Pentagon calls Red Cross a liar)Pentagon Denies Abuse Charges at Guantanam

[papau]

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-gitmo1dec01,1,669487.story?coll=la-news-a_section
THE NATION
Pentagon Denies Abuse Charges at Guantanamo
A statement says the Red Cross' allegations of detainee torture at the naval base go against the Defense Department's own review.
By Richard A. Serrano
Times Staff Writer

December 1, 2004

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon on Tuesday strongly denied allegations that terrorism suspects were being tortured at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying that charges reportedly made by the International Committee of the Red Cross run counter to a Defense Department review that found "no credible instances of detainee abuse."

Although Red Cross officials would not confirm that their July inspection of the facility found instances of torture, an official at the organization's Geneva headquarters did say that "there are significant problems" at the prison "that have not yet been addressed."

The Guantanamo Bay base holds about 550 detainees who have been classified as "enemy combatants" and thus do not fall under the Geneva Convention protections for prisoners of war. Many were captured during the 2001 operations against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

A Pentagon spokesman, Air Force Maj. Michael Shavers, said Tuesday that the Department of Defense would not officially discuss any confidential reports by the Red Cross. But he did release a lengthy statement countering much of what the Red Cross reportedly found last summer.

The statement specifically denied an assertion that some military doctors and other personnel were complicit in the alleged torture by withholding medical assistance in an attempt to persuade prisoners to cooperate with interrogators.<snip>

[papau]

1. Red Cross President Plans Visit to Washington on Question of Detainees' Tr

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/01/politics/01gitmo.html?pagewanted=all

December 1, 2004
Red Cross President Plans Visit to Washington on Question of Detainees' Treatment
By NEIL A. LEWIS

ASHINGTON, Nov. 30 - Officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross said Tuesday that the organization's president, M. Jakob Kellenberger, was hoping to visit Washington soon to press senior Bush administration officials about the treatment of detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Committee officials in Washington, and at the organization's headquarters in Geneva, said that Mr. Kellenberger had made visits to Washington before. But it was clear that any coming visit would be used to raise at a high level the issues contained in a Red Cross report charging that the American military had used psychological and physical coercion on detainees that was "tantamount to torture."

A report in The New York Times on Tuesday said the International Committee of the Red Cross made the charges after a visit in June by a team of relief workers that included medical personnel. A memorandum based on the report and obtained by The Times said the Red Cross believed that doctors and other medical personnel at Guantánamo were assisting in the planning of interrogations in what was described as "a flagrant violation of medical ethics."

The Pentagon on Tuesday denied that its forces at Guantánamo engaged in torture and said the detainees there, who now number about 550, were treated humanely.

Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a news conference in Indianapolis on Tuesday, dismissed accusations that the tactics amounted to torture.<snip>

[rodeodance]

11. Jim Lehrer -pbs-had this on last night--Wonder if bush will "recieve" his

visit?--or delegate it to Condi?? or just ignore the visit. Should be interesting to say the least.

Also heard Gen Myers dismissal yesterday=saying the IRCC is "only" one group saying this --and that the military and the government has already investigated the abuse. Arrogrant crarp!!!

[SpiralHawk]

2. Start the popcorn

This is gonna be must-see TeeVee

And remember, mr. pResident, there is nothing wrong with telling the truth.

[madrchsod]

3. even hitler had

enough brains to put a "good face" on the death camps. bush and his klan will not even do that. we are so fucked

[NNN0LHI]

6. We stopped putting plastic bags on their heads

I think?

Don

[papau]

4. German Suit Accuses U.S. of Condoning Iraq Torture at Abu Ghraib

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-suit1dec01.story
THE WORLD
German Suit Accuses U.S. of Condoning Iraq Torture
By Jeffrey Fleishman
Times Staff Writer

December 1, 2004

BERLIN — An American civil rights group filed a criminal complaint in Germany on Tuesday alleging Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other U.S. officials condoned torture and human rights violations at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights and four former Iraqi prisoners filed a 170-page brief asking the German federal prosecutor to investigate Bush administration officials and senior military officers for war crimes and other offenses. Germany has a progressive law that allows its judicial officials to probe human rights abuses around the world.

"It's time to have a serious investigation of what they did," Michael Ratner, a lawyer and president of the center, said at a news conference in Berlin. He added that filing the complaint in Germany was a "last resort" because U.S. investigations and congressional committees had failed to hold the administration accountable for encouraging an environment for abuse.

The complaint, filed at the federal prosecutor's headquarters in the city of Karlsruhe, details the alleged mistreatment of four Iraqis by American soldiers and intelligence services. The men say they were beaten, given electric shocks, threatened with dogs and doused with cold water.

One of the former prisoners, Ahmed Shehab Ahmed, said soldiers injected his "genitalia with unknown drugs."

When asked why he was being tortured, another former detainee, Ali Shallal Abbas Uweissi, said an American woman told him "we have orders to treat you very badly in any way to force you to confess," according to the complaint. <snip>

[rodeodance]

12. so why is Bush not named in this lawsuit? --I know--he is the teflon man!

--someone who is never held accountable!!!

[NNN0LHI]

14. I don't think the leader of a country can be indicted?

Until they leave office...

Don

[gandalf]

13. Naturally, no indictment will follow

this kind of process is determined by politics and politicians.

[KingChicken]

5. America + Bush = Terrorism

The most hated man on earth.

[0007]

7. So none of this stuff went on in Cuba?

Is Rumsfeld's telling these folks that everything is standard, even in Cuba?

[damntexdem]

10. Hey, where did you get the pictures of the ...

White House Xmas Party?

[Pachamama]

8. Gee, who to believe? Rumsfeld & the Pentagon or the Int'l Red Cross?

Such a difficult decision....hmmmm..... :eyes:

[damntexdem]

9. Oh my, who should I believe?

Ha!

[Moderator]

15. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1033297