In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Let the War Crimes Trial Begin
Magazine Reports That Rumsfeld OKd Interrogation Plan
The Pentagon on Sunday tried to quash a report that abuse of Iraqi prisoners grew out of a secret plan approved by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to toughen interrogation methods to fight a growing insurgency.
Back in World War II you hear stories of German soldiers making sure that they surrendered to American troops. Why? Because Americans were known to have treated their prisoners with decency. This saved the lives of American troops and gained us a world wide reputation of being the "good guys." Another American treasure crushed under the boot of Bush's "sometimes hurting someone feels good" foreign policy.
The article in question:
THE GRAY ZONE
The roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie not in the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists but in a decision, approved last year by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to expand a highly secret operation, which had been focussed on the hunt for Al Qaeda, to the interrogation of prisoners in Iraq. Rumsfeld’s decision embittered the American intelligence community, damaged the effectiveness of élite combat units, and hurt America’s prospects in the war on terror.
According to interviews with several past and present American intelligence officials, the Pentagon’s operation, known inside the intelligence community by several code words, including Copper Green, encouraged physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners in an effort to generate more intelligence about the growing insurgency in Iraq. A senior C.I.A. official, in confirming the details of this account last week, said that the operation stemmed from Rumsfeld’s long-standing desire to wrest control of America’s clandestine and paramilitary operations from the C.I.A.
Hey, don't worry, Bush says Rumsfeld is doing a "superb job" and Uncle Dick chimes in adding that Rumsfeld is "the best secretary of defense the United States has ever had."
- rob 12:46 PM - [PermaLink] -
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