How the military treated some inmates at Abu Ghraib like 'ghosts'

[UpInArms]

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/040621/usnews/21abughraib.htm

The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, issued a classified order last November directing military guards to hide a prisoner, later dubbed "Triple X" by soldiers, from Red Cross inspectors and keep his name off official rosters. The disclosure, by military sources, is the first indication that Sanchez was directly involved in efforts to hide prisoners from the Red Cross, a practice that was sharply criticized by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba in a report describing abuses of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

Taguba blamed the 800th Military Police Brigade, which guarded the prison, for allowing "other government agencies"--a euphemism that includes the CIA--to hide "ghost" detainees at Abu Ghraib. The practice, he wrote, "was deceptive, contrary to Army doctrine, and in violation of international law." Taguba's report did not cite the November 18 directive issued by Sanchez to hide Triple X, identified as a high- ranking terrorist. It is not known if Taguba saw the directive. He declined to comment. The Army said it could not discuss a classified order.

The disclosure of Sanchez's involvement may focus more attention on him. There have been reports that his top Army lawyers sought to curb Red Cross access to Abu Ghraib, only weeks after the humanitarian agency uncovered abuses and sexual humiliation at the prison late last year. Some Army officers, including Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, the commander of the 800th MP Brigade, have blamed Sanchez's staff for refusing to release security detainees from Abu Ghraib even when they were believed to pose no threat to coalition forces.

Karpinski says Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast, who is Sanchez's top intelligence officer, was a major obstacle to releasing detainees. Fast, she says, served with her and a third officer on a detainee release board and vetoed recommendations to release inmates from the overcrowded facility, even after determining that they were of no intelligence value. "She did not want to release the next Osama bin Laden," Karpinski says. "She had a certain kind of paranoia." Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the top military spokesman in Iraq, denies that Fast had veto authority and says most board decisions were unanimous.

...more...

[Just Me]

1. That son-of-a-bitch conspirator!!!

Evidence is absolutely pouring in that there was indeed a conspiracy to both commit and coverup war crimes.

This administration and nearly every single one of its appointees have shamed this country. They are completely without honor and deserve no respect.

I abhor them.

[celestia671]

4. Aw come on now!

Ronnie Raygun is dead, that makes all the bad go away!:spank:

It's so convenient for this administration, that when scandals start breaking and people start to wake up and smell the shit coming out of Washington, that something happens to take up all of the news time. It's like they're saying, 'Hey, look over there!' It's all about diversion.

[Joanne98]

2. Triple X

Sick fuckers. May they all die and rot in Hell with Reagan.

[Solly Mack]

3. So Fast didn't want to release the "next OBL" BUT Bush Unleashed

the next Hitler and his ah.. " few bad apples"

[TahitiNut]

5. Sanchez should be busted to Private and jailed for 10 years.

This is the total opposite of "Duty, Honor, Country" ... and, if not punished severely, will embed even more corruption in the military.

[shraby]

6. Sanchez should be busted right

out of the service! He doesn't deserve to wear the uniform...neither does Fast. And their retirement and all benefits stripped.

[Cronus Protagonist]

7. Triple X = BERG?

Will we ever know?

BLAME BUSH FIRST!

Click here for "BLAME BUSH FIRST", and other fair and balanced yet stunning buttons, magnets and stickers

[Just Me]

10. What does that mean?

The "Triple X" thingy?

[daleo]

14. From the times given in the story (and physical description)

Triple X could not have been Berg. The story begins last fall, whereas Berg was presumably still in the U.S. at that time. Also, the man involved is described as 40ish, and middle eastern, as I recall. I wonder about the timing though, and how it relates to the Bush visit to Iraq, and also the torture of prisoners that seemed to be at a peak about then. Was Triple X killed, and is that why they were keeping his identity secret and hidden from the Red Cross?

The story mentions that it may have been connected to the capture of Saddam, which was Dec 13 or so.

[Trillo]

8. Sanchez? Naw, just a few bad privates?

I don't suppose that Gen. Sanchez had ever heard of the Geneva Convention? Surely he's just a flunkie.

[JohnyCanuck]

9. Goes without saying of course,

that if Saddam was caught using these tactics on US troops, the shameless media whores and politicians would be shitting their pants in indignation 24/7 demanding that every man jack involved be tried for war crimes and using this example of the barbarism of the Iraqis to further inflame the passions of every propagandized Fox and CNN viewer in the land. Rush and Hannity would of course use it as further evidence that Iraq had to be nuked immediately.

[Just Me]

11. WTF is with these people?

Are they freakin' brainwashed or psycho or what?

Oh *chuckle* yeah,...I forgot,...they were all appointed by psycho-boy Bush and his hellish heros.

:crazy:

[LittleApple81]

12. Barbara Fast's name has been "peaking" out from all these

reports from the beginning...but they did not want that to happen. She is the director of the school where they TRAIN THE PRIVATE CONTRACTOR INTERROGATORS.

see here
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/006412.html

Here is the link to the Fort Huachuca site.
http://usaic.hua.army.mil/

But One of the weirdest things I found is this NAZI sounding statement in their recreation activities page:
This site is provided as a public service by U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command . (Note: maybe this is normal army talk and I am becoming super-paranoic).
http://www.mwrhuachuca.com/

I do have a question: is it normal for all US army facilities to offer these many amenities?????

[daleo]

13. Hiding people from the Red Cross is very troublesome

I recall one of the "contractor diaries" described how they made sure the some prisoners were kept from talking to the Iraqi Governing Council representatives. Hiding prisoners from the Red Cross and other responsible agencies is troublesome and probably illegal for obvious reasons. It reminds one of the kind of thing that Pinochet did.

And, they still haven't revealed the fate of this "triple X", as far as I could tell from the story.

[lebkuchen]

15. The Nazis used the same tactic

no surprise that the GOP would dig it out of the archives.

[Rex]

16. Osama Bin Laden?

Hell, if we live in a Causal Universe then we have created 1000s of OBLs. Everyone give Fubya a round of applause...he created terrorists to keep profits rolling into Carlyle coffers. That would make him the biggest terrorist on the planet.

[LittleApple81]

17. kick n/t

[struggle4progress]

18. kick

:kick: