Army Calls Abuses of Detainees 'Aberrations'(94 cases w Abu Ghraib 1 case)

[papau]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-prison23jul23.story

Army Calls Abuses of Detainees 'Aberrations'
The study cites 94 cases of mistreatment, but incidents at Abu Ghraib are considered a single offense. Some senators doubt its thoroughness.
By Mark Mazzetti
Times Staff Writer

July 23, 2004

WASHINGTON — An Army investigation disclosed Thursday that it had reviewed nearly 100 cases involving prisoners in U.S. hands who were abused or died in custody in Iraq and elsewhere, but described the misconduct as "aberrations" committed by a few soldiers — not a systemic failure.

The report on the five-month investigation, the first of 11 inquiries sparked by sexual abuse and humiliation of war detainees in Iraq, was greeted with skepticism by Democrats and some Republicans in Congress who had expected a more critical look at the military prison system.

Some lawmakers privately questioned the timing of the report, which was released on the day the findings of the Sept. 11 commission dominated the news.

Although the investigation by Lt. Gen. Paul T. Mikolashek, the Army's inspector general, made 52 recommendations for preventing abuses in the future, it blamed the abuses on "unauthorized actions taken by a few individuals, coupled with the failure of a few leaders to provide adequate monitoring, supervision, and leadership over those soldiers."

The 94 confirmed and alleged cases — called "regrettable" in the Mikolashek report — reflect a higher figure than previously reported by the Pentagon, but the report says the number is small considering that 50,000 detainees were in U.S. custody worldwide. The cases include 20 deaths of detainees under U.S. military control, the report states. <snip>

[Dover]

1. What would one expect from any institution in charge of investigating

ITSELF! Geesh!

[saltara]

2. 'Aberrations'? Fat chance!

50,000 detainees -global gulag!

"The New York Times, Newsweek, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal have disclosed memorandums that show a pattern in which Bush administration lawyers set about devising arguments to avoid constraints against mistreatment and torture of detainees."

more... ("A Guite to the Memos on Torture" - Iraq Occupation Watch):

http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=5579

[Solly Mack]

3. everyone in the military knows this is a lie

the very nature of a chain of command makes it a lie


it's not like they were in the bush or out on patrol...away from a poc.....they were in a closed setting with a poc, with frequent visits from higer-ups...there's NO WAY this went on for any period of time and those in command didn't know...so even if they didn't give direct orders...they gave tacit approval by ingnoring it (breaking the law in the process)...point being..anyway you cut it...they are lying.

[redqueen]

4. Does this include the boys our soldiers raped?

Are they investigating that yet?

[MasonJar]

5. Is that why they asked Gonzales if they could legally torture

prisoners and he said yes?