| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq-Jordan |
| Some Soldiers Objected to Prisoner Treatment in Abu Ghraib |
| 2004-06-12 |
| From Yahoo News At least five soldiers objected last fall to abuses they saw at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. One demanded to be reassigned, saying the behavior he witnessed there "made me sick to my stomach." Up the chain of command, the noncommissioned officers who heard such complaints did little to stop the mistreatment, according to Army records obtained by The Associated Press. .... The military’s full-blown investigation into beatings and humiliations at Abu Ghraib began in January, after one soldier wrote an anonymous letter to superior officers about troubling photographs. That soldier, Spc. Joe Darby, came forward later to talk to Army investigators and eventually became known as the whistle-blower who uncovered the scandal. Internal Army documents show that others, too, condemned the abuse they saw at the prison, although their complaints failed to prevent further mistreatment. .... The fact that earlier complaints apparently went nowhere adds to the uncertainty over a key question in the Abu Grhaib scandal: Did superior military police or intelligence officers encourage or condone the abuses? .... Some of the six enlisted soldiers awaiting trial will try to use that command inaction as part of their defense. Since other soldiers got little response to repeated objections to abusive practices, the defense lawyers will argue, those involved in the mistreatment figured it was approved by commanders. "It’s telling that another person ... did complain to their superior officer and was told, ’There’s nothing wrong. You have to go forward’," said Mary Rose Zapor, a lawyer for Pfc. Lynndie England, one of the accused soldiers. "Had my client known she could complain, it wouldn’t have made any difference." One of the soldiers who complained most vigorously was Spc. Matthew C. Wisdom, a fellow military police soldier assigned to the Abu Ghraib cellblock where most of the worst abuses happened. .... Wisdom told investigators he witnessed some of the abuses of Nov. 8, the night prisoners were forced to masturbate and were stacked, naked, into a human pyramid. Wisdom complained to at least three sergeants in his chain of command, who agreed to remove him from the cellblock. .... Another soldier who complained was Sgt. Stephen C. Hubbard, who happened to see some of the abuse pictures on another soldier’s computer. Hubbard complained to Staff Sgt. Robert J. Elliott, who demanded proof, according to statements to Army investigators. "I threatened to go to (the) commander with info," Hubbard told investigators, saying he was upset that former Pennsylvania prison guard Spc. Charles Graner Jr. had been returned to the cellblock despite complaints about him. ... Taguba cites two others who did not go along with abuses. The report says 1st Lt. David O. Sutton stopped an abusive act and reported it to his chain of command. Taguba also hailed Master at Arms 1st Class William J. Kimbro, a Navy dog handler, for refusing to participate in abuses despite "significant pressure from the MI (military intelligence) personnel at Abu Ghraib." ... |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #11 Ricky's Rope-A-Dope Fantasy: GWB asks all the networks for prime-time air about 2 weeks or so before the election. He doesn't make much in the way of a speech...instead he just gives the public a REALLY big dump of the some of the Mukhabarat (Saddam-era intelligence) files captured in Baghdad. Think of it...the payroll with the names of certain Democrat politicos (aaahhh, there's that mental image of McDermott in front of that firing squad again), "peace movement" organizers, and - drum roll, please - influential "mainstream" journalists. No threats, no gloating. G-Dub just lays out the evidence and asks us to decide for ourselves... |
| Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) 2004-06-12 10:02:25 PM |
| #10 I'd really, REALLY like to believe it's actually rope-a-dope; but there will come a point, I fear, where the false impressions and false obsessions planted by the Dems and the media will become ineradicable. And I'm afraid that point is nigh. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2004-06-12 5:35:12 PM |
| #9 They may be doing a great job on the battlefield, but they're failing utterly on the home front. My guess is Bush is letting the media lull themselves in the sense there really is something wrong. That explains why they are trying to keep the Abu Ghraib story alive. Looking at it this way: Can you imagine Peter Jennings facial expression would be if someone asked him why he is aiding America's enemies in trying to pursue a story no American cares about? Keeping that view in mind, imagine that look in November. Classic rope a dope, and to liberals, the wish is father to the thought. Stay tuned and stay focussed. There is more fun to come. |
| Posted by: badanov 2004-06-12 5:16:35 PM |
| #8 "The administration still sits there with its self-imposed gag order, refusing to explain its policy, refute media distortion, or otherwise demonstrate much situational awareness INSIDE the US borders." For me, this is the most disturbing and disappointing aspect of the whole war effort: the administration seems willing to sit passively while the left-wing media helps the Democratic Party misinform and distract the public. They may be doing a great job on the battlefield, but they're failing utterly on the home front. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2004-06-12 4:46:25 PM |
| #7 I was thinking Sinktrap instead ;-) |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-06-12 11:01:08 AM |
| #6 I think we can put Abu Ghraib stories on page 2 from now on. At some point we'll move them from Iraq-Jordan to Home Front: Politix. |
| Posted by: Fred 2004-06-12 10:51:52 AM |
| #5 The media isn't known for being part of the fifth column left for nothing. The more they publish stories about Abu Ghraib, the more they appear to be protecting America's enemies. They are hitting bottom. They will dig. |
| Posted by: badanov 2004-06-12 7:36:46 AM |
| #4 Remember, those fanatical jihadees interned at Gitmo would destroy each and every one of us if allowed. Maybe some have learned America will never cave in to cave dwellers. Have some in the mass media forgotten we are at war? |
| Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-06-12 3:39:59 AM |
| #3 The media's attempt to extend Abu Ghraib hysteria to interrogation of AQ and Saddam freakin' Hussein is a dumb, dumb piece of overstretch. But they can't stop themselves, really, even when they know it's self-discrediting. |
| Posted by: someone 2004-06-12 2:53:45 AM |
| #2 This morning I walk into the local coffee place, and check out the paper WaPo (as I only rarely do, and only in places like that) and laugh out loud (as I usually do when looking at major newspaper headlines). Above the fold, front page, prominent top-right position, a story headlined something like "Use of Dogs to Scare Detainees Approved". I checked the date, but it wasn't a month old paper. Outside, police cars race past, escorting VIPs to the Reagan service at the National Cathedral, a few blocks away. There heading the WaPo, the 1,567th uninteresting story on Abu Ghraib -- a whole topic which probably wasn't important for 3 news cycles inside Iraq. And then it dawned on me that the Abu Ghraib idiocy has passed an unprecedented milestone: it's now officially lasted longer than the interminable Stanley Cup playoffs. The media embrace is probably because this mini-scandal was the first thing to dent public war support, so they just keep going to the well. But I think they misunderstood this (as with most things), because it wasn't the substance of the prison stuff that mattered, it was the misperception by the public that the US was losing control in Iraq as a combination of the brief April uptick in violence and the prison story as "last straw". Public support levels are creeping back up, as the sense of panic fades and the media are forced to report tiny snippets of the torrent of positive developments on military and political fronts. The administration still sits there with its self-imposed gag order, refusing to explain its policy, refute media distortion, or otherwise demonstrate much situational awareness INSIDE the US borders. The astoundingly clueless and round-heeled hawk-chickens are surely ready to go into hysterics again at the first tiny setback, helping restart the mini-panic of April. Prepare to ride out a few more idiotic "crises" that the media and the administration, in their separate ways, will make possible. |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2004-06-12 1:58:16 AM |
| #1 Well, that didn't take long...they probably haven't put the slab over the Gipper's final resting place, and now it's back to the really important news... ALL ABU GHRAIB!!!!! AAAAALLLLL THE TIIIIIIIME!!! This story's already on the |
| Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) 2004-06-12 1:17:55 AM |