Post by Yaw on May 7, 2004 19:12:12 GMT -5
Everyone's probably heard about this by now. Rumsfeld's testimony today, from the Toronto Star:
I'm angry. Obviously. Rumsfeld must be fired for allowing this to happen, then keeping it under wraps. But that's not good enough. In fact, nothing less than a criminal trial will be sufficient. The US has developed a culture of impunity, in which anyone in the service of the American military can get away with serious abuses. We saw that earlier in the Bush administration when American troops in South Korea faced no consequences for running over and killing school girls. We've also seen it historically -- how else does one explain that Henry Kissinger faces prosecution for criminal activity in every country in the world other than America?
The torture at Abu Ghraib shows precisely why we need an International Criminal Court, and why America must be a part of it. The US has shown time after time that it is unwilling or incapable of bringing criminals to justice that would embarrass the American government. If there is ever to be a de-escalation of violence in this world, America must take responsibility for the prosecution of those that commit war crimes in its name, or turn them over to someone who will. Nothing less is acceptable.
Worse to come, Rumsfeld warns
Defence secretary takes 'full responsibility' for torture
WASHINGTON (CP) - Embattled U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today he feels "terrible" about the gruesome torture of Iraqi prisoners on his watch, wants to compensate them and warned there are many more graphic photos, even videos, of abuse the world hasn't seen.
He also acknowledged he erred by failing to inform President George W. Bush, Congress and Americans of the gravity and extent of abuse at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison and elsewhere.
"To those Iraqis who were mistreated by the U.S. armed forces, I offer my deepest apology," said Rumsfeld, who testified before two congressional committees and was interrupted once by hecklers demanding he be fired.
"I take full responsibility," he told members of the House of Representatives and Senate armed services committees, many of whom were clearly angry they weren't told about a damning Pentagon report and pictures of naked Iraqis and smiling U.S. captors that horrified the world when they were published last week.
"I wish I had been able to convey the gravity of this matter before we saw it in the media," said Rumsfeld, who maintains he was hamstrung by a military criminal investigation that began in mid-January and the need to preserve the rights of the accused.
"I failed to recognize how important it was to elevate this matter to the highest levels."
Still, Rumsfeld said he won't heed calls from top Democrats for his resignation, saying he believes he can still be effective in his job.
"I would not resign simply because people try to make a political issue of it," said the secretary, who announced a panel to review what the military's doing to fix what has become a terrible liability for the United States in the world.
He did acknowledge "it's possible" stepping down would provide strong evidence of U.S. commitment to the issue and undo some of the harm.
Rumsfeld, who said he didn't see all the available photos until Thursday evening, warned there are many more violent pictures portraying "blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhuman" treatment of Iraqis by U.S. soldiers.
"Be on notice," he said.
"If these are released to the public, obviously it's going to make matters worse. It's going to get still more terrible, I'm afraid."
Digital photographs already published show naked, hooded Iraqis forced into humiliating poses or simulating sex acts. One man stands on a box covered with electric wires. Another shows a soldier holding a dog leash tied around the neck of a man lying on the floor.
Bush, whose fall re-election effort could be harmed by the scandal, began a major damage-control effort this week in an attempt to regain the moral high ground in Iraq. But despite a surprising public dig at Rumsfeld, he said the secretary is still a valuable member of cabinet.
U.S. legislators want to know who might have given prison guards directions to sexually abuse and beat Iraqis. Officials vehemently denied there were any orders from Washington.
Some have pointed to military intelligence officers who extract information from Iraqis. The internal army report said guards were told to "soften up" prisoners so they would be more co-operative during interrogations and blamed understaffing.
The defence secretary said a military study will uncover the truth and punishment will not be reserved for low-level soldiers.
"Anyone who recommended the kind of behaviour that I've seen in those photos needs to be brought to justice."
Rumsfeld and military officers described the abuse as limited. Gen. Richard Myers, head of the joint chiefs of staff, attributed the problem to six or seven soldiers who abused about 20 prisoners in one wing of the prison during late-night hours.
Yet an International Red Cross report found a systemic problem in Iraqi prisons and an official said the group warned the U.S. about prisoner abuse more than a year ago.
"We were dealing here with a broad pattern, not individual acts - there was a pattern and a system," Pierre Kraehenbuehl, director of operations for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said today in Geneva.
The report, published today by the Wall Street Journal newspaper, said prisoners were kept naked in total darkness in empty cells, male prisoners were forced to wear women's underwear and coalition forces killed some prisoners by firing on them from watchtowers.
Mistreatment was a practice "tolerated by coalition forces," said the report.
"I recall no indication" of complaints like that from aid organizations," Rumsfeld said when asked about the the report.
Still, Lt.-Gen. Lance Smith told the Senate hearing he doesn't believe the abuse was widespread.
"At this point, we don't know. When we have answers, we'll provide them."
Senate committee chairman John Warner called the scandal "as serious an issue of military misconduct as I have ever observed."
The crimes threaten U.S. relations with other countries, the conduct of the Iraq war and the safety of the U.S. armed forces around the world, said Warner.
The committee session was televised live in the United States and in the Arab world. Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, the most popular television news stations in the Middle East, showed the proceedings with simultaneous Arabic translation.
Since December 2002, there have been 35 military investigations of deaths and assaults of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. Two have already been ruled homicides.
There are 42 other potential misconduct investigations involving U.S. soldiers and civilians outside prison facilities.
So far, six military police face courts-martial and seven others not directly involved in the abuse have been reprimanded.
"This is not a training issue but one of morals and values," said Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the army chief of staff.
"This is a breakdown of discipline and a void of effective leadership."
Rumsfeld found out about the scandal in January and the military issued a news release. In March, the military announced six people faced charges.
But there was little public follow-up and the March military report was still making its way up the chain of command. Few saw the photos before they aired on the CBS program 60 Minutes II.
Myers admitted he called newscaster Dan Rather and talked him into holding off on publishing the pictures for about two weeks.
But the general denied he was trying to kill the story, saying he was worried about the safety of U.S. hostages in Iraq during a period of particularly heavy fighting.
Asked how the United States is going to reclaim its credbility: Rumsfeld was terse.
"We're not an evil society. There's nothing bad about America," he said.
"Why do people line up to get in here?"
The 1949 Geneva Conventions prohibit physical or mental torture to extract information from prisoners. Critics said a looser atmosphere was created by the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks when it enacted a law allowing a new class of prisoners not covered by the convention.
Defence secretary takes 'full responsibility' for torture
WASHINGTON (CP) - Embattled U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today he feels "terrible" about the gruesome torture of Iraqi prisoners on his watch, wants to compensate them and warned there are many more graphic photos, even videos, of abuse the world hasn't seen.
He also acknowledged he erred by failing to inform President George W. Bush, Congress and Americans of the gravity and extent of abuse at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison and elsewhere.
"To those Iraqis who were mistreated by the U.S. armed forces, I offer my deepest apology," said Rumsfeld, who testified before two congressional committees and was interrupted once by hecklers demanding he be fired.
"I take full responsibility," he told members of the House of Representatives and Senate armed services committees, many of whom were clearly angry they weren't told about a damning Pentagon report and pictures of naked Iraqis and smiling U.S. captors that horrified the world when they were published last week.
"I wish I had been able to convey the gravity of this matter before we saw it in the media," said Rumsfeld, who maintains he was hamstrung by a military criminal investigation that began in mid-January and the need to preserve the rights of the accused.
"I failed to recognize how important it was to elevate this matter to the highest levels."
Still, Rumsfeld said he won't heed calls from top Democrats for his resignation, saying he believes he can still be effective in his job.
"I would not resign simply because people try to make a political issue of it," said the secretary, who announced a panel to review what the military's doing to fix what has become a terrible liability for the United States in the world.
He did acknowledge "it's possible" stepping down would provide strong evidence of U.S. commitment to the issue and undo some of the harm.
Rumsfeld, who said he didn't see all the available photos until Thursday evening, warned there are many more violent pictures portraying "blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhuman" treatment of Iraqis by U.S. soldiers.
"Be on notice," he said.
"If these are released to the public, obviously it's going to make matters worse. It's going to get still more terrible, I'm afraid."
Digital photographs already published show naked, hooded Iraqis forced into humiliating poses or simulating sex acts. One man stands on a box covered with electric wires. Another shows a soldier holding a dog leash tied around the neck of a man lying on the floor.
Bush, whose fall re-election effort could be harmed by the scandal, began a major damage-control effort this week in an attempt to regain the moral high ground in Iraq. But despite a surprising public dig at Rumsfeld, he said the secretary is still a valuable member of cabinet.
U.S. legislators want to know who might have given prison guards directions to sexually abuse and beat Iraqis. Officials vehemently denied there were any orders from Washington.
Some have pointed to military intelligence officers who extract information from Iraqis. The internal army report said guards were told to "soften up" prisoners so they would be more co-operative during interrogations and blamed understaffing.
The defence secretary said a military study will uncover the truth and punishment will not be reserved for low-level soldiers.
"Anyone who recommended the kind of behaviour that I've seen in those photos needs to be brought to justice."
Rumsfeld and military officers described the abuse as limited. Gen. Richard Myers, head of the joint chiefs of staff, attributed the problem to six or seven soldiers who abused about 20 prisoners in one wing of the prison during late-night hours.
Yet an International Red Cross report found a systemic problem in Iraqi prisons and an official said the group warned the U.S. about prisoner abuse more than a year ago.
"We were dealing here with a broad pattern, not individual acts - there was a pattern and a system," Pierre Kraehenbuehl, director of operations for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said today in Geneva.
The report, published today by the Wall Street Journal newspaper, said prisoners were kept naked in total darkness in empty cells, male prisoners were forced to wear women's underwear and coalition forces killed some prisoners by firing on them from watchtowers.
Mistreatment was a practice "tolerated by coalition forces," said the report.
"I recall no indication" of complaints like that from aid organizations," Rumsfeld said when asked about the the report.
Still, Lt.-Gen. Lance Smith told the Senate hearing he doesn't believe the abuse was widespread.
"At this point, we don't know. When we have answers, we'll provide them."
Senate committee chairman John Warner called the scandal "as serious an issue of military misconduct as I have ever observed."
The crimes threaten U.S. relations with other countries, the conduct of the Iraq war and the safety of the U.S. armed forces around the world, said Warner.
The committee session was televised live in the United States and in the Arab world. Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, the most popular television news stations in the Middle East, showed the proceedings with simultaneous Arabic translation.
Since December 2002, there have been 35 military investigations of deaths and assaults of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. Two have already been ruled homicides.
There are 42 other potential misconduct investigations involving U.S. soldiers and civilians outside prison facilities.
So far, six military police face courts-martial and seven others not directly involved in the abuse have been reprimanded.
"This is not a training issue but one of morals and values," said Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the army chief of staff.
"This is a breakdown of discipline and a void of effective leadership."
Rumsfeld found out about the scandal in January and the military issued a news release. In March, the military announced six people faced charges.
But there was little public follow-up and the March military report was still making its way up the chain of command. Few saw the photos before they aired on the CBS program 60 Minutes II.
Myers admitted he called newscaster Dan Rather and talked him into holding off on publishing the pictures for about two weeks.
But the general denied he was trying to kill the story, saying he was worried about the safety of U.S. hostages in Iraq during a period of particularly heavy fighting.
Asked how the United States is going to reclaim its credbility: Rumsfeld was terse.
"We're not an evil society. There's nothing bad about America," he said.
"Why do people line up to get in here?"
The 1949 Geneva Conventions prohibit physical or mental torture to extract information from prisoners. Critics said a looser atmosphere was created by the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks when it enacted a law allowing a new class of prisoners not covered by the convention.
I'm angry. Obviously. Rumsfeld must be fired for allowing this to happen, then keeping it under wraps. But that's not good enough. In fact, nothing less than a criminal trial will be sufficient. The US has developed a culture of impunity, in which anyone in the service of the American military can get away with serious abuses. We saw that earlier in the Bush administration when American troops in South Korea faced no consequences for running over and killing school girls. We've also seen it historically -- how else does one explain that Henry Kissinger faces prosecution for criminal activity in every country in the world other than America?
The torture at Abu Ghraib shows precisely why we need an International Criminal Court, and why America must be a part of it. The US has shown time after time that it is unwilling or incapable of bringing criminals to justice that would embarrass the American government. If there is ever to be a de-escalation of violence in this world, America must take responsibility for the prosecution of those that commit war crimes in its name, or turn them over to someone who will. Nothing less is acceptable.