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Press Release Source: Newsweek NEWSWEEK: Report on Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal Expected to Blame Systemic Failures at the Pentagon Sunday August 1, 10:38 am ET Rumsfeld's Office May Be Rebuked for Not Setting Clear Interrogation Rules NEW YORK, Aug. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The panel that has been investigating the Abu Ghraib prison scandal is leaning toward the view that failures of command and control at the Pentagon helped create the climate in which the abuses occurred, Newsweek reports in the current issue. The four-member commission's report is still being drafted and its final conclusions are not yet definite. But, as...

The American general who headed the U.S. military prison at Abu Ghraib personally witnessed abuses there, an Iraqi man alleged in a federal lawsuit protesting his treatment. In a videotaped deposition from Iraq played yesterday, Saddam "Sam" Saleh Aboud said he endured beatings at the prison. During one session, he said, his hood was removed and he saw Army Brig. Gen. Janis L. Karpinski. Aboud identified Karpinski in a news magazine photograph that his lawyer, Michael Hourigan, showed him. "He was adamant that there was an occasion when he was being tortured, in Tier 1A, when she was present and...

-- Sgt. Jeff Hayford, who is serving in Iraq, says he may voluntarily return to the prison because it is short-handed. By David Panian -- Daily Telegram Staff Writer BASRA, Iraq -- An Adrian man serving as a military police officer in Iraq may soon return to the Abu Ghraib prison, his primary assignment when his unit arrived in Iraq about eight months ago. Sgt. Jeff Hayford is serving with the 428th Military Police Co. of the U.S. Army Reserve based in South Bend, Ind. His regular unit is the 303rd Military Police Co. in Jackson, but he volunteered to...

Abu Ghraib, WhitewashedPublished: July 24, 2004 week ago, John Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was satisfied that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was keeping his promise to leave no stone unturned to investigate the atrocities of Abu Ghraib prison. A newly released report by the Army's inspector general shows that Mr. Rumsfeld's team may be turning over stones, but it's not looking under them. The authors of this 300-page whitewash say they found no "systemic" problem - even though there were 94 documented cases of prisoner abuse, including some 40 deaths, 20 of them homicides; even...

July 23, 2004IRAQ PRISON SCANDALArmy Report Says Flaws in Detention Didn't Cause AbuseBy ERIC SCHMITT ASHINGTON, July 22 - A new Army report concludes that military detention operations in Iraq and Afghanistan suffered from poor training, haphazard organization and outmoded policies, but that those flaws did not directly contribute to the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison. The report, by Lt. Gen. Paul T. Mikolashek, the Army inspector general, differs from conclusions in an earlier inquiry by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, an inquiry that uncovered abuses in what became a major scandal over American military treatment of prisoners in Iraq. Unlike...

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — When Rodrico Harp was sentenced to seven years at hard labor for his part in the infamous abduction and rape of an Okinawa schoolgirl in 1995, he never thought he’d be assembling cell phones or making auto parts. That’s what he claims “hard labor” meant at Kurihama, the Japanese prison near Yokosuka where most American servicemen convicted in Japanese courts wind up. “I made parts for Mazdas and Nissans,” Harp said during a telephone interview from his home in Griffin, Ga. “You had no choice. If you refused to work, they put you in what we...

Could the abuses at Abu Ghraib launch a renewed commitment to feminism? Women who've fought for equal opportunity answer the call

A TWO-DAY photography exhibition under the theme American Freedom to Hell opened yesterday at Al Jazeera Theatre, Arad. It featured around 50 photographs collected from news agencies showing various atrocities committed in Iraq. The exhibition, organised by National Committee in Support of the Iraqi People, was part of the activities marking the theatre's 30th anniversary. It aims at creating popular support to end the suffering of the Iraqi people. Visitors were also asked to sign an Iraqi flag, which will be sent to United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan, calling for an end to atrocities in Iraq. Coupons were also sold...

The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com New Abu Ghraib hearings to openBy Guy TaylorTHE WASHINGTON TIMESPublished July 16, 2004 More hearings will be held involving high-level officials from the former U.S. administration in Iraq regarding prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib, the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee said yesterday.     Sen. John W. Warner, Virginia Republican, said he hoped to open a hearing as early as next week -- before the Senate goes on recess -- with testimony from L. Paul Bremer, the former head of the U.S. occupation in Iraq.     Mr. Warner said there was no confirmation yet that Mr. Bremer would...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 7/13/04 - Baghdad, Tel Aviv, Kashmir, Tripoli, Lebanon, Wana, South Waziristan, Abu Ghraib BREAKING: Baghdad, Iraq - Islamic terrorism against Christians BREAKING: Tel Aviv Israel - Islamic terrorism against Jews BREAKING: Kashmir - Islamic terrorism against Indians BREAKING: Tripoli, Lebanon - Street battle involving family of US Marine Hassoun BREAKING: Wana, South Waziristan, - Search operation for foreign terrorists BREAKING: Abu Ghraib, Iraq - the 'hard site' QFN ==== YE OLDE QUAGMIRE-FREE NEWS Exclusive to FReerepublic PICTURES YOU MAY NEVER SEE IN THE GENERAL MEDIA ========= Baghdad ========= In Baghdad, Iraq, Christians...

ONE American serviceman's family got some relief yesterday — even as an other's agony dragged on. Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun showed up at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, after having disappeared from a Marine base near Falluja... <--SNIP--> No such luck for the family of Pfc. Keith "Matt" Maupin. For them, the horror of not knowing just keeps building.... <--SNIP--> Meanwhile, an American media obsessed with the events at Abu Ghraib can't seem to summon outrage over the calculated cruelty inflicted on Maupin's loved ones by his Islamist captors. The Geneva Conventions? Not for Pfc. Maupin. Such is to...

Santa Clarita (CA) Signal July 2, 2004 Karpinski: Rumsfeld OK’d Methods By Leon Worden, City Editor The former head of the U.S. prison system in Iraq told The Signal this week that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld personally authorized the same types of coercive interrogation methods for detainees at Abu Ghraib that he approved for use on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. The Pentagon denied the assertion Thursday. Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, head of detention operations during the period of Iraqi prisoner abuse, made the claim during an exclusive, two-hour “Newsmaker of the Week” interview that was conducted Tuesday. It will be...

According to information from the International Red Cross, more than a 100 children are imprisoned in Iraq, including in the infamous prison Abu Ghraib. The German TV magazine "Report" revealed that there has been abuse of children and youth by the coalition forces.

Rumsfeld gave go-ahead for Abu Ghraib tactics, says general in charge By Julian Coman in Washington (Filed: 04/07/2004) The former head of the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad has for the first time accused the American Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, of directly authorising Guantanamo Bay-style interrogation tactics. Brig-Gen Janis Karpinski, who commanded the 800th Military Police Brigade, which is at the centre of the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal, said that documents yet to be released by the Pentagon would show that Mr Rumsfeld personally approved the introduction of harsher conditions of detention in Iraq. In an interview with The...

U.S. General Says Met Israeli Interrogator in Iraq LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. general who was in charge of Baghdad's notorious Abu Ghraib prison said on Saturday she had met an Israeli interrogator in Iraq, a controversial allegation likely to irritate many in the Arab world. A U.S. military spokesman in Washington said he had no information and an Israeli official denied Israel was involved. Brigadier-General Janis Karpinski, who was responsible for military police guarding all Iraqi jails at the time prisoners were abused by U.S. troops there, told the BBC she met the Israeli at a Baghdad interrogation center....

The Bush administration's concern that anti-U.S. interests will manipulate the court appears unfounded. After all, the court can only try the most heinous crimes and only if and when the countries of those charged are unwilling or unable to try them themselves. The court's actions in its first year demonstrate that much. Its chief prosecutor rejected requests, for instance, to try British forces accused of abuses in Iraq, determining that Britain's strong judicial system can handle the litigation. But focusing only on the crimes that the court can prosecute obscures its greater value as a very basic mechanism to strengthen...

June 28th, 2004, Cute and cuddly Katie Couric and her pet sidekick, a fellow who looks like Andre Agassi and acts like Lassie, proved a point this morning. They announced the pending release of "new information" about Princess Diana. Six days of Ronald Reagan, who just weeks ago left us, was excessive to American liberal journalists. Princess Diana passed to her reward long ago and far away, and we do not yet have our fill of her? If one wishes to compare deaths, Reagan got a disease and dealt with it bravely, while Princess Diana was in a limo full...

Abu Ghraib, StonewalledPublished: June 30, 2004 hile piously declaring its determination to unearth the truth about Abu Ghraib, the Bush administration has spent nearly two months obstructing investigations by the Army and members of Congress. It has dragged out the Army's inquiry, withheld crucial government documents from a Senate committee and stonewalled senators over dozens of Red Cross reports that document the horrible mistreatment of Iraqis at American military prisons. Even last week's document dump from the White House, which included those cynical legal road maps around treaties and laws against torturing prisoners, seemed part of this stonewalling campaign....

President George W. Bush attempted today to explain a newly released White House memo outlining a controversial plan to outsource prison abuse to India. According to the memo, the White House has been actively exploring the possibility of establishing a telephone calling center in Bangalore that would harass Iraqi detainees at all hours of the night with highly annoying telemarketing inquiries. The memo details a scenario in which telemarketers from India would instruct Iraqi prisoners to remove their clothing and then would badger them with complicated offers involving their long-distance phone service. The Bangalore callers would also subject Iraqi prisoners...

Members of Congress are demanding answers to their questions about scandalous behavior photographed at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. “How could this happen?” they ask. But this is not the first time that they have been warned about personal indiscipline and inferior training in the military. Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba observed in his scathing report that military police soldiers at Abu Ghraib were weak in basic military occupational skills. How could this happen? Consider the effect of co-ed basic training, imposed on the Army in 1994. Two years later, sex scandals erupted at Aberdeen Proving Ground and basic training facilities....