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To: mishedlo who wrote (287006)	5/12/2004 7:00:20 PM
From: Elroy Jetson	Respond to of 436258

Rumsfeld approved 'harsh' interrogation theage.com.au US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld approved the use of "harsh" interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay, including stripping detainees naked, making them hold "stress" positions and depriving them of sleep, a Pentagon official has confirmed. Stephen Cambone, the under-secretary of defence for intelligence, also said severe interrogation techniques, including the use of dogs to intimidate prisoners, had been approved by military commanders in Iraq. But Mr Cambone, Mr Rumsfeld's top intelligence official, insisted that all US soldiers in Iraq were under orders to obey the Geneva Convention. He denied that the US military leadership had helped create a climate for prison abuse. Mr Cambone was speaking at a Senate hearing to investigate the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, and to determine whether the seven low-ranking guards facing courts martial for physical and sexual abuse of prisoners were following orders. Revealing the interrogation methods allowed in Iraq, the Senate Armed Services Committee released a single page titled "Interrogation Rules of Engagement", listing two categories of measures. The first showed basic techniques approved for all detainees, while the second involved tougher measures that required approval by Lieutenant-General Ricardo Sanchez, commander of US forces in Iraq. Among the items on the second list were stress positions for up to 45 minutes, sleep deprivation for up to 72 hours and use of muzzled dogs. Mr Cambone said the Bush Administration's policy has been to apply the Geneva Convention to the interrogation and other treatment of detainees in Iraq, but several senators expressed doubts about whether some of the listed techniques conformed with international limits. Major-General Antonio Taguba, who wrote a damning army report on abuse at Abu Ghraib, told the committee he found no evidence "of a policy or a direct order given to these soldiers to conduct what they did". However, he said the scandal was a result of "failure of leadership . . . lack of discipline, no training whatsoever and no supervision", and he criticised a command decision to put the jail under the control of a military intelligence unit. Critics have argued that Mr Rumsfeld's decision to suspend Geneva Convention safeguards for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, and the transfer to Iraq of interrogation techniques used there, helped create the conditions for the Abu Ghraib scandal, even if no order was issued to use torture. "The despicable actions described in General Taguba's report not only reek of abuse, they reek of an organised effort and methodical preparation for interrogation," Democrat senator Carl Levin said. According to Senator Levin, an unpublished annexe to the Taguba report stated that "sleep management, sensory deprivation, isolation longer than 30 days and dogs" were described as a "permissible technique for use in the Iraqi theatre" on condition that the commanding general gave approval "prior to employment". Mr Cambone said the techniques had been approved by US commanders in Iraq, not by the Pentagon. However, he confirmed that Mr Rumsfeld had last year approved a new set of techniques, but insisted on being asked for permission each time this "stress matrix" was used. General Taguba stood by his inquiry's finding that military police jailers should not have been involved in conditioning Iraqi detainees for interrogation, even as Mr Cambone disputed that conclusion. Mr Cambone said that the military police and military intelligence needed to work closely to gain as much intelligence as possible from the prisoners. Mr Cambone also said that General Taguba misinterpreted the November order, which he said only put the intelligence unit in charge of the prison facility, not of the military guards. While General Taguba depicted the abuses at the prison as the acts of a few soldiers under a fragmented and inept command, he also said that "they were probably influenced by others, if not necessarily directed specifically by others". His report called for an inquiry into the culpability of intelligence officers, which is still under way. The unusual public sparring between a two-star army general and one of Mr Rumsfeld's most trusted aides cast a spotlight on the confusing conditions at the prison last year when the worst abuses occurred, as well as the sensitive issue of whether the Pentagon's thirst for better intelligence to combat Iraqi insurgents contributed to the climate there. Guardian, New York Times, Washington Post

To: mishedlo who wrote (287006)	5/12/2004 9:22:48 PM
From: Terry Maloney	Respond to of 436258

Seems like he's admitting the scandal goes to the very top of the chain of command after all ... What a doofus. <g/ng>

To: mishedlo who wrote (287006)	5/12/2004 9:47:04 PM
From: Gut Trader	Respond to of 436258

News Snippets don't do "justice" to the "Passion of Rumsfeld" search.barnesandnoble.com Rumsfeld's War: The Untold Story of America's Anti-Terrorist Commander From the Publisher The man in the cockpit fighting the war on terror. When terrorists crashed a plane into the Pentagon, he was there—helping carry the wounded to safety. And he’s been there—leading the war on terror, directing its operations around the world in both open and covert missions, and bluntly focusing on one primary goal: killing terrorists. He is Donald Rumsfeld. His great fear was a second Pearl Harbor. When it happened on September 11, 2001, he led the charge to make sure it never happens again. This book takes you inside Rumsfeld’s Pentagon, detailing the far-sighted, courageous decisions he has made to enable our military to fight this most unconventional of wars. Rowan Scarborough, veteran national security reporter for the Washington Times, has had access to Rumsfeld himself as well as to numerous never-before-released documents that show not only how Rumsfeld is fighting the war, but how he is fighting the bureaucracy and remaking the American military, shifting the focus from the ingrained “can’t-do” bureaucracy to the special operations Green Berets, SEALs, and others who live by “can-do.” Many of Rumsfeld’s hard-won victories are revealed here for the first time. Scarborough interviewed scores of Rumsfeld’s friends and colleagues, including former president Gerald Ford, economist Arthur Laffer, former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and many military personnel. He also provides details of some highly secretive Pentagon operations—carried out under Rumsfeld’s supervision by groups that most Americans don’t even know exist. In addition, Scarborough offers an enlightening comparison between Rumsfeld’s decisiveness and willingness to act and declare a war on terror and the Clinton administration’s lassitude, distraction, and treatment of terrorism as a law enforcement issue during al Qaeda’s astonishingly rapid rise in the 1990s. Scarborough concludes that history will surely judge Rumsfeld as “one of America’s most important defense leaders.” Rumsfeld’s War reveals why—and how much of the bold new military strategy and vision that we are implementing now in the war on terror we owe to one brilliant, brave, and tenacious man: Donald Rumsfeld.