A few tidbits from the Taguba Report

What follows are direct cut/paste from the report.

(S) I find that the intentional abuse of detainees by military police personnel included
the following acts:
a. (S) Punching, slapping, and kicking detainees; jumping on their naked feet;
b. (S) Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees;
c. (S) Forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions for
photographing;
d. (S) Forcing detainees to remove their clothing and keeping them naked for several
days at a time;
e. (S) Forcing naked male detainees to wear women’s underwear;
f. (S) Forcing groups of male detainees to masturbate themselves while being
photographed and videotaped;
g. (S) Arranging naked male detainees in a pile and then jumping on them;
h. (S) Positioning a naked detainee on a MRE Box, with a sandbag on his head, and
attaching wires to his fingers, toes, and penis to simulate electric torture;
i. (S) Writing “I am a Rapest” (sic) on the leg of a detainee alleged to have forcibly
raped a 15-year old fellow detainee, and then photographing him naked;
j. (S) Placing a dog chain or strap around a naked detainee’s neck and having a
female Soldier pose for a picture;
k. (S) A male MP guard having sex with a female detainee;
l. (S) Using military working dogs (without muzzles) to intimidate and frighten
detainees, and in at least one case biting and severely injuring a detainee;
m. (S) Taking photographs of dead Iraqi detainees.

a. (U) Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees;
b. (U) Threatening detainees with a charged 9mm pistol;
c. (U) Pouring cold water on naked detainees;
d. (U) Beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair;
e. (U) Threatening male detainees with rape;
f. (U) Allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was
injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell;
g. (U) Sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick.
h. (U) Using military working dogs to frighten and intimidate detainees with threats
of attack, and in one instance actually biting a detainee.

When asked why the rules in 1A/1B were different than the rest of the wings, SGT
Davis stated: “The rest of the wings are regular prisoners and 1A/B are
Military Intelligence (MI) holds.” When asked why he did not inform his chain
of command about this abuse, SGT Davis stated: “ Because I assumed that if they
were doing things out of the ordinary or outside the guidelines, someone would
have said something. Also the wing belongs to MI and it appeared MI
personnel approved of the abuse.” SGT Davis also stated that he had heard MI
insinuate to the guards to abuse the inmates. When asked what MI said he stated:
“Loosen this guy up for us.” Make sure he has a bad night.” “Make sure he
gets the treatment.” He claimed these comments were made to CPL Granier and
SSG Frederick. Finally, SGT Davis stated that (sic): “the MI staffs to my
understanding have been giving Granier compliments on the way he has been
handling the MI holds. Example being statements like, “Good job, they’re
breaking down real fast. They answer every question. They’re giving out good
information, Finally, and Keep up the good work . Stuff like that.”

They made them do strange exercises by sliding on their stomach, jump up and down, throw water on them and made them some wet, called them all kinds of names such as “gays” do
they like to make love to guys, then they handcuffed their hands together and
their legs with shackles and started to stack them on top of each other by
insuring that the bottom guys penis will touch the guy on tops butt.”

(U) There is a general lack of knowledge, implementation, and emphasis of basic
legal, regulatory, doctrinal, and command requirements within the 800th MP Brigade
and its subordinate units. (Multiple witness statements in ANNEXES 45-91).

However, MG Fast, according to BG Karpinski, routinely denied the board’s recommendations to release detainees in this category who were no longer deemed a threat and clearly met the requirements for
release. According to BG Karpinski, the extremely slow and ineffective release
process has significantly contributed to the overcrowding of the facilities.

The Iraqi guards at Abu Ghraib BCCF) demonstrate questionable work ethics and
loyalties, and are a potentially dangerous contingent within the Hard-Site. These
guards have furnished the Iraqi criminal inmates with contraband, weapons, and
information. Additionally, they have facilitated the escape of at least one detainee.

The various detention facilities operated by the 800th MP Brigade have
routinely held persons brought to them by Other Government Agencies (OGAs)
without accounting for them, knowing their identities, or even the reason for their
detention.

----There is an extensive list of escapes and riots in several Iraqi prisons over the months, the most commonly mentioned extenuating circumstance is lack of adequate training/personell. The section ends with the following:
As I have previously indicated, this investigation determined that there was
virtually a complete lack of detailed SOPs at any of the detention facilities.
Moreover, despite the fact that there were numerous reported escapes at detention
facilities throughout Iraq (in excess of 35), AR 15-6 Investigations following these
escapes were simply forgotten or ignored by the Brigade Commander with no
dissemination to other facilities. After-Action Reports and Lessons Learned, if done
at all, remained at individual facilities and were not shared among other commanders
or soldiers throughout the Brigade. The Command never issued standard TTPs for
handling escape incidents.

Over time, the 800th MP Brigade clearly suffered
from personnel shortages through release from active duty (REFRAD) actions,
medical evacuation, and demobilization. In addition to being severely undermanned,
the quality of life for Soldiers assigned to Abu Ghraib (BCCF) was extremely poor.
There was no DFAC, PX, barbershop, or MWR facilities. There were numerous
mortar attacks, random rifle and RPG attacks, and a serious threat to Soldiers and
detainees in the facility. The prison complex was also severely overcrowded and the
Brigade lacked adequate resources and personnel to resolve serious logistical
problems.

------This is a super important sentence as to where the motivation for the soldier's actions came from:
"This effectively made an MI Officer, rather than an MP Officer, responsible for the MP units conducting
detainee operations at that facility." The soldiers weren't listening to their own bosses, instead they were following Military Intelligence Orders.

During the course of this investigation I conducted a lengthy interview with BG
Karpinski that lasted over four hours, and is included verbatim in the investigation
Annexes. BG Karpinski was extremely emotional during much of her testimony.
What I found particularly disturbing in her testimony was her complete unwillingness
to either understand or accept that many of the problems inherent in the 800th MP
Brigade were caused or exacerbated by poor leadership and the refusal of her
command to both establish and enforce basic standards and principles among its
soldiers.

Also very important not to leave out:
Throughout the investigation, we observed many individual Soldiers and some
subordinate units under the 800th MP Brigade that overcame significant obstacles,
persevered in extremely poor conditions, and upheld the Army Values. We
discovered numerous examples of Soldiers and Sailors taking the initiative in the
absence of leadership and accomplishing their assigned tasks.
The individual Soldiers and Sailors that we observed and believe should be
favorably noted include:
a. (U) Master-at-Arms First Class William J. Kimbro, US Navy Dog Handler,
knew his duties and refused to participate in improper interrogations despite
significant pressure from the MI personnel at Abu Ghraib.
b. (U) SPC Joseph M. Darby, 372nd MP Company discovered evidence of abuse
and turned it over to military law enforcement.
c. (U) 1LT David O. Sutton, 229th MP Company, took immediate action and
stopped an abuse, then reported the incident to the chain of command.

The above listed people are heroes and should be treated as such by the military, the media, and all of us.

Notice that no where is there a single mention of the mercenaries which all parties agree are also present within the Iraqi detention system.

The ACTUAL REPORT

For that small minority of people who like to read things first hand for themselves, here's the now infamous TAGUBA report which is the source of my consternation about the torture of Iraqi prisoners.

So Many Things, So Little Time

I haven't written in a week because I've been at my Uncle's housesitting and he had no internet connection, but that doesn't mean the world stopped spinning. Far from it. Indeed, every time I think we've reached the height of our problems, something comes along that makes it worse. It's getting to the point that I'm starting to wonder if those rumors about Shrub trying to push us into "The Rapture" don't have something to them. I do know that those pictures of the torture of Iraqi prisoners, and the subsequent US reaction to them have done nothing but make the entire situation worse. I suppose we could nuke Fallujah or something, but that's the only way I can think of to make matters worse than they are.
Do me a favor, every time you hear phrases like "civilian contractors" and "private security forces," think one thing, "mercenaries." That's who they are. Hired killers from the US and more disturbingly, south america. That's right, remember all the "training" we did in the 80's (and to a lesser extent in the 90's) of "paramilitary" forces in places like Columbia and El Salvador? Training that led to some of the worst human rights violations in the southern hemisphere? Well, a lot of those folks are now in Iraq, doing what they do best, torturing and killing. IN fact, in terms of sheer troop numbers it goes, US military, UK military, Mercenaries. So much for a "coalition of the willing" yeah, willing to get paid. THe mercenaries make 100,000 a year plus, our troops, who we are supposed to be "supporting" make 30 at the outside. And ALL of the money is coming from the same place, our pockets. It's a sad state of affairs. Also, the mercenaries are in a grey zone as far as the law goes. They're not subject to US law, there is no Iraqi law, and they're not subject to military codes of conduct. According to the people they've arrested in connection with the torture, it was primarily the military Intelligence folks, and the Mercenaries that were "egging on" the despicable behavior. Oh, and since they are downplaying this as much as possible on the news, it should be stressed that the people in these prisons are NOT Iraqi soldiers. They are civilians, swept up in raids and middle of the night black bag jobs, often on little or no evidence of any wrong doing.
I heard Rush say that "this is war and war isn't pretty" in an attempt to justify or at the very least downplay the actions. Like that fat fuck knows what war is like, he's spent not a single minute in a uniform of any type. Neither has Hannity, or any of these other right wing nut jobs. The Pentagon's own report is said to describe the problem as systemic, no matter how much the Shrubsters say it was the act of a few bad apples.
Which brings us to the 25 billion dollars that's "for the troops." Let's save that money and bring them home. Besides, considering the disparity in pay scale between the troops and the mercenaries, most of the cash will make it into the coffers of the mercenary company's not the pockets of the regular military whose families are all too often on food stamps.
Oh and I wanted to repeat something I heard Jenine Garafalo (Sorry if I butchered the name) say on the Daily Show. "At this point, as much as I hate to say it, I consider a vote for Bush to be a character flaw." Amen. I mean how bad do they have to fuck up before you admit Bush is an incompetent ass who's done nothing but make us all LESS safe, not more.