House Panel Reviews Iraq Prison Reports (ICRC reports)

[struggle4progress]

By Josh White and R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, July 15, 2004; Page A14

Members of the House Armed Services Committee reviewed nearly two dozen confidential reports yesterday about U.S. prison operations in Iraq, documents that some Democrats said should have alerted officials to a pattern of problems and potential abuses of detainees long before the Abu Ghraib prison scandal became public earlier this year.

The Pentagon provided the International Committee of the Red Cross reports to Congress beginning yesterday, allowing restricted access to about 150 pages of material that detailed prison conditions for detainees across Iraq. Members of the Senate are scheduled to have access today, although Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John W. Warner (R-Va.) told members yesterday that the ICRC documents are not a complete set.
<snip>

According to those who saw them, the reports appeared to show that U.S. authorities in Iraq should have known there were rampant problems in places such as Abu Ghraib long before a military police soldier came forward in January with a compact disc filled with the now-infamous incriminating photographs of abuse.
<snip>

The ICRC reports, which are typically kept secret to protect the rights of detainees and to ensure that human rights officials can have continued access to prisons around the world, were provided to Congress with the organization's approval, according to the Pentagon.
<snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50297-2004Jul14.html

[JoFerret]

1. Glad to see some heat in this story

.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. kick

[DeepModem Mom]

3. "Hussein-type behavior"?

From the article:

According to the reports, the ICRC apparently began alleging more serious abuses last fall, about the same time U.S. military officials ramped up interrogation efforts in Iraq in an attempt to locate elusive weapons of mass destruction and to find Saddam Hussein. Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), who reviewed the reports yesterday, said he believes it is possible that U.S. troops lapsed into "Hussein-type behavior" under pressure from Bush administration officials to produce results.

"Is it possible that someone from above was telling them to take the gloves off because we have to find Hussein?" Taylor said. "I have not had assurances from this administration that that did not happen."

[Disturbed]

4. Start with Rumsfailed

Put that sadist on a lie detector.