Pentagon Says Its Policy Did Not Lead to Abuses

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon has concluded that its policies did not lead to the abuse of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay and found no "explicit" pressure from top officials to use extreme interrogation methods, congressional aides said on Wednesday.
...
The report reviewed 70 investigations of confirmed abuses out of 180 closed cases. It said 23 of those happened at the point of capture when it said emotions run high in hostile conditions, aides said.

They said the report also blamed eroding U.S. conduct on the enemy's disregard for the laws of war.

While the report did not look specifically into official responsibility, it found no direct pressure from high in the chain of command that led to abusive interrogations.

The summary said it found "no evidence to support the notion that the office of the Secretary of Defense, the National Security staff, Centcom (U.S. Central Command ) or any other organization applied explicit pressure for intelligence or gave 'back-channel' permission to forces in the field to use more aggressive interrogation techniques" than authorized in the Army's manual or by the command interrogation policy.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/03/10/pentagon_says_its_policy_did_not_lead_to_abuses_1110413528/

[Trillo]

1. Sorry, I don't believe it. nt

[aquart]

2. The fox reports that the fox didn't eat those chickens.

Ignore those feathers.

[MARALE]

17. That's exactly what I thought n/t

[punpirate]

3. There were documents giving direction...

... and those documents determined the type of treatment, either by direct order or by implication. Any attempt to ameliorate the actions of the high-ups in this is a lie.

Does anyone still wonder why Bush sought to disable the ICC?

[NNN0LHI]

4. (The Pentagon has concluded that) Pentagon policies "did not lead to abuse

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5590827

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon has concluded that its policies did not lead to the abuse of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay and found no "explicit" pressure from top officials to use extreme interrogation methods, congressional aides say.

But the latest abuse report, by Navy inspector general Vice Admiral Albert Church, found breakdowns in order and discipline at some units
contributed to abuses, and said the Pentagon could have stepped in to prevent them if it had used more aggressive oversight.

Unclassified portions of the Church report are to be released on Thursday at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

The investigation -- the first overview of the abuse cases -- largely tracks the Pentagon's previous contention that its leaders were not
directly responsible for sexual and physical mistreatment of prisoners, aides familiar with it said.

more

My suggestion would be for these people to assert their Miranda rights concerning self incrimination until they have spoken to their attorneys who will be representing them during their war crimes trials.

[Wilms]

5. Ya see....

It was just a few bad apples.

Nothing to worry about.

[AlCzervik]

6. Sounds like they're blaming the troops but not themselves

or anyone in Bushland.

[Mnemosyne]

7. Fire does not burn. n/t

[grytpype]

8. the pic says it all

I saw them in Vegas by the way, they're great... they hang out with the audience after the show, very class act.

[Voltaire99]

9. Bad apple domino effect: Iraqis tricked us into torturing them!

Put fine young US stalwarts in a place where the enemy disregards the laws of war and Wal-Mart...

...and you've got the makings of Dirty Foreigner Self-Torture!

[teryang]

10. Advocacy of torture from the highest government offices

...had nothing to do with it.

:puke:

[RaRa]

11. Probe: Leaders Didn't Order Prison Abuse

"WASHINGTON - Top commanders in Iraq (news - web sites) put intense pressure on interrogators to extract useful intelligence information from prisoners, yet that does not explain the sexual humiliation and other abuse of prisoners under U.S. control, an investigation has concluded."

What a complete piece of B.S.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20050310/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/pentagon_prisoner_abuse

edit for link

[Archae]

12. Isn't the first word in the title...

A little bit off, BTW? :eyes:

[EFerrari]

13. Pants on fire.

Rumsfeld and the criminals in the Pentagon are completely shameless. When the story broke, remember he railed about DIGITAL CAMERAS and tried to blame the victims, "Oh, this is a tactic of terrorists. There will always be complaints."

This is what evil looks like.

[chlamor]

14. Probe: US Leaders Didn't Order Prison Abuse

Probe: Leaders Didn't Order Prison Abuse
Thu, Mar 10, 2005
 White House - AP Cabinet & State

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON - Senators pressed the author of the latest Pentagon (news - web sites) report on treatment of prisoners to explain his conclusion that the pressure on interrogators to produce information was not to blame for abuses in Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites).

The report, by Navy Vice Adm. Albert T. Church, said the pressure was not excessive, and found no "single, overarching reason" why prisoners under U.S. control were abused at the Abu Ghraib prison complex in fall 2003 and elsewhere in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record) of Michigan, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee (news - web sites), said Church's report "doesn't fill many of the significant gaps left by earlier investigations regarding the nature and causes of detainee abuse in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo and elsewhere."

"I can only conclude that the Defense Department is not able to assess accountability at senior levels, particularly when investigators are in the chain of command of the officials whose policies and actions they are investigating," he said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20050310/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/pentagon_prisoner_abuse

[7th_Sephiroth]

15. to wich the world says

"BULLSHIT"

[underpants]

16. We've investigated ourselves and determined we did nothing wrong

Laws of War? Good Grief.

[kliljedahl]

18. Pentagon Clears Senior Officials in Prison Abuse

By Vicki Allen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military failed to react to early signs of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and missed opportunities to correct lapses that caused prisoner abuse elsewhere but its own policies and top officials were not directly to blame, a Pentagon report said on Thursday.

The report, by Navy inspector general Vice Adm. Albert Church, was billed by the Pentagon as the broadest of its investigations into the treatment of detainees by the U.S. military, particularly in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo.

A 21-page unclassified summary released at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing largely echoed the Pentagon's previous contention that its leaders were not directly responsible for sexual and physical mistreatment of prisoners.

The full 368-page report is classified.
(Continued)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=7867341



Anybody Surprised?

[Nothing Without Hope]

20. As if anything else but a coverup could have been expected. What a farce.

And OF COURSE the report is classified - can't have anyone pointing out everything that is omitted or distorted.

I keep wondering when the familiar "None of us is responsible, trust us, we know what we're doing, we'll protect you" mantra of the criminal goons that have stolen this country will finally begin to lose its hypnotic power over the people of this country. In my darkest moments, the insidious thought comes: "Never." But I fight that belief because it would mean the loss of all hope and chance of improvement.

[blackspade]

19. cough. cough...

Bullshit.

Its like everything else in the government now.
Choose the amswer you want and fit the facts to it and ignore everything else.
Including the information that proves it false.
Hell I don't have nearly the information these guys do and it seems pretty clear to me.

[Nothing Without Hope]

21. All too apt captioned photo from AllHatNoCattle.net

[Nothing Without Hope]

22. Update on Senators' responses to this ludicrous report

is here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1301719

Expressions of disbelief, but what will be done?

[chlamor]

23. Jeezuz Freakin' Kryste

Blaming the victims much? Emotions running high tsk tsk.

Stupid children got in the way of the bombs. What were they doing playing outside anyway.

[Dem2theMax]

24. And I believe in the tooth fairy too.

:puke:

I think we'll have a collective faint if anyone in the gubment ever tells the truth about anything.

[SkipNewarkDE]

25. The Accountability Administration

Yeah. Right.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

26. Pentagon reports that the Pentagon's water supply is spiked with LSD.