Posted on 04/23/2009 10:00:20 PM PDT by anniegetyourgun
WASHINGTON — The Army general who led the investigation into prisoner abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison accused the Bush administration Wednesday of committing "war crimes" and called for those responsible to be held to account. The remarks by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who's now retired, came in a new report that found that U.S. personnel tortured and abused detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, using beatings, electrical shocks, sexual humiliation and other cruel practices.
"After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes," Taguba wrote. "The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account."
Taguba, whose 2004 investigation documented chilling abuses at Abu Ghraib, is thought to be the most senior official to have accused the administration of war crimes. "The commander in chief and those under him authorized a systematic regime of torture," he wrote.
A White House spokeswoman, Kate Starr, had no comment.
Taguba didn't respond to a request for further comment relayed via a spokesman.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsobserver.com ...
Oh, BS.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/apr/23/torture-legal-opinions-senate-bush
Seems everyone is piling on....
General Sulu.
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=54030
Spokesman Cites Pentagon Cooperation in Interrogation Probe
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 22, 2009 – The Defense Department provided full cooperation during a U.S. Senate committee investigation that examined detainee-interrogation operations, a senior official said here today.
“We fully cooperated with that effort in responding to requests for interviews, as well as documents,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters.
The two-year Senate Armed Services Committee investigation centered on examining U.S. interrogation procedures for detainees captured during the war on terrorism. The committee’s report is critical of some interrogation procedures. The report was released yesterday, after a Pentagon review for declassification purposes.
The Pentagon has conducted several internal investigations into detainee interrogation operations over the years, Whitman said.
“Some of the conclusions in the Senate report are duplicate conclusions to the ones that were made by these [Pentagon] investigations,” Whitman said. “But, in those internal investigations, we have not found any policies of the department that ever permitted or condoned abusive treatment of detainees.
“Our policy has been one of treating detainees humanely,” Whitman emphasized.
However, Whitman said, when instances of improper treatment of detainees by military members were discovered, disciplinary action was taken against the perpetrators.
In fact, Whitman said, more than 400 disciplinary actions were taken against personnel found to have abused detainees, including imprisonment, bad-conduct discharges, forfeiture of pay and other punitive actions.
“The department has always taken any allegations of abuse seriously,” Whitman said. “All credible allegations of abuse have been thoroughly investigated, and when individuals have been found to be acting outside of our proscribed policies, they have been found accountable for their actions.”
Numerous internal Pentagon reviews and reports conducted over the years have examined interrogation policies and detainee procedures, Whitman said.
“We’ve had some 14 very-senior-level, comprehensive reports,” Whitman said, “which have covered not only interrogations, but also our detention operations.”
The Defense Department has worked closely with the Senate investigative committee, Whitman reiterated. More than 200 interviews, some of which were more than eight hours in duration, were facilitated between the committee’s staff and current and past Defense Department officials, he said.
“The effort to cooperate with the committee was significant,” Whitman said, noting that the Pentagon had also provided almost 200,000 pages of documents to committee staffers.
Keeping Bush in the news cycle so Obama can get a free pass to “change America”.
Let me guess, another Klinton affirmative action promotion?
Taguba...take your agenda and stuff it.
This article is so poorly written, purposely I would imagine, it’s hard to determine who said what, where and when.
It’s almost like the Left won’t be satisfied until Bush & Cheney are publicly hanged.
So even Starfleet had its perfumed princes...
Cheers!
Keeping Bush in the news cycle so Obama can get a free pass to “change America”.
That’s right, the administration wants to fast-track (ie. ram down our throats) the national health care provisions into the budget bill during the reconciliation process so folks cannot see what is planned for them. So keep the American public distracted with this issue and credit card rate caps while they change America like a mad magician!
Did MoveOn give Obama a call?
They don’t have to charge them per se, they just have to keep bringing this up. Bush’s staff will have to “lawer up”, drain their savings, have their reputations ruined by speculation or rumors, then have the accusations “dropped” when it’s runned it course.
Meanwhile, the Dems can use this for campaign contributions and free face time on the MSM.
Honestly, at this point, I’d like to see Bush and Cheney put on a show trial. Why? Because it will open the eyes of our feckless Republican politicians and maybe, just maybe, they’ll start playing hardball like our enemies do.
Isn’t cap-n-trade next on the agenda???
Well to the Banana Republic
This is what rogue regime do....
It is so disgusting...and vile...
Not even CLOSE
I doubt it - I suspect many of them would simply cower or justify such a trial...thinking it will help them get re-elected. Besides, our REAL enemies would love to see us turn on ourselves....while they plot against us.
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