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Top pentagon officials aware of detainee abuse { June 18 2007 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wogene185260807jun18,0,7946081.story?coll=ny-worldnews-printhttp://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wogene185260807jun18,0,7946081.story?coll=ny-worldnews-print
General: Top officials knew of prison abuses
THE WASHINGTON POST
June 18, 2007
The Army two-star general who led the first investigation into detainee abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq believes senior defense officials were involved in directing abusive interrogation policies and said he was forced to retire early because of his pursuit of the issue, according to a New Yorker magazine article to be published today.
Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba said he felt mocked and shunned by top Pentagon officials, including then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, after filing an exhaustive report on the now-notorious Abu Ghraib abuse that sparked international outrage and led to an overhaul of U.S. interrogation and detention policies. Taguba's report examining the 800th Military Police Brigade put in plain terms what had been documented in shocking photographs.
In interviews with New Yorker reporter Seymour M. Hersh, Taguba said he was ordered to limit his investigation to low-ranking soldiers who were photographed with the detainees and the soldiers' unit, but it was always his sense that the abuse was ordered at higher levels. Taguba was quoted as saying he thinks top commanders in Iraq had extensive knowledge of the aggressive interrogation techniques that mirrored those used on high-value detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and that the military police "were literally being exploited by the military interrogators."
Taguba also said Rumsfeld misled Congress when he testified in May 2004 about the abuse investigation, minimizing how much he knew about the incidents. Taguba said he met with Rumsfeld and top aides the day before the testimony.
"I know that my peers in the Army will be mad at me for speaking out, but the fact is that we violated the laws of land warfare in Abu Ghraib," Taguba said, according to the article. "We violated the tenets of the Geneva Convention. We violated our own principles and we violated the core of our military values. The stress of combat is not an excuse, and I believe, even today, that those civilian and military leaders responsible should be held accountable." Taguba could not be reached.
Lawrence T. Di Rita, Rumsfeld's former spokesman at the Pentagon, disputed several of Taguba's characterizations. "Secretary Rumsfeld appreciated that General Taguba had a tough job to do and did it to the best of his abilities," Di Rita said. "I only observed Secretary Rumsfeld treating him with the respect that a general officer performing a challenging assignment deserved."
Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.
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