Rumsfeld Aide Defends Prison Policy on Interrogation

[UpInArms]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/12/national/12west.html?ex=1084939200&?en=0399f3aa523d7085&?ei=5062&?partner=GOOGLE

WASHINGTON, May 11 - Stephen Cambone may have more influence over intelligence matters at the Pentagon than anyone who has previously tried to oversee that enterprise, so his words carry some weight.

In bureaucratic rank alone, Mr. Cambone stands a full notch higher than any predecessor, as under secretary of defense for intelligence, a post created by Congress only last year. And he is widely understood to be Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's most trusted troubleshooter.

<snip>

On Tuesday, as he jousted before the Senate Armed Services Committee with an Army general over the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, some of those strains were displayed. It was he, Mr. Cambone acknowledged, who gave high-level impetus to an overhaul of interrogation procedures at prisons in Iraq not long before the abuses took place.

But Mr. Cambone took issue with the finding by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba of the Army that the changes - intended to integrate the military police who supervised the prison into the interrogation process overseen by military intelligence officers - were inappropriate.

<snip>

Twice a week, military officials say, Mr. Cambone convenes a conference call that includes the three-star generals and an admiral who run the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. In theory, each of those chiefs reports to Mr. Rumsfeld and George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence; in practice, officials say, Mr. Cambone has made himself their most active overseer.

...more...

This elevator should go all the way to the top.

[Occulus]

1. well....

"This elevator should go all the way to the top."

I've said from the start that this fish rots from the head.

[Just Me]

2. Cambone was "advised" by Boykin. That says it all!!! n/t

[Erika]

3. We Invaded Iraq

How dare we be there in the first place? For Bush's corporate globalists friends, we let blood. Our standard of living is being reduced. What more does he want?

[jmcgowanjm]

10. Boykin:The Beast Man

The Washington-based Executive Intelligence Review, a
political and economic weekly, has long pointed out that
the determination and ruthlessness of the Bush
administration, expressed particularly since September 11,
was orchestrated by what it described as a few
"beast-men" who, as the word suggests, have no hesitation
in acting like beasts. One person characterized as such
was Boykin.
Boykin is the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense
Intelligence under Stephen Cambone, a personal friend
of Rumsfeld and one who has the defense secretary's ears.
The presence of Cambone as Boykin's boss has
previously helped Rumsfeld avoid questions
surrounding alleged mistreatment of prisoners in
Afghanistan and Iraq, and even of Muslim prisoners in
general

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FE11Aa04.html

[Barrett808]

4. kick

[maddezmom]

5. Senators suspect higher-ups directed abuses at Abu Ghraib

~snip~
Specifically, Democratic senators pointed to the Pentagon decision to send Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller to Iraq in August from his post as commander of the U.S. prison in Guantanamo, Cuba, where several hundred detainees linked to al Qaeda and Afghanistan's Taliban are being held and interrogated. His mission was to figure out how to improve intelligence collected through interrogations of Iraqi detainees.

Miller recommended establishing a joint interrogation center at Abu Ghraib, and Taguba testified that tactical control of the Abu Ghraib facility was taken from Karpinski and turned over to Col. Thomas Pappas, a military intelligence colonel. The abuse documented in photographs that have caused an international furor started in October, not long after Miller's recommended changes took place.

Taguba's report said this structure "set the conditions" for the guards to help the interrogators -- possibly leading to the abuses -- by preparing the prisoners for questioning.

Stephen Cambone, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, defended the arrangement at Abu Ghraib that divided authority between Pappas and Karpinski. He maintained that Pappas, the military intelligence chief, did not control the military police guarding the prisoners.

~snip~
more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/05/12/MNGMO6K22P1.DTL

[samsingh]

6. well, well - there's the acceptance of the torture by higher ups

[jmcgowanjm]

7. American Perverts Pack Rape & Kill Iraqi Women

In "1984" the Ministry of Truth (the Media) constantly
changes truth for lies in order to generate something for
people to cheer about, because people need to be kept
busy, and more importantly, they all need something to
believe in. Thus for example Oceania may score a victory
over Eurasia, giving reason for wild joy and celebration,
though of course there is nothing real to cheer about,
and people's humdrum lives will not change at all. This
is identical to the run up to the American presidential
elections this year. People will shout themselves hoarse
and give their hard-earned money to a Republican or
Democrat who they already know will do nothing for
them.

http://joevialls.altermedia.info/myahudi/rape.html

Just the tip of the Iceberg.

[LeftHander]

8. Remember Taguba called for a investigtion into MI

He said that he did not investigate Military INtelligence operations at Abu Graib because it was outside of the scope of his charge. He investigated only the Prison operations and the Military Police...

[maddezmom]

9. it's underway now..called the Fay (sp) Report nt

[riverwalker]

11. Maj. Gen. George Fay

is doing that report.