I'd fire Rumsfeld if I found out that he helped the Army cover up for the officers who should really, in this instance, go down hard.
Particularly troublesome, is the new placement of Maj. General Geoffrey Miller over the compound in Iraq. Also troubling, his statements that he will be releasing thousands of prisoners on the basis of "large integers" intended to appease the liberal media, instead of a case by case basis.
Referring to this FR page: Raw data : Pentagon Report on Abuse (posted a few days ago). Some excerpts - the actual paragraphs are separated into portions, in order to make it read a little easier:
3. On 31 January 2004, the Commander, CFLCC, appointed Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, Deputy Commanding General Support, CFLCC, to conduct this investigation.Maj. Gen. Taguba was directed to conduct an informal investigation under AR 15-6 into the 800th MP Brigade’s detention and internment operations.
Specifically, Maj. Gen. Taguba was tasked to:
a. Inquire into all the facts and circumstances surrounding recent allegations of detainee abuse, specifically allegations of maltreatment at the Abu Ghraib Prison (Baghdad Central Confinement Facility (BCCF));b. Inquire into detainee escapes and accountability lapses as reported by CJTF-7, specifically allegations concerning these events at the Abu Ghraib Prison;
c. Investigate the training, standards, employment, command policies, internal procedures, and command climate in the 800th MP Brigade, as appropriate;
d. Make specific findings of fact concerning all aspects of the investigation, and make any recommendations for corrective action, as appropriate.
6. The Investigating Team [Taguba's] also reviewed the Assessment of DoD Counter-Terrorism Interrogation and Detention Operations in Iraq conducted by Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, Commander, Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO).
[For ten days, f]rom 31 August to 9 September 2003, Maj. Gen. Miller led a team of personnel experienced in strategic interrogation to HQ, CJTF-7 and the Iraqi Survey Group (ISG) to review current Iraqi Theater ability to rapidly exploit internees for actionable intelligence.
Maj. Gen. Miller’s team focused on three areas:
- intelligence integration, synchronization, and fusion;
- interrogation operations;
- and detention operations.Maj. Gen. Miller’s team used JTF-GTMO procedures and interrogation authorities as baselines.
7. The Investigating Team [Taguba's] began its inquiry with an in-depth analysis of the Report on Detention and Corrections in Iraq, dated 5 November 2003, conducted by Maj. Gen. Ryder and a team of military police, legal, medical, and automation experts.
The CJTF-7 Commander, Lt. Gen. Sanchez, had previously requested a team of subject matter experts to assess, and make specific recommendations concerning detention and corrections operations.
From 13 October to 6 November 2003, Maj. Gen. Ryder personally led this assessment/assistance team in Iraq.
ASSESSMENT OF DoD COUNTER-TERRORISM INTERROGATION AND DETENTION OPERATIONS IN IRAQ (MG MILLER’S ASSESSMENT)
1. The principal focus of Maj. General Geoffrey Miller’s team was on the strategic interrogation of detainees/internees in Iraq.
Among its conclusions in its Executive Summary were that CJTF-7 did not have authorities and procedures in place to affect a unified strategy to detain, interrogate, and report information from detainees/internees in Iraq.
The Executive Summary also stated that detention operations must act as an enabler for interrogation.
2. With respect to interrogation, Maj. Gen. Miller’s Team recommended that CJTF-7 dedicate and train a detention guard force subordinate to the Joint Interrogation Debriefing Center (JIDC) Commander that “sets the conditions for the successful interrogation and exploitation of internees/detainees.”
Regarding Detention Operations, Maj. Gen. Miller’s team stated that the function of Detention Operations is to provide a safe, secure, and humane environment that supports the expeditious collection of intelligence.
However, it also stated “it is essential that the guard force be actively engaged in setting the conditions for successful exploitation of the internees.”
3. Maj. Gen. Miller’s team also concluded that Joint Strategic Interrogation Operations (within CJTF-7) are hampered by lack of active control of the internees within the detention environment.
The Miller Team also stated that establishment of the Theater Joint Interrogation and Detention Center (JIDC) at Abu Ghraib (BCCF) will consolidate both detention and strategic interrogation operations and result in synergy between MP and MI resources and an integrated, synchronized, and focused strategic interrogation effort.
In a volatile environment short of personnel, and short of trained personnel, the word came from the cited school of thought in the chain of command --- they blurred the lines of responsibility at the guard level, even before Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller showed up, without preparing adequately, and certainly without the proper command guidance over, and in, the situation.
There may be a few bad apple guards, but those kids for the most part, were doing what they had been given reason to believe by their commanding officers and others visiting, that setting the conditions for exploitation of the internees was their duty, in the circumstances and the context of what they had learned was going on around them.
Some of them who we have not seen in the news, tried to tell their commanders that things did not seem right, but the commanders failed them. The attempts by our troops to get the brass to wake up, have been sanctimoniously dismissed, there, and here.
What is coming, is not so much the "more photos and videos."
What is coming, is more of the stories from our troops who tried to tell the brass, not just about the prison, but all kinds of things that have been going wrong. There are a lot of these stories.
'Bout time the higher-ups listen.
There may be a few bad apple guards, but those kids for the most part, were doing what they had been given reason to believe by their commanding officers and others visiting, that setting the conditions for exploitation of the internees was their duty, in the circumstances and the context of what they had learned was going on around them.
I believe that is probably accurate, but can't help thinking back to another sorry episode in human history of the last century and wonder if America is headed down that road.
“It is thus necessary that the individual should finally come to realize that his own ego is of no importance in comparison with the existence of his nation; that the position of the individual ego is conditioned solely by the interests of the nation as a whole. . . that above all the unity of a nation’s spirit and will are worth far more than the freedom of the spirit an will of an individual . . . .”“This state of mind, which subordinates the interests of the ego to the conservation of the community, is really the first premise for every truly human culture. . . .The basic attitude from which such activity arises, we call – to distinguish it from egoism and selfishness – idealism. By this we understand only the individual’s capacity to make sacrifices for the community, for his fellow men.”
--Adolph Hitler
``There was no recommendation ever by this group[meaning Military Intelligence, I presume] ... that recommended that the military police become actively involved in the interrogation,'' Miller said.