Bush: GIs who abused prisoners should pay

[yardwork]

This article contains a lot of statements that may come back to bite the administration if it turns out that the abuse of prisoners was systemic.

http://news.yahoo.com/fc?tmpl=fc&cid=34&in=us&cat=us_armed_forces

[treepig]

1. and what about the commander in chief?

what did * say about him? any responsibility there?

[yardwork]

3. Chairman of JCS claims he hasn't yet read the report!!!

Rep. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said "officials within the department of defense have known at least since Jan." An internal U.S. Army report completed in February found that Iraqi detainees were subjected to "sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses," according to The New Yorker magazine.

Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a Sunday television interview that he had not yet read the report.

"This is an unacceptable response," Bingaman said Monday. "If he believed that swift action was required, he might have directed those in ... his command ... to get that report to him immediately upon completion and to give him concrete action items."

[maddezmom]

7. but he knew enough to ask CBS not to air the photos

:eyes:

[Kool Kitty]

24. Funny how that works, ain't it?

Didn't read the report, didn't know enough to make an informed comment on any of the Sunday spin shows, but made damn sure that he called CBS to delay airing a show about a subject that he really doesn't know much about. How the hell do they keep getting away with this shit?

[saigon68]

25. Here's your Present from Me ---- Meyers

= VIET-NAM

Nguyen Ngoc Loan, whose execution of a Viet Cong prisoner on the streets of Saigon in 1968
became one of the most chilling images of the Vietnam War

=IRAQ-NAM

At most, the 372nd's alleged abuses of prisoners were "stupid, kid things - pranks," Terrie
England said,


TWENTY YEARS FROM NOW

THE NAMES BUSH AND MEYERS WILL BE ASSOCIATED WITH THIS MESS

LIKE NIXON AND WESTMORELAND

[Bertha Venation]

2. My first thought was: how much?

Isn't it all about $$$ with this administration? Slap 'em on the wrist and fine 'em a month's pay, with a little wink as they walk out the door with their honorable discharges. That's what I expect their punishment to be.

[Bridget Burke]

8. No, that's how the Generals will "pay"......

Retirement, followed by good jobs with defense contractors.

The little guys (& girls) will probably face some serious consequences. Not that they shouldn't, but the higher-ups ought to share in the responsibility.

[Just Me]

21. That is one area where Brig. Gen., uh, whatshername,...

,..geez,...I forgot her name,...but, anyway, I was quite impressed with her when she pointed the finger at those in charge rather than allow the entire burden of responsibility to fall on the "little guys and gals".

I was very impressed by that willingness to say, "yes, I have shared responsibility with other generals" (paraphrasing).

:thumbsup:

[whistle]

4. Let Bush dig his grave....

...his own words will condemn him!

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. This is how they got Slobadon Milosowich

he is on trial at the Hague not for conducting the ethnic cleansing of the Muslims in his country, but for the crime of doing nothing about it, after he finally could no longer deny that it was happening.

If Bu$h does not respond appropriately and adequately, than he becomes a willing participant in the crime and the cover up.

I hope he continues to blow it, big time. The more inadequate his response, the easier it will be to bring charges against him.

[burrowowl]

5. Yes Bu$h

should pay and b put in Levenworth.

[boxster]

6. "GIs who abused prisoners should pay...."

...for my reelection!"

Bush better hope that there aren't any documents that show that these orders came from high up in the administration.

A Jack Nicholson moment comes to mind....

[Fridays Child]

10. If b*sh really supports the troops, the buck should stop somewhere...

...much higher up than with those soldiers. And his public statements about it should emphasize that.

[maddezmom]

11. and those involved in the cover-up should be pay n/t

[Cocoa]

12. Bush should stop calling people evil

and stop saying that Americans are better than other people. That kind of talk makes it easier for these things to happen.

[section321]

13. ooh yeah... a little punishment always gets Bush going...

That guy is sick.

[NJ Blue Collar]

14. So according to the

President, the officers in charge of that prison have nothing to do with this? Give me a break.

[section321]

23. Of course not, this is the accountability president.

No matter what the mess, we'll find some poor shmuck to hold accountable.

[tinymontgomery]

15. This will cost * some votes either way

Hard core military people will be upset that he is going to let the people go down, their fighting his war, and he keeps saying the bad guys (brown skined) are evil so what the hell. The junior enlisted people will see that he is willing to let the little people hang while the big wigs get off. I watched a little bit of this when the pilots were court martialed for dropping those bombs on the Canadians. The Navy aviators that I knew we're pissed because he didn't step in and stop it. They were fighting his war and he left them out to dry. They sure didn't connect that he really doesn't give two shits about them.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. The batuba report will bite them in the arse

by the way, one thing I will say MOST troops are indeed performing
superbly. They are doing a job in the worst of circumstances and no
end in sight


This also means that some troops are startign to crack

But my question to JNC Chief Myers is, "when did you know it and what did you know?"

Given the photos of Rummy and Wolfie at the Prison, same question
to them... who knew what and when?

I see much of this as hanging some to protect the rest.

And yes MOST of the troops are doing their job, under the worst of circumstances.

[0007]

17. Yes I agree, and I think the President should give an apology

to the Iraqi people and re insure that he will respect their religion as they should respect ours. And that he will pay out of his pocket and the Carlyle Group funds for every house that has been bombed.

I'm a dreamer, 'eh?

[Tellurian]

18. More on the prisoner abuse:

..this may be a little longer than usual...but the original will disappear by morning..the article contains damning info pointing to higher ups.


I didn't know of abuse: general


The head of the US military has admitted he was unaware of a damning internal report written two months ago that outlined the systematic abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers.

...Ha!

The military report detailed evidence of sexual humiliation, the sodomizing of a prisoner and beatings that may have led to the death of at least two Iraqi detainees at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad by US military guards at the bidding of American intelligence officers.

In a round of US television interviews designed to contain the growing prison scandal that has inflamed Arab opinion and created outrage around the world, General Richard Myers, head of the US joint chiefs of staff, insisted that only "a handful" of US military officers had taken part in the abuse and they were facing legal action.

...the word.."contain" is very telling..

General Myers said a high-level army investigation now under way had not found widespread abuse. "There is no, no evidence of systematic abuse in this system at all," he said.

"We want intelligence information but we have to stay inside international norms and international law. We do that."

..what does the above statement mean?

But the general admitted he had never read a report by one of his own officers, General Antonio Taguba, that points to systematic abuse of prisoners after US Army intelligence officers, CIA agents and private contractors, "requested that MP guards set physical and mental conditions" that would help with their interrogations.


It is now emerging that when the US military was told about the abuses as far back as last November it ignored or covered up the role of US intelligence and private military contractors in the scandal.

General Taguba's report, revealed in the New Yorker magazine, found that between October and December last year, there were many instances of, "sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses" at the Abu Ghraib prison perpetrated by or condoned by US military police, US intelligence officers and private military contractors.

New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh, described on CNN what he said was an attempt to hide the body of an Iraqi who had died during an Abu Ghraib interrogation. After keeping the body on ice for 24 hours, those responsible put it on a trolley and stuck in a fake intravenous tube. "Walked him out, got him an ambulance, drove him off, dumped the body somewhere," said Hersh, adding he had pictures of the body on ice. A second prisoner may have died after a beating.

General Taguba's report noted that an earlier military investigation in November found "no military police units purposely applying inappropriate confinement practices".

General Myers said he did not believe there needed to be an outside investigation into the abuse.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/05/03/1083436540308.html

[fedsron2us]

19. Dear President Bush try reading the attached

Commenting on the meaning of Nuremberg to future generations, Edward R. Murrow, a radio reporter whose wartime broadcasts from Europe informed millions of Americans, said: "It is now established that planning, preparing, and initiating aggressive war constitutes an international crime. And it is also established that atrocities -- crimes against humanity -- are not merely the responsibility of those who commit them, but also the responsibility of the highest government officials."

http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/hrintro/crimes.htm

I think its time you got yourself a good lawyer

[Tellurian]

20. Whistleblower Comes Forward:

The whistleblower who alerted officers to the torture of Iraqi prisoners of war was Specialist Joseph Darby, 24.

Bernadette Darby, his wife of six years, said she didn't know about her husband's role until a reporter called her on Sunday, but it sounded like something he would do. "Whenever he knows something's wrong, he doesn't stand by it," she said.

Darby's name emerged this weekend in an article by Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker, which detailed a report by Major-General Antonio Taguba in February that accused soldiers from the 372nd Military Police Company of "sadistic" treatment of Iraqi prisoners.

more:

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/05/03/1083436540320.html?from=moreStories

[Disturbed]

22. What and when?

"Given the photos of Rummy and Wolfie at the Prison, same question
to them... who knew what and when?"

When were these war criminals on site? The report and photos were in Military possesion in Dec. 2003.

Darby's Military career will be toast.