Newsweek: 'Gaps and Discrepancies' (Miller in spotlight on abuse)

[UpInArms]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5052743/site/newsweek/

Things may be heating up in the prison abuse scandal for Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, the former Guantanamo Bay commander who is now in charge of detainees in Iraq. In a harshly worded letter, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence committee questioned the "candor and accuracy" of Miller’s responses in a classified briefing to the committee last week.

The May 21 letter to Miller from Rep. Jane Harman, the ranking minority member on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, chastises the general for "gaps and discrepancies in your presentation" and for selectively withholding information. "If information is only provided in response to a question that is phrased in precisely the right way, it is virtually impossible for Congress to fulfill its constitutional oversight responsibility," Harman writes.

In her letter, Harman refers to new details about interrogation policies at the Gitmo detention facility that became public less than 24 hours after Miller’s May 20 testimony. "I am dismayed that information emerging immediately after your briefing raises questions about the candor and accuracy of your statements," she says. A copy of the letter was obtained by NEWSWEEK.

...more...

[lakeguy]

1. Maybe we should torture the guy...

then we are sure to get the answers we want! (/sarcasm)

[UpInArms]

3. Welcome to DU iha_te_bush!

:hi:

Glad to have you here with us :)

[aquart]

6. You were being sarcastic? Pity. I like the idea.

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. Now about that 2000 pages

they deleted, oops I mean omitted, from the Taluga report?

Sure looks like the higher ups at DOD are more interested in covering up the abuse than they are worried about the abuse.

[henslee]

4. The perfect storm is coming... Torturegate, Farenheit 9-11 and ????

eom

[yellowcanine]

5. Treasongate (Valerie Plame) - Bush hit another trifecta!

I still think the Valerie Plame outing is going to blow up before November - probably forcing Rove to resign.

[henslee]

9. ooh, forgot... thanks!

John Dean reviews Wilson's book in this (past) weeks nyt book review/

[Laughing Mirror]

7. What! Me lie?

[yardwork]

8. Another one with facial issues.

Wait! Maybe the Rapture is here already and these guys are the ones developing boils on their faces!

[teryang]

10. Interesting element of sexism at work here

Representative Harman was interupted rudely by another committee member during her questioning. Also, when she objected and asserted her rights, she was addressed in condescending and sexist manner by the committee chairman. I sensed ridicule and laughter among the military officers present at the hearing. It was disgraceful.

Also, Karpinsky as a female Brigadier has been targeted as the scapegoat for the Abu Ghraid debacle when the policy of Geneva Convention violations originates at the top. She was alternately bulldozed and ignored while on duty in Iraq.

Some of the things which go along with the regimen of "low impact" torture are stripping prisoners in the cold, placing them in stress positions, continuous torture by loud sounds, and denying them the ability to drink, eat or void, all simultaneously, punctuated with asphyxiations, beatings and interrogations. For anyone who thinks these practices don't violate the Geneva Conventions, they should try it sometime.

[Rebellious Republican]

11. Good, its about damn time! N/T

[jeff5]

12. For Justice to be Served

This guy needs to be busted to Pvt (E-1), lose all pay and benefits and do 10 years at Leavenworth manufacturing gravel with a sledge hammer.

[Zhade]

14. No - he should be hung. That's what they did after Nuremberg.

Sorry - treason is punishable by death, and Miller has certainly earned his status as a war criminal.

[jeff5]

16. For a Man His Age

10 years at Hard Labor is a death sentence, just the only way to legally impose it.

I doubt there are any specific "war crimes" that he could be proven Guilty of, but derelection of duty should be a cinch. Perjury may be another option.

[Zhade]

17. He enabled and carried out the contravention of the Geneva Accords.

I'm pretty sure that counts as a provable war crime.

[JoFerret]

13. Hersch and Hirsh on the job

Harman cites a recent Pentagon briefing and press reports, in The Washington Post and elsewhere, that documented deep misgivings by military lawyers and other legal experts over the interrogation policies at Gitmo overseen by Miller. She also expresses her chagrin that the committee has not received a copy of an Oct. 12, 2003, interrogation policy at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq that was reportedly issued by Iraq commander Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez. That policy, Harman says, "seems to indicate a role for military police that goes well beyond the passive intelligence collection role that you have described."

NEWSWEEK also confirmed Monday an Associated Press report that Vice Adm. Albert Church III, the Navy inspector general, has recommended a more in-depth look at the interrogation practices initiated by Miller at Gitmo. Church inspected Gitmo during a brief visit in early May. Lt. Chris Servello, a Navy IG spokesman, said Church’s recommendation has been passed up to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s office.

[teryang]

15. Harman strikes me as someone not to trifled with

I think the repukes have misunderestimated her. They humiliated her and pissed her off big time at the hearings. I don't think she should waste her time with the obligatory kow-tows to the Pentagon anymore. I'm glad to see her follow up and hope for more.