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Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse

Bump and Update: The ACLU criticizes the clearing of the officers.

These findings only show that the President must appoint a special counsel -- who is not beholden by rank or party and who is able to look up the military chain of command. We need to make accountable those who are putting our own soldiers at risk of torture and who tarred America’s image in the world community," said Anthony D. Romero, ACLU Executive Director. "The Army has released thousands of pages of internal documents -- after months of stonewalling -- that clearly show that the command breakdown that led to these abuses was more than the work of one scapegoated officer. As we continue to receive more information, the government cannot ignore the systematic nature of the torture that implicates the military chain of command to the very top."

Original Post:

The Army has cleared four top officers of wrongdoing in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandals.

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who became the senior commander in Iraq in June 2003, two months after the fall of Baghdad, had been faulted in earlier investigations for leadership lapses that may have contributed to prisoner abuse. He is the highest ranking officer to face official allegations of leadership failures in Iraq, but he has not been accused of criminal violations.

After assessing the allegations against Sanchez and taking sworn statements from 37 people involved in Iraq, the Army's inspector general, Lt. Gen. Stanley E. Green, concluded that the allegations were unsubstantiated, said the officials who were familiar with the details of Green's probe.

This report sounds a lot different than earlier ones.

He issued a policy on acceptable interrogation techniques on Sept. 14, 2003, then revised it on Oct. 12, about the time the abuses were happening. The Army inspector general found in an investigation last year that the policies were ambiguous and subject to misinterpretation by soldiers.

A separate investigation by a panel headed by former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger concluded that Sanchez should have taken stronger action in November 2003 when he realized the extent of problems among military intelligence and military police units running Abu Ghraib.

A subsequent Army investigation, made public last summer in what was called the Kern-Fay-Jones report, concluded that although Sanchez and his most senior deputies were not directly involved in the bases at Abu Ghraib, their "action and inaction did indirectly contribute" to some abuses.

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    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 05:56:29 PM EST
    Whew, that's a relief. For a while there, I was positive that the entire military chain of command was corrupt and had covered up their authorizing torture, esp. after the Gonzales memos came to light. Not to mention Bush smirking during one SOTU that some unknown enemy of the US was "no longer" a problem, or those pix from Abu Ghraib, or those videotapes that are too hideous to release, or the numerous reports from various sources of "extraordinary renditions" and torture at a considerable number of military prisons or outside contractors of the military. Glad to learn I was mistaken.

    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#2)
    by Che's Lounge on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 06:01:06 PM EST
    Now I get it. The higher up you are, the less responsibility you have (to take). How corporate.

    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#3)
    by jondee on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 06:16:03 PM EST
    The buck stops there. If Clinton had only captured the evil mastermind/puppet-master, we would have been spared all this. I wouldnt trade that outcome for all the oil fields in Iraq.

    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#4)
    by Johnny on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 06:58:16 PM EST
    What a surprise...

    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 08:34:43 PM EST
    Vlad the Impaler would be proud.

    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Apr 23, 2005 at 03:50:36 AM EST
    If the brass had to suffer ANY results from the long string of screw-ups, it would be necessary to take it out on the troops, and they have it hard enough. The people making all the mistakes are infallible.

    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#7)
    by chris on Sat Apr 23, 2005 at 05:35:49 AM EST
    Sadly unsurprising. I do wonder what the Schlesinger and Fay panel members think (and sometimes do wonder whether Tillie Fowler , who served on the first as well as half-a-dozen other such inquiries, died of grief. My first thought on reading the report, frankly. was wondering if this might eventually, should it prove necessary, clear the way to the ICC, -- or whether the inquiry will meet the complementarity provisions, and get the U.S. off the hook of international law, too.

    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Apr 23, 2005 at 06:56:18 AM EST
    Karpinski did not go away unscathed. It figures. I have a sense that the others worked around her command of the troops at the facility to do what they wanted. She broke ranks a bit early and spoke frankly. I think she could see it coming that they had worked around her command and that she would take the fall if there was trouble. I think her first name is Janis, but you can call her Patsy.

    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#9)
    by theologicus on Sat Apr 23, 2005 at 08:40:46 AM EST
    The implications of this outcome are farreaching and ominous.

    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Apr 23, 2005 at 08:44:51 AM EST
    Theologicus: The implications of this outcome were as predictable as the results of a "free election" in the Soviet Union.

    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Apr 23, 2005 at 09:17:55 AM EST
    Doctor Ace, By Jove, you're right and I apologize. I had no idea that Gorbachev would become Premier. But I knew the Abu Ghraib bigwigs would be cleared of all wrongdoing. So the exoneration of the upper crust in Abu Ghraib was even more predictable than a "free election" in the Soviet Union. Thank you for pointing to the need for a correction.

    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Apr 23, 2005 at 09:33:10 AM EST
    Please note when the announcement was made: Friday afternoon; a virtual guarantee that it would be below the news radar.

    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#13)
    by Walter on Sat Apr 23, 2005 at 09:50:54 AM EST
    From my experience with the Disciplinary Counsel of the Supreme Court of Ohio and assistant disciplinary counsel Kenneth Donchatz ignoring the facts and fabricating evidence and then basing his determination on his own fabrication, I really don't believe that any professional group can police themselves.

    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#14)
    by Repack Rider on Sat Apr 23, 2005 at 10:21:03 AM EST
    It turns out that the orders were given by the janitor. He is being tortured as we speak to reveal the details.

    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Apr 23, 2005 at 05:04:36 PM EST
    It always will help its own, but what about the other guys who were following orders? prison for the nothing guys, and clearing the gugs who ordered it done, sounds like a bush plan, for freedom.

    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#16)
    by jerry on Sat Apr 23, 2005 at 05:34:42 PM EST
    No surprise here. Let the guy at the bottom be the pissing post. It's always been that way and it was when I was in in the 60's. Even the guy that took the fall for the Mi lie massacre, who was an officer, managed to save some General's ass along the way. And they wonder why no one is rushing to enlist!

    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Apr 23, 2005 at 05:46:22 PM EST
    I'll bet Hitler is smiling, in hell.

    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#19)
    by Sailor on Sat Apr 23, 2005 at 08:27:28 PM EST
    Interesting parallels to Mylai: Flasback to 1971 - Lt. William Calley found guilty of premeditated murder in the Mylai Massacre. And how much time did he spend for murder in the first?: Calley served less than five months of his sentence before receiving a pardon from President Nixon.

    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#20)
    by john horse on Sun Apr 24, 2005 at 05:07:01 AM EST
    If actions speak louder than words, then what does it say about an administration and a military command that sends our young men and women to fight and die in Iraq while making these soldiers take the fall for their screwups?

    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#21)
    by theologicus on Sun Apr 24, 2005 at 08:12:10 AM EST
    tristero, Thanks for the non sequitur. Though I agree it was predictable.

    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#22)
    by Walter on Sun Apr 24, 2005 at 09:12:48 AM EST
    as I wrote to Ohio attorney general Jim Petro, I never expected the process to be entirely fair but I would never have guessed that Patricia Walker, the investigator for the Medina County Bar Association and assistant disciplinary counsel Donchatz would have resorted to outright fraud and tampering with evidence in dismissing my case. I also never would have guessed that the entire Ohio Supreme Court would accept and condone falsification, fabrication ,fraud and tampering with evidence by anyone connected to Ohio's justice system. Do I really think that the military can do any better than the justices on Ohio's supreme court? No

    Re: Army Clears Officers in Abu Ghraib Abuse (none / 0) (#23)
    by Walter on Mon Apr 25, 2005 at 11:07:34 AM EST
    Is downward "buckpassing" really that unusual anywhere?