Posted on 05/07/2009 1:51:44 AM PDT by Cindy
SNIPPET: "Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Dave Gaubatz, the first U.S. civilian (1811) Federal Agent deployed to Iraq in 2003. He is currently the Director of the Mapping Sharia Project and the Owner of DG Counter-terrorism Publishing..."
SNIPPET: "Below is a sampling of the results of the interrogations agents and I obtained: I have the documents, photographs, and contact information of Iraqis and U.S. personnel who were also aware. Anything I write or speak about can be verified. Simply ask VP Biden and our President to release the complete intelligence reports my team and I wrote in 2003.
1. When the members of the 507th were ambushed in Nasiriyah, Iraq, Private Jessica Lynch was initially taken to an Iraqi military base hospital in the Nasiriyah area (not the civilian hospital). Some of the other 507th were killed during the ambush, and others were captured and then murdered.
2. I visited the military hospital Private Lynch was held and it can be best described as 'filth'. Jessica suffered physically and psychologically at this military facility.
3. When our brave troops began bombing this Iraqi base, the Iraqis decided to move Private Lynch to the Nasiriyah civilian hospital. The leaders of the Baath Party were using the basement of the hospital and its many tunnels as sanctuary.
4. Jessica Lynch was drugged, tied up, and placed under the stretcher in a Red Crescent vehicle. The Director of the Red Crescent was a senior member of the Baath Party and was allowing the use of ambulances to transport weapons and Saddam supporters (military and Saddam's civilian Fedeyeen forces) throughout Iraq. Our U.S. military on the ground had been informed the 'Rules of Engagement' did not allow searching mosques, schools, or Red Crescent ambulances. U.S. military personnel died as a result of this.
5. A few days before Private Lynch was rescued, she was placed in Saddam’s civilian hospital.
6. The doctor of Jessica Lynch and a brave Iraqi lady was 'Hameeda'. She is the sister-in-law of my good friend Mohammed Odeh Al Rehaief. Mohammed is the Iraqi lawyer who had provided intelligence to U.S. forces which enabled Jessica to be rescued.
7. Jessica Lynch's hospital bed was located near a window overlooking a soccer field near the grounds of the hospital. She had been forced to watch as some of her team members were tortured, beheaded and buried.
8. One agent and I had interviewed the Saddam Hospital staff and determined the location of the dead Americans who had been killed during the 507th ambush.
9. The Director took us to a position on the soccer field and said the 507th members had been buried in front of the soccer goal posts, so the children would run over their graves while playing soccer. This was to dishonor our ‘troops’.
10. The Director informed us the 507th members had been beheaded and many had been dragged through the streets of Nasiriayh.
11. The night before Jessica Lynch was rescued; the Fedeyeen had threatened to take Jessica Lynch from her hospital bed, use a ‘Red Crescent vehicle, and go into the desert area outside of Nasiriyah. The Fedeyeen were going to bury Jessica alive in the vehicle. The doctor of Jessica was able to talk the Fedeyeen out of removing her this night. The next day our troops rescued her.
12. I wrote numerous intelligence reports pertaining to these tragedies and others. Senator Biden and many others were aware of the tortures our troops underwent, and the ‘interrogation results I and others had conducted on Enemy of Prisoners of War (EPW), and the results.
FP: Can you mention any other intelligence you were able to obtain during interrogations?
Gaubatz: I have hundreds of pages of personal notes, photographs, names, dates, locations, and yes, VP Biden was aware of intelligence we were obtaining from EPWs. He nor any politician ever asked how we were obtaining."
SNIPPET: "Gaubatz: I have never written or said anything I can’t substantiate under oath when required to do so. Will VP Biden, Pelosi or others do the same under oath?"
(Click on the article link to read the whole article.)
Gaubatz: I have never written or said anything I can’t substantiate under oath when required to do so. Will VP Biden, Pelosi or others do the same under oath? I believe it is time the American public demand they begin answering our questions; with their right hand raised, using a Bible, not the Quran. Thank you.
We need televised hearings.
NY POST.com: "'TORTURE' REGRETS CHEER OUR ENEMIES" by Adam Brodsky (SNIPPET: "Our new enemies require us to adopt new standards. But never for a moment should anyone think such changes compromise our moral standing. Self-flagellation and restraint won't make us more noble. But they might just make us more ... dead.") (Updated May 1, 2009, 4:33 am)
FRONTPAGE MAGAZINE.com: "THE BUSH 'TORTURE' LAWYERS: NO BETTER THAN TERRORISTS?" by Joseph Klein (SNIPPET: "Congress adopted this definition in a 1994 law criminalizing torture committed abroad. If Congress had wished to declare waterboarding or the other specific techniques used by the CIA to be included within the law criminalizing torture, they could have done so for the past seven years but did not. This is telling, considering Nancy Pelosi was briefed upon these techniques in detail. Like the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Torture, she is simply another in the long litany of government officials who seem to revel in their own tortuous reasoning, which invariably ends up protecting terrorists. They deserve to be ignored.") (May 5, 2009)
Experts.FOREIGN POLICY.com: "IRREPARABLE DAMAGE" by Thomas Hegghammer (SNIPPET: "Switch to the jihadi Internet forums, where thousands of radical Islamists log on every day to debate religion, politics, and the latest news from the war on terror. Last week there were debates on all kinds of topics, from swine flu to the financial crisis to the alleged capture of the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq. But there was virtually nothing about the torture memos.") (May 4, 2009, 5:10 pm)
WEEKLY STANDARD.com: "PREENING & POSTURING Throwing those who guard us while we sleep to the wolves." by William Kristol (SNIPPET: "The dark and painful chapter we have to fear is rather the one President Obama may be ushering in. This would be a chapter in which politicians preen moralistically as they throw patriotic officials, who helped keep this country safe, to the wolves, and in which national leaders posture politically while endangering the nation's security. The preening is ridiculous, even by the standards of contemporary American politics and American liberalism. Obama fatuously asserts there are no real choices in the real world, just "false choices" that he can magically resolve. He foolishly suggests that even in war we would never have to do anything disagreeable for the sake of our security. He talks baby talk to intelligence officers: "Don't be discouraged that we have to acknowledge potentially we've made some mistakes. That’s how we learn."") (May 4, 2009 Issue)
WEEKLY STANDARD.com - blog: "GOSS: OBAMA DECISION "CROSSED A RED LINE"" -Posted by Stephen F. Hayes (SNIPPET: "Porter Goss, former CIA Director and past chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, blasted the Obama administration for releasing Justice Department memos on harsh interrogation techniques. "For the first time in my experience we've crossed the red line of properly protecting our national security in order to gain partisan political advantage," Goss said in an interview.") (April 23, 2009, 1:53 pm)
CNN.com: Washington - "EX-CIA CHIEF: OBAMA RISKS NATIONAL SECURITY" (SNIPPET: "A former head of the CIA slammed President Obama on Sunday for releasing four Bush-era memos, saying the new president has compromised national security.") (Updated April 19, 2009, 7:44 p.m. EDT)
Online.WSJ.com: "THE PRESIDENT TIES HIS OWN HANDS ON TERROR The point of interrogation is intelligence, not confession." by Michael Hayden and Michael B. Mukasey (April 17, 2009)
CIA.gov: "MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR: RELEASE OF DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE OPINIONS Statement to Employees by Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Leon E. Panetta on the Release of Department of Justice Opinions" (April 16, 2009)
FOX NEWS.com: "EX-CIA CHIEF CRITICIZES RELEASE OF INTERROGATION MEMOS Former CIA Director Michael Hayden says release of the memos will give terrorists a precise guide for what to expect in a CIA interrogation if those methods are ever approved for use again" (April 16, 2009)
FOX NEWS.com: "OBAMA MAY RELEASE DETAILS OF CIA's INTERROGATION METHODS USED ON TERROR SUSPECTS" by Brit Hume (SNIPPET: "The president's decision will tell us much about him.") (April 15, 2009)
(Note: Sorry for the formatting.)
ADDING 1 link to post no. 1:
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20070424110022.pdf
Testimony of Jessica Lynch
Chairman Waxman, and distinguished members of the committee, it is an honor to be with you
today and I am grateful to have this opportunity.
I have been asked here today to address “misinformation from the battlefield.” Quite frankly, it is
something that I have been doing since I returned from Iraq. However, I want to note for the record,
I am not politically motivated in my appearance here today. I lived the war in Iraq. Today I have
family and friends still serving in Iraq. My support for our troops is unwavering.
I believe this is not a time for finger pointing. It is time for the truth, the whole truth, versus
misinformation and hype.
Because of the misinformation, people try to discount the realities of my story, including me as part
of the hype. Nothing could be further from the truth. My experiences have caused a personal
struggle of sorts for me. I was given opportunities not extended to my fellow soldiers – and
embraced those opportunities set the record straight. It is something I have done since 2003 and
something I imagine I will have to do for the rest of my life. I have answered criticisms for being
paid to tell my story. Quite frankly, the injuries I have will last a lifetime and I had a story tell, a story
that needed to be told so people would know the truth.
I want to take a minute to remind the committee of my true story. I was a soldier.
In July 2001, I enlisted in the Army with my brother. We had different reasons as to why we joined
but we both wanted to serve our country. I loved my time in the Army and I am grateful for the
opportunity to have served this nation during a time of crisis.
In 2003, I received word that my unit had been deployed. I was part of a 100-mile long convoy
going to Bagdad to support the Marines. I drove the 5-ton water buffalo truck. Our unit drove the
heaviest vehicles. The sand was thick — our vehicles just sank. It would take us hours to travel the
shortest distance. We decided to divide our convoy so the lighter vehicles could reach our target.
But then came the city of An Nasiryah and a day I will never forget.
The truck I was driving broke down. I was picked up by my roommate and best friend, Lori
Piestewa who was driving our First Sergeant Robert Dowdy. We also picked up two other soldiers
from a different unit to get them out of harms way.
As we drove through An Nasiryah, trying to get turned around to try to leave the city, the signs of
hostility were increasing with people with weapons on roof tops and the street watching our entire
group.
The vehicle I was riding in was hit by a rocket propelled grenade and slammed into the back of
another truck in the convoy. Three people in the vehicle were killed upon impact. Lori and I were
taken to a hospital where she later died and I was held for nine days. In all eleven soldiers died
that day, six others from the unit, plus two others were taken prisoner.
Following the ambush, my injuries were extensive. When I awoke in the Iraqi hospital, I was not
able to move or feel anything below my waist. I suffered a six inch gash in my head. My fourth and
fifth lumbars were overlapping causing pressure on my spine. My right humerus bone was broken.
My right foot was crushed. My left femur was shattered. The Iraqis in the hospital tried to help me
by removing the bone and replacing it with a metal rod. The rod they used was a model from the
1940s for a man and was too long. Following my rescue, the doctors in Landstuhl, Germany found
in a physical exam that I had been sexually assaulted. Today, I continue to deal with bladder,
bowel and kidney problems as a result of my injuries. My left leg still has no feeling from the knee
down and I am required to wear a brace so that I can stand and walk.
When I awoke, I did not know where I was. I could not move, or fight or call for help. The nurses at
the hospital tried to soothe me and tried unsuccessfully at one point to return me to American
troops.
Then on April 1, while various units created diversions around Nasiryah, a group came to the
hospital to rescue me. I could hear them speaking in English but I was still very afraid. Then a
soldier came into my room, he tore the American flag from his uniform and pressed into my hand
and he told me, “We’re American soldiers and we’re here to take you home.” As I held his hand, I
told him, “yes, I am an American soldier too.”
When I remember those difficult days, I remember the fear. I remember the strength. I remember
the hand of a fellow American soldier reassuring me that I was ok now.
At the same time, tales of great heroism were being told. My parent’s home in Wirt County was
under siege of the media all repeating the story of the little girl Rambo from the hills who went
down fighting.
It was not true.
I have repeatedly said, when asked, that if the stories about me helped inspire our troops and rally
a nation, then perhaps there was some good. However, I am still confused as to why they chose to
lie and tried to make me a legend when the real heroics of my fellow soldiers that day were, in fact,
legendary. People like Lori Piestewa and First Sergeant Dowdy who picked up fellow soldiers in
harms way. Or people like Patrick Miller and Sergeant Donald Walters who actually fought until
the very end.
The bottom line is the American people are capable of determining their own ideals for heroes and
they don’t need to be told elaborate tales.
My hero is my brother Greg who continues to serve this country today. My hero is my friend Lori
who died in Iraq but set an example for a generation of Hopi and Native American women and little
girls everywhere about the important contributions just one soldier can make in the fight for
freedom. My hero is every American who says, my country needs me and answers the call to fight.
I had the good fortune and opportunity to come home and I told the truth. Many other soldiers, like
Pat Tillman, do not have the opportunity.
The truth of war is not always easy to hear but it always more heroic than the hype.
Thank you so much for this and the other links you have.
You’re welcome Katarina.
This is a difficult subject, I know.
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