Pentagon creates Office of Detainee Affairs in wake of Abu Ghraib scandal

[Barrett808]

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Pentagon is creating an office to coordinate policy on detainee operations that will ensure that reports on prison conditions by the International Committee of the Red Cross are brought to the attention of key policymakers, a senior defense official said.

"We want to have a system to elevate their concerns to key policymakers as responsively as possible," said Ryan Henry, deputy undersecretary of defense for policy.

The creation of the Office of Detainee Affairs follows sharp criticism of Pentagon leaders for having ignored ICRC reports that raised warning flags about prisoner abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison months before videos of guards abusing prisoners surfaced.

Henry said most of the ICRC reports the US military received were shown this week to members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees.

In the future, ICRC reports will be forwarded to the new office, which will review them and flag potential problems for higher-level review within the Pentagon, Henry said.

The new office would be "the key point of contact" within the Defense Department on matters related to detainee operations, he said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040716/pl_afp/us_iraq_prisoners_office&cid=1521&ncid=1480

[judge_smales]

1. Am I being to cynical in thinking that

the offices real charter will be to keep us from getting caught
agian?

[Solly Mack]

2. I was thinking along the same lines......also

not only one more level of military wasteland where paperwork sits and sits, but one more level removed of blame in the long chain of blame to the top.

the quickest way to get nothing done is to form a committee..

[Triana]

3. bury the abuses in bureaucracy...

...so they're never heard about or seen again. Doesn't mean it doesn't still happen - it's just that we'll never see or hear about it....how convenient. Our tax dollars at work to cover the terrorist activities of our government.

[whosinpower]

4. Yet one more buerocratic filter

One key question to ask - WHY is it necessary to have such an office in the first place????? I thought that those perpetrating torture were just a few isolated cases.......

A dead end to send Red cross reports so they NEVER see the light of day again.......

[hatrack]

5. Shouldn't that be the "Office Of Illegal Combatant Affairs"?

Or perhaps the "Office of Double-Secret Prison Affairs"?

Maybe the "Office Of No, We Don't Have Anyone In Here By That Name Affairs" would more neatly fit the bureaucracy's need.