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Breaking News: Rumsfeld ordered prison torture to take place
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| DaveSZ |
http://newyorker.com/fact/content/?040524fa_fact
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THE GRAY ZONE
by SEYMOUR M. HERSH
How a secret Pentagon program came to Abu Ghraib.
Issue of 2004-05-24
Posted 2004-05-15
The roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie not in the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists but in a decision, approved last year by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to expand a highly secret operation, which had been focussed on the hunt for Al Qaeda, to the interrogation of prisoners in Iraq. Rumsfeld�s decision embittered the American intelligence community, damaged the effectiveness of �lite combat units, and hurt America�s prospects in the war on terror.
According to interviews with several past and present American intelligence officials, the Pentagon�s operation, known inside the intelligence community by several code words, including Copper Green, encouraged physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners in an effort to generate more intelligence about the growing insurgency in Iraq. A senior C.I.A. official, in confirming the details of this account last week, said that the operation stemmed from Rumsfeld�s long-standing desire to wrest control of America�s clandestine and paramilitary operations from the C.I.A.
Rumsfeld, during appearances last week before Congress to testify about Abu Ghraib, was precluded by law from explicitly mentioning highly secret matters in an unclassified session. But he conveyed the message that he was telling the public all that he knew about the story. He said, �Any suggestion that there is not a full, deep awareness of what has happened, and the damage it has done, I think, would be a misunderstanding.� The senior C.I.A. official, asked about Rumsfeld�s testimony and that of Stephen Cambone, his Under-Secretary for Intelligence, said, �Some people think you can b******t anyone.�
The Abu Ghraib story began, in a sense, just weeks after the September 11, 2001, attacks, with the American bombing of Afghanistan. Almost from the start, the Administration�s search for Al Qaeda members in the war zone, and its worldwide search for terrorists, came up against major command-and-control problems. For example, combat forces that had Al Qaeda targets in sight had to obtain legal clearance before firing on them. On October 7th, the night the bombing began, an unmanned Predator aircraft tracked an automobile convoy that, American intelligence believed, contained Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban leader. A lawyer on duty at the United States Central Command headquarters, in Tampa, Florida, refused to authorize a strike. By the time an attack was approved, the target was out of reach. Rumsfeld was apoplectic over what he saw as a self-defeating hesitation to attack that was due to political correctness. One officer described him to me that fall as �kicking a lot of glass and breaking doors.� In November, the Washington Post reported that, as many as ten times since early October, Air Force pilots believed they�d had senior Al Qaeda and Taliban members in their sights but had been unable to act in time because of legalistic hurdles. There were similar problems throughout the world, as American Special Forces units seeking to move quickly against suspected terrorist cells were compelled to get prior approval from local American ambassadors and brief their superiors in the chain of command.
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<< �Rumsfeld�s goal was to get a capability in place to take on a high-value target�a standup group to hit quickly,� a former high-level intelligence official told me. �He got all the agencies together�the C.I.A. and the N.S.A.�to get pre-approval in place. Just say the code word and go.� The operation had across-the-board approval from Rumsfeld and from Condoleezza Rice, the national-security adviser. President Bush was informed of the existence of the program, the former intelligence official said. >>
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| DaveSZ |
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/16/i...ast/16ABUS.html
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Rumsfeld and Aide Backed Harsh Tactics, Article Says
By DAVID JOHNSTONand TIM GOLDEN
Published: May 16, 2004
WASHINGTON, May 15 � Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and one of his top aides authorized the expansion of a secret program that had permitted harsh interrogations of detained members of Al Qaeda, allowing these methods to be used against prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, according to an article in The New Yorker.
Mr. Hersh's account, to be published in the May 24 issue of the magazine, said that the expansion of the "special access program" allowed authorities in charge of Abu Ghraib to engage in degrading and sexually humiliating practices. It was posted on Saturday on The New Yorker's Web site.
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"According to interviews with several past and present American intelligence officials," Mr. Hersh wrote, "the Pentagon's operation, known inside the intelligence community by several code words, including Copper Green, encouraged physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners in an effort to generate more intelligence about the growing insurgency in Iraq."
snip
The article suggested that Mr. Rumsfeld and Mr. Cambone had, in effect, shifted the blame for the abuses away from top civilians at the Pentagon to lower-level military police guards who are facing disciplinary proceedings in military courts. |
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| PHALPAX |
| *nods* interesting.... |
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| Rodrico |
| Man, talk about your all time backfires... |
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| malek |
i really don't like the Economist...
but for once I agree with them!
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| Q5echo |
What, we're gonna put on kid gloves now? No.
We're just not gonna leave the interrogations to PFC Numbnuts or SPC bird, guys that have little or no training in EPW detention much less interrogating them.
To Rummy and the military, Abu-Graib is going to be a lessons learned, nothing more. The military does this whenever they put themselves in a new position or policy. A type commander is delegated the authority to implement a policy or position. A position or policy is implemented, during that time mistakes are made (in this case severe) in carrying out the new command. The starts to roll uphill and down. The delegating authority steps back, maybe knee jerks a little bit, brainstorms, and adjusts. Thats a nutshell. All of those things have apparently already happened, way before those pics surfaced, internally and externally.
I think the the pics needed to be seen. I'm not going to downplay the pics.
Go ahead and call me a sheep but I don't think Rumsfeld should lose his job over this. That would solve nothing.
This is only going to hurt Rumsfeld as much as the world lets it. And to me, that says a lot. |
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| Q5echo |
| quote: | Originally posted by Cal
God bless America |
thanks |
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