USNWR obtains all classified annexes on Abu Ghraib scandal

[quaoar]

And it is truly appalling.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/usinfo/press/prison.htm

[opihimoimoi]

1. Amazing that Rummy and Dummy getting away with this shit.

A Bad Idea gone Wild.... Thats the Rummy and his Boss W.

Arrogance begets Loloness and poor decisions....

which in turn begets the shit we saw in the Prison....

Bush and Rummy must share the resposibility.... Buck stops with them....

and yet, they have so much power, they lie their way out with impunity and smirks, false logic, false explanations.... Pity.

America pays the price for their misadventures.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Let's play 'Guess the Contractor'

"Among the more shocking exchanges revealed in the Taguba classified annexes are a series of E-mails sent by Major David Dinenna of the 320th MP Battalion. The E-mails, sent in October and November to Major William Green of the 800th MP Brigade, and copied to the higher chain of command, show a quixotic attempt to simply get the detainees at Abu Graib edible food. Dinenna pressed repeatedly for food that wouldn't make prisoners vomit. He criticized the private food contractor for shorting the facility on hundreds of meals a day, and for providing food containing bugs, rats, and dirt.

"As each day goes by tension within the prison population increases," Dinenna wrote. "...Simple fixes, food, would help tremendously." Instead of getting help, Major Green scolded him. "Who is making the charges that there is dirt, bugs or what ever in the food?," Major Green replied in an E-mail. "If it is the prisoners I would take it with a grain of salt." Dinenna shot back: "Our MPs, Medics and field surgeon can easily identify bugs, rats, and dirt, and they did." Ultimately, the food contract was not renewed, an Army spokeswoman says, although the contractor holds other contracts with the military."

I'll start with Halliburton (yeah, I'm starting the game, so I get the easy pick), since they stiffed the US Army on food - I imagine their care for Iraqi prisoners would be even less. Anyone any other ideas?

[quaoar]

3. Another stunning excerpt

The most serious riot, at Camp Vigilant, took place on the night of November 23 when guards shot and killed four detainees. "The prisoners were marching and yelling, 'Down with Bush,' and 'Bush is bad,'" another Army review said. "They became violent and started throwing rocks at the guards, both in the towers and at the rovers around the wire..." Guards feared for their lives "the sky was black with rocks," the report saidand a mass breakout appeared imminent. The review of the November riot cited the failure of guard commanders to post rules of engagement for dealing with insurrections. Soldiers were hesitant to shoot, and when they did shoot, they often didn?t know whether they were using lethal or non-lethal ammunition because they had mixed the ammo in their shotguns.

Another classified annex reported that the prison complex was seriously overcrowded, with detainees often held for months without ever being interrogated. Detainees walked around in knee-deep mud, "defecating and urinating all over the compounds," said Capt. James Jones, commander of the 229th MP Battalion. "I don?t know how there?s not rioting every day," he testified.

[Brian Morans]

4. We should call it Hallibarfton.

[AndyTiedye]

5. Cheney Should Try Some of that Cheneying Swill

in front of the cameras, please!

[AP]

16. I don't want to defame anyone, but this sounds like the food the SOLDIERS

were getting from Halliburton.

I remember reading an article in which soldiers said that their rations were so crappy, they had to go out on the streets to buy their own food, and that's when a lot of them were getting shot at.

[Cerridwen]

6. I have pictures of Nazi death camps running through my head

n/t

[quaoar]

7. But, our president says

That it's just a few bad apples.

[Rose Siding]

8. Does Congress have all of these "annexes" yet?

If Americans were subjected to these conditions by another country, the freaking rate of enlistment would surge- and this doesn't even single out the treatment of the child "detainees.

snip>
Daily life at Abu Ghraib, the documents show, included riots, prisoner escapes, shootings, corrupt Iraqi guards, filthy conditions, sexual misbehavior, bug-infested food, prisoner beatings and humiliations, and almost-daily mortar shellings from Iraqi insurgents. Troubles inside the prison were made worse still by a military command structure that was hopelessly broken.
...
Among the more shocking exchanges revealed in the Taguba classified annexes are a series of E-mails sent by Major David Dinenna of the 320th MP Battalion. The E-mails, sent in October and November to Major William Green of the 800th MP Brigade, and copied to the higher chain of command, show a quixotic attempt to simply get the detainees at Abu Graib edible food. Dinenna pressed repeatedly for food that wouldn’t make prisoners vomit. He criticized the private food contractor for shorting the facility on hundreds of meals a day, and for providing food containing bugs, rats, and dirt.

"As each day goes by tension within the prison population increases," Dinenna wrote. "...Simple fixes, food, would help tremendously." Instead of getting help, Major Green scolded him. "Who is making the charges that there is dirt, bugs or what ever in the food?," Major Green replied in an E-mail. "If it is the prisoners I would take it with a grain of salt." Dinenna shot back: "Our MPs, Medics and field surgeon can easily identify bugs, rats, and dirt, and they did." Ultimately, the food contract was not renewed, an Army spokeswoman says, although the contractor holds other contracts with the military.

[hansolsen]

9. Any American citizen who reads this report and still votes for George Bush

will burn in hell for it.

A vote for the Prince of Abu Ghraib is a vote for this kind of torture and abuse, just because we can do no wrong. America first. Damn them.

It will take a hundred years to undo the damage, if ever.

[Hailtothechimp]

11. The damage won't be undone in my lifetime. Or yours either. n/t

[NMDemDist2]

10. can you say Pentagon Papers II?

I knew you could :evilfrown:

[burrowowl]

12. Hopefully

some national media will run with. The rest of the World's media certainly will and ........
It won't do much to restore America's image.

[sallyseven]

13. Do I detect a steady drip

of incompetent behavior by the military, Halliburton and the smirking president? Rummy and Colin Powell have to go. So too the rest of them. Rummy should be sent to prison over there in disguise.

[skooooo]

14. What are "classified annexes"??

exactly?

[Whoa_Nelly]

15. Was wondering same

Apparently, it doesn't include the abuses of the children taken prisoner :mad:

[Shipwack]

17. Classified Annexes explained...

I occasionally have these at work, though my annexes tend to just have boring numbers...

In, general, if done appropriately, a "classified annex" to a document has all the information in one spot of a report that has "sensitive" information. This way, the same report can be given to different groups of people, with only those of a high enough clearance level getting the classified supplement. This way a common document is out, instead of having two different reports circulating.

Example.... suppose a report is issued to congress about a plan by a terrorist group to flood the market with cheap chocolate, thus crippling the US candy industry. One paragraph of the report details the high tech chocolate factories, with their vast supplies of sugar, all described by "a reliable source".

The next paragraph would be the phrase "see classified annex". Those senators with a "need to know", say those on an intelligence committee, could turn to the appropriate section of the classified annex and learn that the information came from one of the factory managers, and include actual pictures of the plant's interior that could only have come from a few people. This would help protect the identity of the "inside man".

In this case, however, it appears that the purpose of the annex was to prevent embarrassment to the Army in general, and Sanchez in particular. Though, to be fair, it might be appropriate in this case too, since these allegations (that Sanchez was biased against reservists and women)should not be made public until an investigation is done, and it is clear that this isn't libel. (I'm not saying it is one way or another; I don't know anyone in question, so at this point it's he said/she said...)