WaPo: A Failure in Leadership, All the Way Up the Ranks (p1)

[Snazzy]

A Failure in Leadership, All the Way Up the Ranks

By Bradley Graham
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 26, 2004; Page A01

What began several months ago with the emergence of shocking photographs showing a handful of U.S. troops abusing detainees in Iraq has led this week to a broad indictment of U.S. military leadership and acknowledgement in two official reports that mistreatment of prisoners was more widespread than previously disclosed.

The reports have served to undercut earlier portrayals of the abuse as largely the result of criminal misconduct by a small group of individuals. As recently as last month, an assessment by the Army's inspector general concluded the incidents could not be ascribed to systemic problems, describing them as "aberrations."

But the findings yesterday of another Army investigation offered a more critical appraisal of what led to the mistreatment at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad. It implicated 27 military intelligence soldiers in abuse, providing some support for assertions by some of the seven military guards previously charged that they were not acting alone. Counting other intelligence, medical and civilian contract personnel cited for failing to report the abuse, and three more military police officers alleged to have engaged in abuse, the report appeared to raise to nearly 50 the number of people who may face charges or disciplinary action for misconduct at Abu Ghraib.

Further, the investigation found that senior officers in Iraq bore responsibility for what occurred by failing to exercise adequate oversight and neglecting to provide "clear, consistent guidance" for handling detainees.

....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33789-2004Aug25.html

[Snazzy]

1. Sidebar: Abuse Report Widens Scope of Culpability (p.1)

Abuse Report Widens Scope of Culpability
Generals Point to Contractors, Military Intelligence Soldiers

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 26, 2004; Page A01

Three Army generals said yesterday that an array of sometimes shocking detainee abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison came in part at the hands of more than two dozen military intelligence soldiers and civilian contractors, widening the scope of the international scandal as one Army general conceded that some of the acts qualified as torture.

In releasing an investigative report yesterday about the actions of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade, the generals acknowledged that chaos and confusion absorbed Abu Ghraib. Interrogators did not know the rules and thus flagrantly broke them. Detainees were questioned while naked, the CIA hid prisoners from international human rights groups, and detainees were left hooded and handcuffed in painful positions.

In sometimes agonizing detail, the generals detailed acts of sodomy, beatings, nudity, lengthy isolation, and the use of unmuzzled dogs in a sadistic game of making detainees urinate and defecate in fear.

"The abuses spanned from direct physical assault, such as delivering head blows rendering detainees unconscious, to sexual posing and forced participation in group masturbation," the Army report says. "At the extremes were the death of a detainee . . . an alleged rape committed by a US translator and observed by a female Soldier, and the alleged sexual assault of an unknown female."

....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33795-2004Aug25.html

[Snazzy]

2. Sidebar: Incidents Grew in Severity, Report Says (p.17)

Incidents Grew in Severity, Report Says

By Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 26, 2004; Page A17

Forty-four separate incidents are graphically recounted in the new Army report on abuse committed by U.S. soldiers against Iraqis in their custody at the Abu Ghraib prison. They include direct physical assault of inmates, required nakedness, forced sexual posing and an alleged sexual assault.

Most of the major incidents are already known, either through previous reports or in media accounts. Many were powerfully documented in the photographs that leaked out in the spring, spurring a series of Pentagon investigations and congressional hearings.

But the report yesterday is likely to stand as the definitive encyclopedia of abuse at Abu Ghraib.

The abuse began in September 2003 amid an erupting insurgency that surprised U.S. commanders and strapped some Army units. In the following months, as described by investigators, Abu Ghraib went over the edge. "What started as nakedness and humiliation, stress and physical training (exercise), carried over into sexual and physical assaults by a small group of morally corrupt and unsupervised soldiers and civilians," the report says.

....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33870-2004Aug25.html

[fearnobush]

3. Donald, Donald, Donald, Donald. Remember that guy who talked

about war crimes in 1971? Guess what... He's back and this time he is running for President and if You and Your FUCKING CABEL want to stay out of jail and just be rich... You fools better just let him win. That Guy is coming wether you think you can stop him or not...he is coming believe it or not.