Powell reaches out to Europe over Iraq amid new abuse scandal

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2004/December/focusoniraq_December74.xml§ion=focusoniraq

BAGHDAD - US Secretary of State Colin Powell pressed Europe to overcome its differences on the 2003 US-led invasion and rebuild Iraq, as the Pentagon revealed that elite US troops abused Iraqi prisoners with stun guns. snip

In Washington, the Pentagon revealed that four US special forces soldiers have been punished for unauthorised use of Taser electric stun guns on prisoners, after further allegations of US prisoner abuse were investigated.

Original revelations of humiliation and degradation meted out to Iraqi prisoners in US custody, which surfaced earlier this year, caused outrage across the world, not least among European opponents of the invasion.

The latest probe was conducted after Defense Intelligence Agency interrogators reported seeing prisoners with burns and bruises being brought to a temporary detention centre by members of a top secret special Task Force. snip

“Four individuals received administrative punishments for excessive use of force -- it in particular was emphasized it was the unauthorized use of Tasers,” said Pentagon spokesman Lawrence DiRita.

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[Journeyman]

1. We have lost so much more than the war. . .

n/t

[whistle]

2. Collin Powell is being a good little Bushie boy scout. . .

. . . When is he going to come clean and confess to all of the lies and deceptions he helped perpetrate that got the U.S. into the Iraq war mess?

[Art_from_Ark]

3. Never

He's never going to come clean.

[RuleofLaw]

4. He has too much to loose

Considering he was the officer in charge of covering up the Me Lai massacre

[JohnyCanuck]

10. Powell was not directly responsible for covering up My Lai.

According to the article quoted below, Colin Powell was responsible for whitewashing other allegations of US Army war crimes in Viet Nam made by a US GI, Tom Glen, to the Commander in Chief of the US forces in Viet Nam. Glen himself did not mention the My Lai massacre in his letter, but he said later on that he had heard rumours circulating about it.

The authors' position is if Powell had done a thorough investigation of Glen's charges then it's almost certain that during the course of the investigation the My Lai incident would also have been uncovered and forced into the open.



Behind Colin Powell's Legend -- My Lai

By Robert Parry & Norman Solomon

<snip>

But a test soon confronted Maj. Powell. A letter had been written by a young specialist fourth class named Tom Glen, who had served in an Americal mortar platoon and was nearing the end of his Army tour. In a letter to Gen. Creighton Abrams, the commander of all U.S. forces in Vietnam, Glen accused the Americal division of routine brutality against civilians. Glen's letter was forwarded to the Americal headquarters at Chu Lai where it landed on Maj. Powell's desk.

"The average GI's attitude toward and treatment of the Vietnamese people all too often is a complete denial of all our country is attempting to accomplish in the realm of human relations," Glen wrote. "Far beyond merely dismissing the Vietnamese as 'slopes' or 'gooks,' in both deed and thought, too many American soldiers seem to discount their very humanity; and with this attitude inflict upon the Vietnamese citizenry humiliations, both psychological and physical, that can have only a debilitating effect upon efforts to unify the people in loyalty to the Saigon government, particularly when such acts are carried out at unit levels and thereby acquire the aspect of sanctioned policy."

<snip>

Glen's letter echoed some of the complaints voiced by early advisers, such as Col. John Paul Vann, who protested the self-defeating strategy of treating Vietnamese civilians as the enemy. In 1995, when we questioned Glen about his letter, he said he had heard second-hand about the My Lai massacre, though he did not mention it specifically. The massacre was just one part of the abusive pattern that had become routine in the division, he said.

The letter's troubling allegations were not well received at Americal headquarters. Maj. Powell undertook the assignment to review Glen's letter, but did so without questioning Glen or assigning anyone else to talk with him. Powell simply accepted a claim from Glen's superior officer that Glen was not close enough to the front lines to know what he was writing about, an assertion Glen denies.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/colin3.html

[Deja Q]

5. Spit on them and then wish to have sex with them as proverbial lovers.

Nice.

[0007]

6. How can anyone tell if Colin is sincere or lying or embellishing ?

I'll be happy when Colin and his nitwit son Michael are gone from the scene.

“Whatever our differences about the past, about Iraq, we are now looking forward,” Powell said. “We are reaching out to Europe and we hope that Europe will reach out to us.”

Why would "Europe reach out for a 'Ship of Fools?"

[plasticsundance]

7. What happened to the Powell Doctrine?

Do you think our European allies are asking him about that? Like ... you know ... Powell ... the part about an exit strategy ... not getting into a mess you can't get out of ... so what about that?

I place Powell in the same boat as McCain. They let the Repugs crap all over them, and they come back for more.

Both McCain and Powell talk a good game.

Love the Hieronymus Bosch painting. He's one of my favorites. What a mind from the 15th and 16th century.

[0007]

11. Talk about McCain - what do you think of this photo?


Which fool would John be in the 'Ship of Fools'?

[Judi Lynn]

12. It's embarrassing to even see that photo, 0007! God.

_Bush is allowing him to clutch him, although with a bit of aloofness, as if he's indulging the affection of a true toadie! It's almost as if McCain is humping his leg.

It really makes a person feel sad, and nauseous. Good grief. You know something is very, very wrong here.

[The Zanti Regent]

8. They should turn their backs on him!

I know it would be too much to ask a brave soul to pie that phony!

[livinginphotographs]

9. Fuck Powell.

He had very little credibility to begin with, and he lost the rest of it in the past 3 years.

He should be put in Abu Ghraib with the rest of the snakes in the White House.

[Barrett808]

13. Reuters: Powell Attacks European NATO Allies on Iraq

Secretary of State Colin Powell accused European allies of undermining NATO on Thursday by refusing to allow staff seconded to the alliance to take part in its military training mission in Iraq.

The attack showed a transatlantic rift between Washington and opponents of the Iraq war was not healed, despite pledges by other countries at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers to send more troops to expand its fledgling mission in Baghdad.

"When it comes time to perform a mission, it seems to us to be quite awkward for suddenly members of that international staff to say I am unable to go," he told a news conference.

"Your are hurting the credibility and cohesion (of such an) international staff organization," said Powell on what is likely his last visit to NATO headquarters before handing over to successor Condoleezza Rice.

(more)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/nm/20041209/ts_nm/nato_iraq_dc

Which is it: "Reaches out" or "attacks"?