[Mb-civic] Rumsfeld Misleads about Prison Abuse

[The Daily Mislead]

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THE DAILY MIS-LEAD
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RUMSFELD MISLEADS ABOUT PRISON ABUSE

Speaking yesterday in Phoenix, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld claimed that there was no way that he and other top military officials could have known about the abuse and torture that took place at Abu Ghraib and other prisons. Rumsfeld said, "if you are in Washington, D.C., you can't know what's going on in the midnight shift in one of those many prisons around the world."[1] But a classified portion of a report by three Army generals (the Fay report) - obtained by the New York Times - found that the atrocities that took place in military prisons were the result of actions taken at the top of the military hierarchy. 

According to secret sections of the Fay report, the former top commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez "approved the use in Iraq of some severe interrogation practices intended to be limited to captives held in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and Afghanistan."[2] Moreover, "by issuing and revising the rules for interrogations in Iraq three times in 30 days, General Sanchez and his legal staff sowed such confusion that interrogators acted in ways that violated the Geneva Conventions."[3] 

A separate investigation headed by former defense secretary James R. Schlesinger "faulted the Pentagon's top civilian and military leadership yesterday for failing to exercise adequate oversight and allowing conditions that led to the abuse of detainees in Iraq."[4] Rumsfeld was cited specifically for contributing to "confusion over what techniques were permissible for interrogating prisoners in Iraq."[5] 

Sources: 

1. "Rumsfeld: No plans to resign ," Arizona Daily Star, 8/27/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1136375&l=52355. 
2. "Army's Report Faults General in Prison Abuse," New York Times, 8/27/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1136375&l=52356. 
3. Ibid, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1136375&l=52356. 
4. "Top Pentagon Leaders Faulted in Prison Abuse," Washington Post, 8/25/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1136375&l=52357. 
5. Ibid, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1136375&l=52357. 

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