US Disputed Protective Status of Iraq Inmates

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

Here's the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/international/middleeast/23IRAQ.html?th

And here's some excerpts:

Presented last fall with a detailed catalog of abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, the American military responded on Dec. 24 with a confidential letter to a Red Cross official asserting that many Iraqi prisoners were not entitled to the full protections of the Geneva Conventions.

The letter, drafted by military lawyers and signed by Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, emphasized the "military necessity" of isolating some inmates at the prison for interrogation because of their "significant intelligence value," and said prisoners held as security risks could legally be treated differently from prisoners of war or ordinary criminals



Oh, I guess that the innocent 70-90% who were picked up in sweeping raids had significant intelligence value. And that we meant torture and murder when we said "treated differently".

[nodictators]

1. Total lack of integrity by some military officers and Defense Dept. folks

If this NYT story is true, and it probably is, then some top military commanders and high-ranking Defense Department officials have lied repeatedly to the American people and have tried to put all of the blame for the "abuse". torture, and murder at Abu Ghraib and other prisons on a handful of enlisted soldiers and non-commissioned officers.

A Washington Poat article this morning reports that Gen. Sanchez was said to have been present at some of the interrogations.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1802&ncid=1802&e=2&u=/washpost/20040523/ts_washpost/a48229_2004may22

Prison Visits by General Reported in Hearing
Sun May 23, 1:42 AM ET