Testimony Implicates Abu Ghraib Questioners(intel officers implicated)

[papau]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-lynndie6aug06.story

Testimony Implicates Abu Ghraib Questioners(intel officers implicated)

By Richard A. Serrano, Times Staff Writer


FT. BRAGG, N.C. — U.S. Army intelligence officers often physically and mentally tormented detainees in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, but only once were any held accountable for their misconduct, according to testimony heard Thursday in a military court.

The statements contradicted the government's position that only seven rogue soldiers — all military police — were directly responsible for the abuse. The latest accounts in the unfolding scandal came on the third day of a preliminary hearing into charges against Pfc. Lynndie R. England, 21, who is one of six facing possible court-martial. The seventh has pleaded guilty.<snip>

But several military interrogators and others described for the first time Thursday a variety of harsh treatments they said were meted out by the intelligence squad itself. The torment, they said, ranged from forcing nude prisoners to drag their genitals across a dirty prison floor to scaring prisoners with police dogs and breaking tables in front of them. One interrogator allegedly told a prisoner, "I wish I could kill you right now."

Spc. Israel Rivera, an intelligence analyst, testified that his colleagues reveled in the misconduct, much like the prison guards: "It was just something out of sport. It was like, 'Hey, do you want to see something cool?' "<snip>

[annabanana]

1. It's so immportant.....

That that poor ignorant girl not be scapegoated for the policies that were "winked at" from so much higher up the food chain. I also want to see the role of "contractors" fully investigated here. Those are the ones we pay top dollar for.

[Jack Rabbit]

2. So much for the "few bad apples" theory

I don't really think the right wing shrills who promote that nonsense really believe it, anyway.

PFC England did some terrible things, but she must not be made a scapegoat for all that is evil about the neoconservatives' offshore gulag system. There were authorities above her and the other enlisted personnel at Abu Ghraib who are responsible for the rules and guidelines under which these torture chambers operate. Not only did they not take care that these rules and guidelines were in compliance with the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions and the Convention against Torture, but they were clearly regarded these bodies of international humanitarian law as a nuisance which needed to be subverted and disregarded.

Specifically, those responsible for the operation of US detention centers in ways contrary to international law are Mr. Bush, Mr. Rumsfeld, Mr. Feith, General Miller and Alberto Gonzales, the White House Counsel. If PFC England is to answer for her actions, so should they.

[annabanana]

3. MSNBC just reported that............

testimony yesterday claimed that the prisoners were naked "just because the prison ran out of jumpsuits" and "the only thing available was ladies undies." "They were naked out of choice"
What a massive steaming pile of bovine waste THAT is!