Abuse Inquiry Opens Question of Army Tactics

[Rose Siding]

snip>
Along with other information that has emerged, trial testimony has underscored a question long at the core of this case: what is the responsibility of more senior military personnel for the abuses that took place?

Many former Bagram officers have denied knowing about any serious mistreatment of detainees before the two deaths. But others said some of the methods that prosecutors have cited as a basis for criminal charges, including chaining prisoners to the ceilings of isolation cells for long periods, were either standard practice at the prison or well-known to those who oversaw it.

None of the nine soldiers prosecuted thus far are officers....
...
In the first interview granted by any of the accused soldiers, a former guard charged with maiming and assault said that he and other reservist military policemen were specifically instructed at Bagram how to deliver the type of blows that killed the two detainees, and that the strikes were commonly used when prisoners resisted being hooded or shackled.

"I just don't understand how, if we were given training to do this, you can say that we were wrong and should have known better," said the soldier, Pvt. Willie V. Brand, 26, of Cincinnati, a father of four who volunteered for tours in Afghanistan and Kosovo.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/08/national/nationalspecial3/08bagram.html?hp&ex=1123473600&en=7f33e841011b9b5b&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[babylonsister]

1. Unbelievable! No officers involved, and

their 'training' involved how to hood and shackle people?
I guess the Geneva Convention really wasn't helpful to
this imbroglio.

[Rose Siding]

2. And isn't it wacky how the same kinds of "abuse" can spontaneously pop up

throughout the military and not be at all systemic?

These guys are giving the same stories we heard from Abu Ghraib- No response for requests for training and conflicts of authority between MPs, MI and Guards.

I can't help but wonder if all the reduced charges are the result of all the accused simply requesting permission "to call a string of witnesses who they said could shed light on the orders and training the guards received"

This denial is practically an historic cliche!-

snip> General Nicholas said he did "not recall" detainees being shackled with their arms overhead to deprive them of sleep, as other officers said was commonly done. >end snip

Nicholas was the SENIOR Military Intelligence officer at Bagram!