The title refers to Rumsfeld; however, the last part is as vital and shocking as what Rumsfeld did and, I think, a direct consequence of what is discussed in the last paragraphs of the article.
Rumsfeld Admits He Told Jailers to Keep Detainee in Iraq Out of Red Cross View
By THOM SHANKER
Published: June 18, 2004
snip....
Also on Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee rejected a proposal by two Democratic senators, Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont and Dianne Feinstein of California, to subpoena Justice Department documents on the administration's policies regarding the treatment of prisoners. The proposal, which was rejected in a 10-9 vote, identified 23 memos, letters or reports from Sept. 25, 2001, through March of this year on topics that included the treatment of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and rules for interrogation.
According to the proposal, the documents include a memo from Mr. Rumsfeld to Gen. James T. Hill, the senior officer of the Southern Command, dated April 2003 and titled, "Coercive interrogation techniques that can be used with approval of the Defense Secretary." Another memo dated Jan. 4, 2004, written by the top legal adviser to Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the senior American commander in Iraq, and sent to military intelligence and police personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison, is titled, "New plan to restrict Red Cross access to Abu Ghraib."
Mr. Leahy and several other senators asked Attorney General John Ashcroft for some of the documents at a June 8 hearing, but Mr. Ashcroft said he would not hand them over, an aide to Mr. Leahy said.
"A formal request would have to come by way of subpoena under the rules of the Senate," said Mark Corallo, a Department of Justice spokesman. "You would think that senators would know their own Senate rules." (my note: they know this would never happen with Hatch in charge and the rest of the criminal repugs in charge.)
Before the vote was taken, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Orrin G. Hatch, told committee members that
he had read several of the memos and advised them against voting for the proposal. (my note: What???? HE has read them? what about the rest of the committee??? this is absolutely outrageous!)
"We should not reveal our interrogation techniques to our enemies," said Senator Hatch, Republican of Utah. "There must be some reasonable limits on what can and should be disclosed by the executive branch to Congress and the public about the war against terrorism." (my note: we should not confirm that we wanted torture to happen)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/18/politics/18abus.html?th