cause and effect of this war and it's problems.
"JR"!
"THE WICKED WITCH" OF THE EAST!
"THE LEWINSKY AFFAIRE"
YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK!!
"THE CLEANING LADY" YEP!
Posted on 05/07/2004 11:02:41 PM PDT by saquin
CUMBERLAND, Md., May 7 — Ivan Frederick was distraught. His son, an Army reservist turned prison guard in Iraq, was under investigation earlier this year for mistreating prisoners, and photographs of the abuse were beginning to circulate among soldiers and military investigators.
So the father went to his brother-in-law, William Lawson, who was afraid that reservists like his nephew would end up taking the fall for what he considered command lapses, Mr. Lawson recounted in an interview on Friday. He knew whom to turn to: David Hackworth, a retired colonel and a muckraker who was always willing to take on the military establishment. Mr. Lawson sent an e-mail message in March to Mr. Hackworth's Web site and got a call back from an associate there in minutes, he said.
That e-mail message would put Mr. Lawson in touch with the CBS News program "60 Minutes II" and help set in motion events that led to the public disclosure of the graphic photographs and an international crisis for the Bush administration.
It is still not entirely clear who leaked the photos and how they got into the hands of a "60 Minutes II" producer. What is clear, however, is that the furor over the photos is unlikely to dissipate any time soon.
And it may only get worse.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld disclosed Friday that there were "many more photos" and videos of abuse that have not yet become public. And he acknowledged in Senate testimony that the military might have mishandled the affair by not alerting members of Congress and the public to the growing seriousness of the military's investigation into the abuses before the images became public on "60 Minutes II."
"I wish I had been able to convey to them the gravity of this before we saw it in the media," Mr. Rumsfeld said.
The irony, Mr. Lawson said, is that the public spectacle might have been avoided if the military and the federal government had been responsive to his claims that his nephew was simply following orders. Mr. Lawson said he sent letters to 17 members of Congress about the case earlier this year, with virtually no response, and that he ultimately contacted Mr. Hackworth's Web site out of frustration, leading him to cooperate with a consultant for "60 Minutes II."
"The Army had the opportunity for this not to come out, not to be on 60 Minutes," he said. "But the Army decided to prosecute those six G.I.'s because they thought me and my family were a bunch of poor, dirt people who could not do anything about it. But unfortunately, that was not the case."
Many of the incriminating photographs appear to have been taken on a digital camera by a soldier in the 372nd Military Police Company who is now facing a court-martial. From there, they appear to have circulated among military personnel in Iraq via e-mail and computer disks, and some may have found their way to family members in the United States.
But there are still numerous unresolved questions about the photographs. One is why they were taken. Some officials suggest that soldiers wanted the photographs as souvenirs, but some relatives said they believed that the photographs were going to be shown to other prisoners to pressure their cooperation.
Then there is the question of how the photographs became public.
Lt. Gen. Lance Smith, deputy commander of forces in the region, testifying Friday before Congress, said he was still unclear how that happened. "It was a surprise that it got out," General Smith said.
Military officials were aware of two disks with photographs on them that were part of continuing investigations, one in Iraq and another in Washington, he said.
"That was the limit of the pictures, and we thought we had them all," General Smith said.
Producers at "60 Minutes II" are not saying exactly how they got the photographs. But Jeff Fager, the executive producer, said, "We heard about someone who was outraged about it and thought that the public should know about it."
Digital cameras have become so ubiquitous in the military that many relatives of personnel in the 372nd and other units in Iraq said they routinely received photographs by e-mail. But the photographs were usually tourist-type photographs of smiling sons and daughters, relatives said.
Officials said that the photographs showing psychological or physical abuse numbered in the hundreds, perhaps more than 1,000, with Mr. Rumsfeld hinting Friday that more may come out.
Among some prison personnel in Iraq, the photographs were apparently an open secret. "Some soldiers in Iraq had them — I'm hearing that soldiers were showing them to everybody," Mr. Lawson said. He said he did not have the original photos and did not turn them over to anyone.
The photographs have now turned soldiers like Mr. Lawson's nephew, Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick, and Pfc. Lynndie R. England into graphic symbols of military abuse. But for Mr. Lawson, they are evidence of a complete breakdown in training and authority in the Iraqi prison system.
He shared his frustration in his March 23 e-mail message to Mr. Hackworth's Web site, writing: "We have contacted the Red Cross, Congress both parties, Bill O'Reilly and many others. Nobody wants to touch this."
Less than five weeks later, images of his nephew — interviewed on "60 Minutes II" with Mr. Lawson's help — would be shown around the world. Far from untouchable, the story would become unavoidable.
By Jackie Spinner
JOHN MOORE / AP
Inmates of the Abu Ghraib prison on the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq, listen to a sermon during evening prayers yesterday. Controversy continues over the treatment of the prisoners last year, when photos were taken showing abuse by American soldiers.
There were no rules, by her account, and little training. But the mission was clear. Spec. Sabrina Harman, a military police officer charged with abusing detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, said she was assigned to break down prisoners for interrogation.
"They would bring in one to several prisoners at a time already hooded and cuffed," Harman said by e-mail this week from Baghdad. "The job of the MP was to keep them awake, make it hell so they would talk."
Harman, one of seven military police reservists charged in the abuse of detainees at the prison, is the second of those soldiers to speak publicly about her time at Abu Ghraib, and her comments echo findings of the Army's investigation into prisoner abuse there. That probe documented the maltreatment of detainees, and found the prison was chaotically run, that there were no apparent rules governing interrogations, and that Harman's military police unit was ill-trained for the job it was asked to perform.
Sabrina Harman
Harman, 26, a Army reservist from Alexandria, Va., said members of her military police unit took direction from Army military intelligence officers, CIA operatives and from civilian contractors who conducted interrogations. She did not discuss abusive treatment of prisoners or clarify who specifically ordered such treatment, and referred questions about the charges to her lawyer, who declined to comment.
Her face is now famous as belonging to one of two soldiers posing in the widely published photograph of naked Iraqi detainees stacked in a pyramid. The picture is one of several that have inflamed the Arab world and brought condemnation from President Bush and other U.S. political and military leaders.
Harman is accused by the Army of taking photographs of that pyramid and photographing and videotaping detainees who were ordered to strip and masturbate in front of other prisoners and soldiers, according to a charge sheet obtained by The Washington Post.
She is also charged with photographing a corpse and then posing for a picture with it; striking several prisoners by jumping on them as they lay in a pile; writing "rapeist" on a prisoner's leg; and attaching wires to a prisoner's hands while he stood on a box with his head covered. She told him he would be electrocuted if he fell off the box, the documents said.
In her e-mails, Harman said detainees would be handed over to her military police unit by Army intelligence officers, CIA operatives or by the contractors. The Army investigation into Abu Ghraib said the U.S. government used employees of private companies as interrogators and interpreters along with intelligence officers. Two of the civilian contractors are under investigation in connection with the abuses.
Prisoners were stripped, searched and then "made to stand or kneel for hours," Harman said. Sometimes they were forced to stand on boxes or hold boxes or to exercise to tire them out, she said.
"The person who brought them in would set the standards on whether or not to 'be nice,' " she said. "If the prisoner was cooperating then the prisoner was able to keep his jump suit, mattress and was allowed cigarettes on request or even hot food. But if the prisoner didn't give what they wanted, it was all taken away until (military intelligence) decided. Sleep, food, clothes, mattresses, cigarettes were all privileges and were granted with information received."
She said the prison had no standard operating procedures and on Tier 1A, where suspected insurgents were held, Army intelligence officers "made the rules as they went."
Harman joined the Army as a reservist in 2001, after the Sept. 11 attacks. She was assigned to the 372nd, based in Cresaptown, Md. The company was called up for duty in February last year and deployed to Fort Lee, Va., for three months before heading to Iraq.
Harman, an assistant manager at a Virginia Papa John's Pizza before being sent to Iraq, said the company received additional training at Fort Lee, but it was for "combat support not I/R," the military term for internment and resettlement. She said she was never schooled in the Geneva conventions' requirements on prisoner treatment.
In the Army report on conditions at prison, Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba said that "soldiers were poorly prepared and untrained to conduct I/R operations prior to deployment, at the mobilization site, upon arrival in theater and throughout their mission." He found that standard operating procedures were not fully developed or "widely ignored."
The Army has launched several investigations into the abuse and has notified seven officers and sergeants that they will receive letters of reprimand or admonishment that could end their careers.
Harman is charged with conspiracy, dereliction of duty, cruelty and maltreatment, making a false statement and assault. She faces an Article 32 hearing in June, the military equivalent of a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to convene a court-martial.
In his investigation into abuse at the prison, Taguba used a portion of Harman's sworn statement to conclude that prisoners had been abused. Harman "stated ... regarding the incident where a detainee was placed on box with wires attached to his fingers, toes and penis, 'that her job was to keep detainees awake.' "
The other soldiers charged with abuse are Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick II, Sgt. Javal Davis, Cpl. Charles Graner Jr., Spec. Jeremy Sivits, Spec. Megan Ambuhl and Pfc. Lynndie England. England was charged yesterday.
Harman's mother, Robin Harman, said her daughter began to take and collect pictures as evidence of the improper conditions at Abu Ghraib shortly after she arrived there in October.
Sabrina Harman brought the photographs home to Virginia in mid-November during a two-week leave. An Army investigator showed up on Jan. 16 and took a CD of photos and Harman's laptop, her roommate said.
In February, the Army moved Harman to Camp Victory, a massive base of trailers and tents off the heavily mortared road that leads from Baghdad to the international airport. Her weapon was confiscated, but she is not in confinement. She spends her days sweeping streets and planting flowers, her family said.
"She has this ... attitude that she is going to save the world," said Robin Harman, who lives in Northern Virginia. "She got over there and got an eye-opener. You don't put unqualified kids in that situation."
According to the Washington Times, there was a bit of confusion over whether he was allowed to wear combat "V" devices with two ribbons on his daily uniform. The ribbons signified two medals that he had earned in combat although the written citations didn't specifically state that it happened in combat. Adm. Boorda talked to the Secretary of Defense, who told him to go ahead and wear the combat "V" devices on his uniform. If anybody really had a problem, they could legitimately say that there was a bit of confusion and decide if he should continue to wear the "V" devices or not. The matter is hardly something to kill yourself over. From Boorda's standpoint, his butt was covered. He had his boss's OK.
Since Boorda's suicide note was kept under wraps and never released by the military, it's pretty tough to say whether he really killed himself over that or some other personal problem. Maybe Boorda developed a chemical imbalance in his brain and the military didn't want to admit that one of their top leaders was mentally ill. Maybe there was a scandal with another woman that was going to soon ruin his career. Who knows? We'll probably never find out.
He knew whom to turn to: David Hackworth, a retired colonel and a muckraker who was always willing to take on the military establishment.
By going to 60 Min, the father and his brother-in-law have disgraced their relative by getting his picture on the front page, and he'll still be prosecuted.
Colonel David Hackworth, U.S. Army (Retired)
San Antonio, Texas, 1999
He always wears a CIB lapel pin (Combat Infantry Badge), yet he's supposedly THE most decorated soldier still living.
Now wearing the CIB lapel pin is GREAT, but why not the Distinguished Service Cross (with one Oak Leaf Cluster), or his Silver Star? Those come in lapel pins too.
I just find this odd...
If he is silent about this or ends up supporting Kerry than 'Hack' just becomes another hack.
Here's an interesting tidbit I discovered while doing a "Hackworth" search this morning. It seems as though he and Hillary were backing the same democrat for the presidential nomination:
Reporting for Duty: Wesley Clark By David H. Hackworth
With Wesley Clark joining the Democratic presidential candidates, there are enough eager bodies pointed toward the White House to make up a rifle squad. This bunch of wannabes could make things increasingly hot for Dubya – as long as they don’t blow each other away with friendly fire.
Since Clark tossed his steel pot into the inferno, I've been constantly asked, “Hack, what do you think of the general?”
For the record, I never served with Clark. But after spending three hours interviewing the man for Maxim’s November issue, I’m impressed. He is insightful, he has his act together, he understands what makes national security tick – and he thinks on his feet somewhere around Mach 3. No big surprise, since he graduated first in his class from West Point, which puts him in the super-smart set with Robert E. Lee, Douglas MacArthur and Maxwell Taylor.
Clark was so brilliant, he was whisked off to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar and didn’t get his boots into the Vietnam mud until well after his 1966 West Point class came close to achieving the academy record for the most Purple Hearts in any one war. When he finally got there, he took over a 1st Infantry Division rifle company and was badly wounded.
IMHO, these people, deemed to be 'leaders'??, deserve the shame, humilation, and harshest punishment. They should become examples of why 'An Army of One' is pure garbage.
The word 'DISCIPLINE' comes to mind.
... but what does a 22 year veteran of the US Marine Corps know?
!!!! In 1999 Hack called Clark one of the most notorious of the "Perfumed Princes" to walk the halls of the Pentagon.
I would think that our people in charge over there would have more effective, and legal, ways of getting them to talk.
Hey I resemble that remark, after 23 years in the military most of my friends don't know I was in the military.
AND yes there are those who were in for 2 or three years and are elated and brag about everything they did during that time. You would think they were in for 30 years based on some of the stories they tell you.
Enjoy the end of the world folks.
As much as I hate to agree, your words help explain this knot in my gut. Sad day for this guy...
Now they are tainted along with Rumsfeld, Bush and even FR.
BUMP
Very true.
When the liberal news media wanted to use the Wilson story as a weapon against President Bush, they were bemoaning the fact that a CIA agent who drove herself to CIA HQ in Langley everyday would be in "danger" because it was now known that she worked for the CIA.
Now, when the liberal news media wants to turn the Iraqi-prisoners-as-homoerotic-Mapplethorpe-art story as a weapon against President Bush, they have little interest in the increased danger for every servicemember serving in Iraq. The spin is now that the leak was noble deed by "a muckraker who was always willing to take on the military establishment".
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