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.
Hmmmm. Non-military interrogators are NOT CIA. The CIA is "paramilitary". All soldiers know that. Or should.
There is more to come, much more. You should have heard this Arab American journalist on C-Span this morning. Other photos, etc. are already are being shown in Arab newspapers. He also stated that it is systematic.
Perhaps Hackworth gave Mr. Lawson his (Hackworth's) lockbox address.
Yes, but that was my point. Was abuse systematic or picture taking? Did you see the post above and who the girl in the picture is related to. Now, that's also very bizarre.
If military intelligence ordered the prisoners to be broken down to get information from them, someone from the intelligence division or other military department should have been on duty 24 hours a day (8 hours shifts), to ensure that it didn't get out of hand or that rules weren't being broken. There should have been someone overseeing all of this, or, there should have been a camera system installed to ensure that abuses were not occurring. In the long-term disciplinary unit at the facility I worked at, there were cameras with microphones all over the place. The only place there wasn't a camera was in the staff bathrooms. I got into trouble once because I told an inmate to "stop being such a pussy."
Some relatives are charging that the pictures were posed for, for nefarious reasons as stated below.
Under the above nefarious scenario, the pictures would be posed for.
Look, either they can prove that they were command to take these pictures or they can't. And if they can't, then it will only make things worse for these six who are currently charged.
I agree that he's a McCain/Hagel clone...you left out Wussley...don't forget the "hero" of Kosovo and Rwanda. However, he knows better. If he's responsible for any of this, his lack of responsibility endangered lives, caused an internaional incident and may lose us the most important war since WWII. He's an officer. He DOES know better. Try the b@stard and let him spend the rest of his life in Leavenworth.
LOL! There's plenty of other ways of making the POW's suffer: Playing old films of Jennine Garafolo's, replaying Shirillary's screaming rants over and over again, playing Barbra Streisand records, making them watch reruns of Rosie O'Donnell's show. There's so much liberal mind-f*cking material out there, who needs to make them get naked and masterbate?
Accused Rummy of a coverup and of not telling them in advance that pictures might be broadcast. Things that make you go "HMMMMMMMMMMMM". I want to know their names. We might have to start an email campaign and a petition DEMANDING their names.
I posted excerpts and links to 3 of the briefing on post #508 above.
The only one that rang bells to me is the one from 4/20/04 and that was because I remember looking at it via tv that day and when the journalist asked Kimmitt the question, he cut her off as if he was annoyed by what she asked and I wonder at the time what that was all about.
They would have to reinstate Hackworth back on active duty to court martial him. Nice thoughts ladies & gents, something I'd like to see, but I doubt the political realities would let it happen.
That was the word my mind was searching for. I'm thinking along the same lines as you. Who are the "POWS" in the pictures? Could they not be POWs? I don't know, is showing pictures of staged abuse considered abuse?
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