s not my place to decide. That’s political,” the battalion commander said.
Riseley’s surprise
Near the end of the almost 90-minute meeting, Riseley said that although she is now a Quaker, “I grew up in the Marine Corps until I was 17. My father was a lieutenant general.”
Saying she became active during the Vietnam peace movement, Riseley said she has always had respect for America’s armed forces and for their ability to do good things beyond combat.
As for her being part of the protest on Sunday, she told the soldiers, “Don’t take it personally.”
After the meeting, at which the Herald/Review was the only newspaper invited to attend, the two groups parted with handshakes.
For Jennings, the bottom line is that the Army trains human intelligence collectors within the law, noting the Army’s field manual concerning the training is unclassified and available to the public.
HERALD/REVIEW senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
Marines Urgent Help needed; was there a Lieutenant General Riseley during Vietnam?
If Not, we may have our first Phoney BrassHatBrat in the anti-War crowd.
Whoopdy frigging do, means nothing. Her farther earned those stars, not her...
Mary Burton Riseley, a Quaker from New Mexico, takes notes as Lt. Col. Jeff Jennings, commander of the 309th Military Intelligence Battalion, talks about the human intelligence gatherer training that is done on Fort Huachuca. Riseley and two other people met with Jennings on Thursday to ask questions and voice concerns about interrogation techniques. (Suzanne Cronn-Herald/Review)
I didn’t issue the pink badge,... Gen Custer (no not that Custer!) did and he out ranks by a far piece.
I thought something about this broad’s name sounded familiar.
http://www.peaceaware.com/documents/Riseley_page.htm
http://www.activistsandiego.org/what/riseley.html
Go to Yahoo and do a search on her name. What a ding-dong!
Thought so.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.