Press reporting of the Taguba article by Seymour Hersh [View All]

[Solly Mack]

First, go here and read kpete's thread - the article by Seymour Hersh, The General’s Report, from the NewYorker.

Seriously - if you haven't read it yet - READ IT.


*Taguba's forced retirement is a small part of the whole story but makes the headline in some of the articles - and in one article, at least, it's the full story.

That our war criminal government fired a truth-seeker IS news and it IS important, but it isn't the full story. Reading the story from The News Tribune, one would think that was the whole story. It only deals with Taguba's ouster (briefly) - and nothing about Taguba's remarks to Seymour Hersh. There's not even a link to Hersh's article.

Washington Post

Abu Ghraib Investigator Points to Pentagon

"In interviews with New Yorker reporter Seymour M. Hersh, Taguba said that he was ordered to limit his investigation to low-ranking soldiers who were photographed with the detainees and the soldiers' unit, but that it was always his sense that the abuse was ordered at higher levels. Taguba was quoted as saying that he thinks top commanders in Iraq had extensive knowledge of the aggressive interrogation techniques that mirrored those used on high-value detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and that the military police "were literally being exploited by the military interrogators."

Taguba also said that Rumsfeld misled Congress when he testified in May 2004 about the abuse investigation, minimizing how much he knew about the incidents. Taguba said that he met with Rumsfeld and top aides the day before the testimony."



New York Times

General Says Prison Inquiry Led to His Forced Retirement


"Lawrence Di Rita, a former top aide to Mr. Rumsfeld, said Mr. Rumsfeld had not viewed the photographs because he had been advised by lawyers that doing so “could materially affect the ongoing criminal investigation.” He said Mr. Rumsfeld finally looked at the pictures the day before his Congressional testimony, the same day he was briefed by General Taguba.

Mr. Di Rita said General Taguba’s assertion that he was ostracized as a result of his investigation “is simply false.” He added, “Secretary Rumsfeld believed General Taguba managed a difficult assignment to the best of his abilities.” General Taguba said some of the most graphic evidence of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib had not been made public, including a videotape he said he had seen of a male soldier in uniform sodomizing a female detainee."


* The News Tribune

Abu Ghraib Army investigator says he was forced out


“He called me in and said I was no longer part of the team,” Taguba said. “When someone calls you in and says ‘I have to let you go,’ and offers no explanation, you connect the dots.” That same month, he added, Gen. Richard Cody, the Army’s vice chief of staff, told him that he would have to retire within a year."


Deccan Herald (India)

Taguba was prevented from investigating 'higher-ups'

"Army Major General Antonio M Taguba who investigated the sexual abuse of Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib by US soldiers says Donald Rumsfeld and other top Pentagon officials have prevented him from investigating "higher" authorities."


New York Daily News

General rips Rumsfeld on Abu Ghraib


"Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld misled Congress - or was "in denial" - when he testified that he had no knowledge of abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, a retired general said."


And this one

information from occupied iraq - the full article, The General’s Report - How Antonio Taguba, who investigated the Abu Ghraib scandal, became one of its casualties.