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Senators suspect higher ups directed abuses at abu ghraib { May 12 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/05/12/MNGMO6K22P1.DTLhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/05/12/MNGMO6K22P1.DTL
Senators suspect higher-ups directed abuses at Abu Ghraib
They query general who investigated
Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
©2004 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback | FAQ
Washington -- The general who investigated prisoner abuse in Iraq said Tuesday that he could find no evidence of a policy ordering such misconduct, but several skeptical senators said they suspect the abuse was directed by officials higher in the chain of command.
Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, whose blunt report helped lead to the unfolding of the scandal over U.S. military guards' abuse of prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, also testified that enlisted soldiers caught up in the case were convinced they were operating with the approval of military intelligence officers, CIA operatives or private contractors brought in to help interrogate Iraqi prisoners.
"Sir, we did not gain any evidence where it was an overall military intelligence policy of this sort,'' Taguba said in response to a question from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., at a marathon hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"I think it was a matter of soldiers with their interaction with military intelligence personnel who they perceived or thought to be competent authority that were giving them or influencing their action to set the conditions for successful interrogations operations,'' added Taguba, the 63-year-old career soldier who during January and February investigated the 800th Military Police Brigade's conduct as the guards at Abu Ghraib.
But Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said, "The despicable actions described in Gen. Taguba's report not only reek of abuse, they reek of an organized effort and methodical preparations for interrogation.''
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said such charges were unfounded. "I am concerned with the charge that there is a policy of abuse. ... Statements at every level of command make it clear it is absolutely forbidden,'' he said.
The partisan dispute at the hearing mirrored the broader disagreement that has surfaced since photographs of the abuse first were published two weeks ago, setting off an international furor and leading to calls for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's resignation. President Bush has said repeatedly that he stands by his Pentagon chief, who is a key architect of the administration's policy in Iraq.
Some Republicans say the abuse was the action of a small number of misguided soldiers who don't represent the vast number of Americans serving in Iraq. Some Democrats counter that they find it hard to believe that low- ranking reservists would do things such as setting guard dogs on prisoners or forcing Iraqis into sexual poses on their own. They argued that the soldiers must have been complying with directions from intelligence officers who in turn might have been acting on orders or strong hints from top brass.
Seven soldiers from the unit that Taguba described as "poorly prepared and untrained'' face court-martial, while some of their officers have been disciplined. A half-dozen administrative investigations are under way, as are congressional inquiries. One of those probes is looking specifically at the role of military intelligence and civilian contractors.
Several committee members said they fear the Bush administration is seeking to limit blame to the MP brigade, from reservist privates to their commander, reserve Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski.
Karpinski has been suspended and issued an official letter of admonishment. She has not been charged.
Specifically, Democratic senators pointed to the Pentagon decision to send Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller to Iraq in August from his post as commander of the U.S. prison in Guantanamo, Cuba, where several hundred detainees linked to al Qaeda and Afghanistan's Taliban are being held and interrogated. His mission was to figure out how to improve intelligence collected through interrogations of Iraqi detainees.
Miller recommended establishing a joint interrogation center at Abu Ghraib, and Taguba testified that tactical control of the Abu Ghraib facility was taken from Karpinski and turned over to Col. Thomas Pappas, a military intelligence colonel. The abuse documented in photographs that have caused an international furor started in October, not long after Miller's recommended changes took place.
Taguba's report said this structure "set the conditions" for the guards to help the interrogators -- possibly leading to the abuses -- by preparing the prisoners for questioning.
Stephen Cambone, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, defended the arrangement at Abu Ghraib that divided authority between Pappas and Karpinski. He maintained that Pappas, the military intelligence chief, did not control the military police guarding the prisoners.
But Taguba disagreed, saying it was his understanding that Pappas had authority over the MPs.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she thought intelligence officers were involved because of the culturally inappropriate ways in which the soldiers abused Iraqis, such as forcing men to strip or engage in simulated sex acts.
Committee Chairman Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said it appeared to him that the photos of abuse may have been staged, perhaps at intelligence officers' directions, as a way to blackmail the prisoners in an effort to force them to talk.
"They staged those photographs, which I understand were going to be shown to the prisoners' families by way of threats unless he came forward with some valuable information," Warner said.
"The plot is thickening," he added.
The question of the CIA's role was not fully discussed.
Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, the Army's intelligence chief, testified that CIA officers "visited the facility and talked to prisoners" at Abu Ghraib. He added that he knew of "no wrongdoing on their behalf."
Partisanship at the hearing broke into the open when Sen. James Inhofe, R- Okla., produced a fund-raising letter from the campaign of the Democrats' likely presidential nominee, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.
The letter decried the Abu Ghraib abuse, "the slow and inept response by President Bush,'' and invited recipients to sign a petition calling for Rumsfeld's resignation.
"I don't recall this ever having happened before in history,'' Inhofe said.
He also said the prisoners at Abu Ghraib and other American-run prisons in Iraq "wake up every morning thanking Allah that Saddam Hussein is not in charge of these prisoners.''
Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., later responded to Inhofe by saying, "I'm going to ignore some of the partisan sniping that's going on from the other side. I don't think it's particularly helpful.''
Senate hearings are scheduled to continue today, when Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers appear before the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Warner said he plans several more hearings. Levin said he wants to hear from Miller and Karpinski.
"There's all kinds of evidence that military intelligence is involved,'' Levin said.
E-mail Edward Epstein at eepstein@sfchronicle.com.
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