The Homicide Cases (Iraq) - Strong WA PO editorial.

[enough]

This is from Friday's Washington Post, but needs to be seen. I've been thinking that the focus on the prison "abuse" deflects attention from the prison murders. This editorial goes right to the point.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61941-2004May27.html


Editorial

The Homicide Cases

Friday, May 28, 2004; Page A22

PRESIDENT BUSH'S persistence in describing the abuse of foreign prisoners as an isolated problem at one Iraqi prison is blatantly at odds with the facts seeping out from his administration. These include mounting reports of crimes at detention facilities across Iraq and Afghanistan and evidence that detention policies the president approved helped set the stage for torture and homicide. Yes, homicide: The most glaring omission from the president's account is that at least 37 people have died in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and that at least 10 of these cases are suspected criminal killings of detainees by U.S. interrogators or soldiers.


The deaths reveal much about the true nature of the still-emerging prisoner scandal. First, only a minority of them occurred at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad; nine of the 10 homicides acknowledged by the Pentagon occurred elsewhere. Second, the administration has done its best to cover up the killings: They have been reported only after news of them leaked to the media, and details about most of them are still undisclosed.

No one has been criminally charged in any of the cases, even though some date to December 2002. Investigations have been shoddy and secretive. And no senior officer or administration official has accepted responsibility or been held accountable for allowing unlawful killings to take place under his or her command. Had it not been for the leak of the photographs from Abu Ghraib, which record less serious crimes, it is probable that none of the deaths in Iraq would have become public knowledge.

Take the case of Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush, the former chief of Iraqi air defenses, who died Nov. 26 at a detention facility at Al Qaim, northwest of Baghdad. After his death the Pentagon released a statement reporting that "it appeared Mowhoush died of natural causes." That was a lie. In fact, according to an autopsy report, Gen. Mowhoush died of "asphyxia due to smothering and chest compression." According to documents first obtained by the Denver Post, two soldiers slid a sleeping bag over him and rolled him repeatedly from his back to his stomach; one then sat on his chest and covered his mouth. Only after the Denver Post's report last week did the Pentagon acknowledge the truth and say that a homicide investigation was underway.

more>

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. I hope the press stays on this

but I fear they won't-at least the US press. As usual, we'll have to go overseas to find out what happens in these murder trials.

[teryang]

2. Nice sentiments

They seem to be part of the PR program. The Army, if it has any sense, will pursue these matters and prosecute insofar as they pertain to wrongdoing by their own personnel. This would be the wise course, to preserve and redeem what is left of their integrity. Waiting for leadership of Congress or anyone else might be politically convenient for the guilty, but for the rest they better get on with it. If I were a SCM or GCM authority, or any commander who has knowledge of a suspect within his command, no matter what the rank, I would sign a referral to courts-martial just to cover my own ass. Let superiors and outsiders take the fall for any uninvestigated or unprosecuted cases.

I hold out more hope of that than I do of this Congress pursuing the matter. I think that is totally unrealistic. A lot of adjectives come to mind concerning this Congress and none of them are flattering.

I think the appearance of the *resident at the service academy and the war college was meant to discourage any independent deviations of integrity among the officer corps. These political diversions by corrupt civilian leadership must be understood for what they are.

[teryang]

3. Here's an interesting tidbit

Abu Ghraib MI Officer's
Unexpected Death
by J. David Galland, Dep Ed DefenseWatch

The link to this article was posted on www.breakfornews.com. The original site is Russian:

<On Jan. 2, 2004, Command Sgt. Maj. James Stacy "Rock" Adams, the senior enlisted leader of the scandal-scarred 302nd Military Intelligence Battalion, was found dead in his apartment in Wiesbaden, Germany. He was only 43 years of age, and he had been the battalion CSM since September 2003.>

[Media_Lies_Daily]

4. Thanks for posting this...I hadn't seen it yet.