A Timeline of the Abuse Controversy

By The Associated Press

A timeline of the military's investigations into conditions at Abu Ghraib prison and elsewhere:



_ Aug. 31-Sept. 9, 2003: Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who runs the military prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, conducts an inquiry on interrogation and detention procedures in Iraq (news - web sites). He suggests that prison guards can help set conditions for the interrogation of prisoners.


_ October-December 2003: Many of the alleged abuses at Abu Ghraib take place during this time period.


_ Oct. 13-Nov. 6, 2003. Maj. Gen. Donald Ryder, provost marshal of the Army, investigates conditions of U.S.-run prisons in Iraq, including Abu Ghraib. He finds problems throughout the prisons. Some units, including the 800th Military Police Brigade, did not receive adequate training to guard prisons, he notes. He also says military police (MPs) should not assist in making prisoners more pliable to interrogation, as their job is to keep prisoners safe.


_ Jan. 13, 2004: Army Spc. Joseph M. Darby, an MP with the 800th at Abu Ghraib, first reports cases of abuse at the prison.


_ Jan. 16: Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez orders a criminal investigation into reports of abuse at the prison by members of the brigade. The military also announces the investigation publicly.


_ Jan. 18: A guard leader and a company commander at the prison are suspended from their duties, and Sanchez admonishes Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who commanded the brigade.

~snip~
more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&ncid=542&e=7&u=/ap/20040507/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/prisoner_abuse_timeline

When was the military told that all prisoners in Iraq were to be treated in accord with the Geneva Convention? When did the military show that it understood this? Rummy is saying it happened. O.K., Rummy, prove it. I never heard this until today, and follow the news pretty closely. Must have missed it.

are the dates Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Gen. Myers all toured the prison. They all visited at different times last year, met with Karpinski. Not one lawmaker today mentioned that.

"Instead of pointing fingers at the security forces of the coalition, ... it's important for the Iraqi people to step up and provide information," Rumsfeld said at a news conference.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,96617,00.html

Later Saturday, Rumsfeld toured the cinderblock death house at the notorious Abu Ghuraib prison outside Baghdad. He stood in the stifling concrete room where condemned prisoners went to their deaths.

Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, commander of the U.S. Army military police brigade now in charge of the prison, demonstrated how prisoners were hung from ropes tied to metal bars in the ceiling. She pushed a lever and doors in the floor opened with a deafening metallic clang.

"I can tell it was designed to impose fear on all Iraqis," Rumsfeld said.

Officials inside the Pentagon knew at least a week before CBS ran the story that these pictures were out there and they failed to inform Congress, Rumsfeld, or the White House. Some may have known weeks or months beforehand.

How could they not have foreseen the devastating fall out from the publication of these pictures? This is incompetence of the grossest proportion. Blindsiding our political leaders like this has contributed to the enormous weight of the scandal. This administration has the greatest tolerance of incompetence than any organization I have ever seen !!!