Rumsfeld escapes blame in 'whitewash' Abu Ghraib report

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Rumsfeld escapes blame in 'whitewash' Abu Ghraib

report

 

By Julian Coman in Washington

(Filed: 15/08/2004)

 

A Pentagon report on prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib

prison is being labelled a whitewash before it has

even been released.

 

The report is the result of the internal inquiry

launched by Gen George Fay in April after the now

notorious images of mistreated Iraqi prisoners were

broadcast around the world. Critics are arguing that

its final conclusions, some of which were leaked last

week to the Baltimore Sun, amount to a deliberate

cover-up to protect senior military and civilian

figures in the Pentagon.

 

Due to be published by the end of the month, the

report will call for disciplinary procedures to be

launched against up to two dozen military intelligence

officers, all of whom arrived at Abu Ghraib last

October, when the worst abuses began. But no action

against senior military figures will be called for.

 

Even more controversially, the role of the Secretary

of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, has been judged to be

outside the investigation's remit, despite allegations

that extreme treatment of prisoners was authorised at

the highest levels. Last month, Brig-Gen Janis

Karpinski, the commander formerly in charge of Abu

Ghraib, alleged that Mr Rumsfeld had authorised the

use of " dogs, food deprivation and sleep deprivation " .

 

" This is a whitewash - a carefully orchestrated one, "

said a lawyer who has liaised with military officials

involved in the case. " People in the Pentagon have

been coming to me in a fury because of the way this

has been handled. By naming military intelligence

officials as well as the seven military police who

have been charged, it will look like action has been

taken. But basically it's still the same storyline of

just a few bad apples, way down the food chain. "

 

The decision to limit the investigation to military

personnel has caused huge controversy within the

Pentagon. " Some of the military lawyers are

incandescent, " said one Pentagon adviser. " There's

been a deliberate attempt to make sure the buck stops

well before it gets to the doors of the civilian

hierarchy. "

 

Critics of Mr Rumsfeld allege that a high-level

Pentagon decision to toughen up interrogation

conditions in Iraq was taken last autumn. Senior

civilians at the Department of Defence sanctioned the

transfer of Major-Gen Geoffrey Miller from Guantanamo

to Abu Ghraib, where he allegedly told senior officers

that he was authorised to " Gitmo-ise " interrogation

procedures.

 

A separate Pentagon investigation into the Abu Ghraib

scandal, chaired by the former CIA director James

Schlesinger, is expected to criticise Mr Rumsfeld and

senior aides for failing to set clear interrogation

rules for Iraq. But according to the rules by which

this investigation, unlike the Fay report, was set up,

Mr Schlesinger's panel is not allowed to enter into

" matters of personal accountability " .

 

Speaking under condition of anonymity, Pentagon

officials said last week that military intelligence

officials found to have orchestrated detainee abuse

will face sanctions such as loss of pay and reduction

in rank. The most serious misdemeanours will lead to

court martial.

 

Almost all the officials named in the report belong to

the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade. Its

commander, Col Thomas Pappas, has already received a

written reprimand for failing to ensure that the

Geneva Conventions were followed.

 

Of the seven military police already charged, Cpl

Jeremy Sivits has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to

a year in prison. Pte Lynndie England, who was

pictured dragging a naked Iraqi man through the prison

on a leash, is awaiting trial.

 

" The handling of the Fay inquiry has been a very

smooth operation, " said a lawyer familiar with the

report. " The focus has been kept on Iraq and on the

'grunts' in uniform. "

 

4 July 2004: Rumsfeld gave go-ahead for Abu Ghraib

tactics, says general in charge

13 June 2004: Interrogation abuses were 'approved at

highest levels'

20 May 2004: US soldier jailed and thrown out of army

for Iraq prison abuse