Shaft the Reservists, Spare the Spooks
By Steve Weissman
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
http://truthout.org/docs_04/051404C.shtmlTony Taguba told the truth. The two-star general who investigated the "systematic and illegal abuses of detainees" at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison told Senators Tuesday exactly what he knew as truthfully as a serving military officer could. But did he tell them the whole truth?
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In other words, Gen. Taguba found no policy to do what the world saw in the Abu Ghraib prison photos. He found no direct order to commit those atrocities. And he certainly found no valid order, since torture, humiliation, and coercion of military or civilian captives violates both the Geneva Conventions and the Pentagon's own Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Who, then, did Gen. Taguba hold responsible?
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Taguba's blindness was, in part, built into his assignment, to look into what the prison guards were doing, primarily at Abu Ghraib. Ask a limited question, get a limited answer. A two-star general, he was never meant to look above the one-star, brigade level, and did not investigate Maj. Gen. Miller, Maj. Gen. Barbra Fast, the Military Intelligence chief in Iraq, or his CO, Lt. Gen. Suarez.
much more:
http://truthout.org/docs_04/051404C.shtml Me Book