Senior officers cleared in Abu Ghraib scandal

Ok so the author does go a little overboard sometimes, but she has many good points.

Feel free to post opposing viewpoints from other articles.

Most of the rest of the world sees this as a total whitewash.

www.thebostonchannel.com...

Pentagon Report On Abuse Has To Be Joke
Top Brass Exonerated; GIs Blamed
Helen Thomas, Hearst White House columnist

POSTED: 10:14 am EDT April 28, 2005

The Pentagon has got to be kidding.

It turns out that only those rogue enlisted men and women, and one woman general, are to blame for the horrifying treatment of prisoners and detainees of the Iraqi war, according to Lt. Gen. Stanley Green, the Army Inspector General.

He cleared four senior Army officers of any responsibility for the abuse of prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison after reviewing the results of 10 separate inquiries into the prison abuse, some of which the world was able to view though photos.

In effect, his report is the final word unless there are some brave members of Congress who are willing to investigate the role of the military higher-ups who gave the green light for the severe interrogation of prisoners in U.S. custody.

The responsibility ultimately lies with President George W. Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales -- then White House counsel -- who decided that the Geneva Conventions on Humanitarian Treatment of Prisoners of War didn't apply in the "war on terrorism."

Among the military hierarchy, only Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, an Army reserve officer who commanded the military police unit at Abu Gharib, has paid a price. Karpinski, who was relieved of her command and given a written reprimand, claims she is a scapegoat and plans to fight the charge.

The military has targeted 125 individuals with either criminal or administrative charges in connection with 350 cases of abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan. Six low-ranking servicemen have been convicted or pleaded guilty to abuse-related charges.

* In a recent interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Karpinski pointed to the role of Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who had been sent from his duty at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba prison -- known as "Gitmo" -- to Iraq where his orders were to "Gitmoize" Abu Ghraib. Miller told officers there "to treat the prisoners like dogs."

Green exonerated Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, who headed the command in Iraq from June 2003 to July 2004. Green said charges against Sanchez and three of his senior deputies were "unsubstantiated."

I recall reading the Pvt. England and others were stating that they were ordered to pose for the pics by intelligence officials, have any of them fallen under review? Or is the consensus that the people charged were making it up to distract attention from them?

They should give everyone that was involved in this the maximum penality allowable for their transgressions. Just think about how many coalition soldiers have been killed by jihadis/rebels who joined the cause over those pics.

Sickening. So the spin continues. The lower ranking soldiers, who were given orders by their superiors to violate the Geneva conventions, will be burned at the stake, while the higher ranking, more privilaged and better connected goons, will get off scot free. Pathetic. So no real justice will be done, once again, the lower enlisted will get shafted for carryong out the orders of their superiors.

And people wonder why there is no respect in the American military for officers and higher ups? You now wonder why they often turn on the officers in combat, why officer ranks have the highest rate of deaths from "friendly fire"?

Unbelievable!

Pfc. England plead guilty this morning, and in a recent press conference Rumsfeld has said that General Sanchez will not be effected by the Abu Ghraib scandal.

That story was covered earlier this morning.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

But I do agree that the rest of the world cares more about this than the average american.

We continue to alienate other countries in persuit of terrorism.

[edit on 2-5-2005 by LeftBehind]