Senators say they were kept in dark about abuse

Senators say they were kept in dark about abuse
Hearings planned on report of mistreatment at Iraqi prison
Tuesday, May 4, 2004 Posted: 10:36 PM EDT (0236 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/05/04/congress.abuse/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senators from both sides of the political aisle complained Tuesday that Defense Department officials did not inform them about investigations into abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

As lawmakers vowed to hold congressional hearings on the treatment of the prisoners, one leading Democrat suggested that heads might have to roll at the Pentagon.

Sen. Joe Biden, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said if Congress doesn't get satisfactory answers from senior Pentagon officials about the abuse of prisoners in Iraq, "resignations should be sought" -- including that of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"Accountability is essential. So the question for me is, what did Secretary Rumsfeld and others in the Pentagon know, when did they know it and what did they do about it?" Biden said in a statement. "If the answers are unsatisfactory, resignations should be sought."

In his statement, Biden did not specify which senior officials might have to go. But earlier, at a private luncheon, he told his colleagues that Rumsfeld was included in the group.

--snip---

But Rumsfeld, in a Pentagon briefing Tuesday, defended his department's handling of the matter, pointing out that U.S. Central Command issued a statement in January saying an investigation into allegations of prisoner abuse was under way.

That statement contained no specific information about the charges, saying release of such material "could hinder the investigation, which is in its early stages."

---snip---

And Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said the issue did not come up last Wednesday when Rumsfeld and top Pentagon aides met with lawmakers. CBS broadcast a report on the abuse Wednesday night on "60 Minutes II."

---snip---

Lawmakers are particularly perturbed that they were not given that report by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who investigated the charges and concluded that U.S. troops inflicted "sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuse" on prisoners numerous times.

"General Taguba's report was prepared in early April, so it's been a month since that report was available," said Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. "We should have been briefed on that."

Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, who also sits on the Armed Services Committee, said "not a person gave us any indication that there was this ongoing problem, that there had been a study commissioned and that the study had been completed and that the Pentagon knew the results of the study until the article by Seymour Hersh was published" in The New Yorker magazine last week.

The problem, she said on CNN's "Wolf Blitzer Reports," "is not just in the prison in Baghdad, that goes all the way up the chain of command."

The Pentagon said Monday that Rumsfeld had not read or been briefed on Taguba's report.

does anyone honestly believe that if a senator or house member were told in secret that prisoners were being abused, that they would come out and say, "Yeah, I knew. The administration told me two months ago. I was cool with it."
I don't think so................

Incompetence reigns supreme. How ever one must remember Rum-dumb picked him because as a LAP DOG, he was a known quantity.

They didn't however pick him as a co-conspirator in War Crimes--- they picked him because he was not too bright and wouldn't rock the boat.

The last thing the NEOCONS at the time wanted was a military man with honor--- and Myers true to form and his own lack of morals did not disappoint them.

is particularly bothering to me because he is equating the secret systematic torture of prisoners with police brutality on the street. Similar actions but entirely different situations. Sufferers of police brutality have a right to obtain a lawyer and recourse in the courts.

"Although labeling the prisoners' treatment "nothing short of repugnant," House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican, said a full-scale congressional investigation won't be needed.

DeLay said an oversight congressional hearing should be sufficient, unless there is evidence the military doesn't handle its own investigations and prosecutions properly.

"But a full-fledged congressional investigation, that's like saying we need an investigation every time there's police brutality in the street," he said."

Nothing to see--move along---they are desperately wishing this whole episode will go away---It will not.

by trying to down play the seriousness of the abuses

would he be pooh-poohing it if these photos were of US troops captured by Iraqis and similarly tortured and abused?

During the ill-fated "Yes, America, We Can, And We're Going To Do It With A Canadian Bus" Tour, Chimpy told the super-patriotic Americans who showed up to applaud his war effort that the war was "good" because we got rid of the "torture," and the "rape rooms."

Not.. so.. fast, Chimpy...

Anyhow, at the end of CNN's report, the bubbly-bleach-blonde reporter informed Americans that the President has been on top of this issue since January.

I'm sure the Congress thanks you for your honesty and fortitude, Chimpy. Way to tell the Hill about the firestorm that was about to blow up in our collective faces, you Chimp, you!!!!

Again, Disgusted,
Jennifer

He is so CHRISTIAN and pro Life

Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus going on before.
Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe;
Forward into battle see His banners go!

Refrain

Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus going on before.

At the sign of triumph Satan’s host doth flee;
On then, Christian soldiers, on to victory!
Hell’s foundations quiver at the shout of praise;
Brothers lift your voices, loud your anthems raise.

The BFEE thought they could handle anything. This is a blind side,sandbag hit and it has only just begun. This has legs longer than a giraffe. Expect more leaks.