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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Rumsfeld tours Abu Ghraib jail |
| 2004-05-13 |
| IRAQI prisoners gave US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld a frosty reception today as he toured Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, at the centre of revelations of abuses by US troops, during a surprise visit to Iraq. Iraqi security detainees watched from behind a fence as Mr Rumsfeld toured the facility in an armoured vehicle. Some of the prisoners gestured a thumbs-down to Mr Rumsfeld, others held aloft a tattered Iraqi flag. Most stood in silence with their arms folded as they were paraded for their guest. Mr Rumsfeld had told reporters he wanted to hear from those involved in the day-to-day work of detainee operations. "We care about the detainees being treated right. We care about soldiers behaving right. We care about command systems working," he told journalists. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #7 I did this research in ten minutes. Presumably a jounalist could also do it. But that wouldn't sell newspapers. "Journalists" don't do research anymore, they just report what a "source" tells them. That's why you get lunatic-fringe groups like PETA with constant news coverage -- they're productive sources, so "journalists" don't need to work to come up with stories. Ditto for this story -- the press is running with what the defense attorneys are telling them, with no regard to its plausbility or relation to reality. That it happens to coincide with Democrat political interests just makes it that much easier to publish. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-05-13 1:29:01 PM |
| #6 IRAQI prisoners gave US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld a frosty reception today Odd. Don't most prisoners celebrate when a government official visits their prison? |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-05-13 11:06:32 AM |
| #5 Translated into civilianese it means that the 205th MI Brigade could tell the 320th MP battalion what it had to do on a day to day basis. However, the 800th MP brigade(the 320th parent unit) was still responsible for feeding, housing and disciplining it own soldiers. I believe this is one of the areas that the Taguba report says helped lead to the abuse. TACON means tactical control and is usually used in fluid tactical situations like a battle. It is not suited to long term operations. |
| Posted by: 11A5S 2004-05-13 1:54:15 PM |
#4 Here's the offical statment about the chain of command at the prison. Our military guys can probably make more sense out of it than I can.Second, I want to clarify a comment made at a previous press conference regarding the chain of command relationships for the 372nd Military Police Company in Abu Ghraib from 19 November 2003 until recently. On 19 November 2003, a fragmentary order was issued by CJTF-7 that placed the 320th MP Battalion, the parent organization of the 372nd MP Company, under the tactical control, TACON, of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade. Tactical control, or TACON, provides authority for the 205th MI Brigade to assign missions and tasks to the 320th MP Battalion. However, the 800th MP Brigade was still responsible for command oversight, leadership, discipline and training for subordinate units, of which the 372nd Military Police Company was one. While the 205th MI Brigade was given TACON for the purpose of assigning missions or tasks, its FRAGO did not change the command relationship or responsibilities within the 800th MP Brigade.CPA 5-12-2004 |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2004-05-13 1:39:25 PM |
| #3 Notice that NOT ONE of these yahoos has named ONE person that supposedly uttered the orders to abuse these prisoners. Right. It's all mysterious "MI officers" that their attorneys have said not to name. Here by the way is the TOE for a Corps level MP company. Here is what a corps level MP Company is designed to handle (also from TOE): (8) Escort of 1,900 enemy prisoners of war (EPW) when walking, 2,500 EPW when traveling by vehicle, or 3,300 EPW when traveling by train. (9) Guarding of up to 2,000 EPW in a holding area having adequate facilities. (10) Control of dismounted refugee movement of up to 150,000 per day (not including the care, shelter, or protection of the same). (11) Battlefield law and order for 75,000 nondivisional personnel or garrison law and order for 25,000 personnel. (12) Detention of 700 U.S. military prisoners. There were three such companies plus contractors at Abu Ghraib. According to this Fox News article, there were ~ 3,800 prisoners at AG when the abuses occurred. There should have been adequate boots on the ground to run such a prison. I did this research in ten minutes. Presumably a jounalist could also do it. But that wouldn't sell newspapers. |
| Posted by: 11A5S 2004-05-13 1:13:00 PM |
| #2 Notice that NOT ONE of these yahoos has named ONE person that supposedly uttered the orders to abuse these prisoners. I noticed that. I also noticed that the press doesn't seem too eager to ask for a name, either. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-05-13 12:40:47 PM |
| #1 I heard about the 60 minutes II piece last night and what a LOAD OF SHIT! Can anyone honestly believe that a commander would leave one guard in charge of 500 prisoners for TEN MONTHS! I am glad I missed that or my big screen would be broken today. The LLL news is way way out of bounds with this reporting. Also we find out today that Miss Congeniality of Abu Grab-ass prison was also the prison whore? Wonder what her story is today? Funny how the LLL news just embraces every weirdo/sicko that claims they were wronged by the government. Kind of like and escape hatch, got caught doing something wrong? No problem, blame the Bush administration for YOUR actions. Notice that NOT ONE of these yahoos has named ONE person that supposedly uttered the orders to abuse these prisoners. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2004-05-13 12:33:06 PM |