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Military higher-ups get to the bottom of abuse scandals
JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY Knight Ridder Newspapers September 30, 2005
Well, they finally got to the bottom of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal this week. An Army court martial convicted Pfc. Lynndie England and sentenced her to three years in prison and a dishonorable discharge for holding that leash, pointing with scorn and other offenses. They've gotten to the bottom, all right. With Pfc. England's conviction, that wraps up the cases against nine enlisted soldiers who starred in those terrible digital photos in late 2003. So that's it, huh? Not exactly. We still haven't gotten to the top of this scandal, the Guantanamo problems and the questions that were raised last week by an Army captain from the 82nd Airborne Division who is troubled by, of all things, a conscience.
The Buck Stops with Lynndie
Derrick Z. Jackson Boston Globe September 30, 2005
Lynndie England is convicted. Donald Rumsfeld cackles. England, the 22-year-old private, was found guilty as prosecutors convinced an all-male Army jury that she bore full responsibility for ''her own sick humor" in the infamous photographs of her at Abu Ghraib holding a naked prisoner on a leash and smiling as she pointed at a prisoner's genitals. Defense lawyers depicted England as a depressed reservist, a mere file clerk who was compliant to authority and easy to manipulate. The defense failed as a prosecuting lawyer stained England for life with, ''What soldier wouldn't know that's illegal?" Off in much higher, more stainproof places, Rumsfeld behaved as if he were carving President Bush into Mt. Rushmore. Last week, he serenaded the press about how some of America's greatest moments were originally considered failure or folly.
Judge Orders Release of Abu Ghraib Photos
LARRY NEUMEISTER Washington Post September 30, 2005
A federal judge Thursday ordered the release of dozens more pictures of prisoners being abused at Abu Ghraib, rejecting government arguments that the images would provoke terrorists and incite violence against U.S. troops in Iraq. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein said that terrorists "do not need pretexts for their barbarism" and that suppressing the pictures would amount to submitting to blackmail.
"Our nation does not surrender to blackmail, and fear of blackmail is not a legally sufficient argument to prevent us from performing a statutory command. Indeed, the freedoms that we champion are as important to our success in Iraq and Afghanistan as the guns and missiles with which our troops are armed," he said.
'You have an illness. It is from the war, and it is real.'
KEVIN DOBBS Desmoines Register September 30, 2005
The smell of blood pooled around a dead soldier. A mother's scream as she cradled her wounded child. The screech of a mortar round that killed a close friend. They are Spc. Tyler Peters' souvenirs of war. Peters, of Spencer, went to Iraq in 2003 with an Iowa Army National Guard unit that hauled medical supplies, food and ammunition to combat zones. He came home about 17 months ago from a yearlong tour and brought with him the fear and anguish of the battlefield. It turned a laid-back 22-year-old soldier into a confused, sometimes angry and profoundly sad civilian. "You're not some crazy war vet," Peters said. "You have an illness. It is from the war, and it is real." Government doctors call it post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition that until the Vietnam generation was often dismissed as battle fatigue. It is now widely accepted among doctors and military leaders as a medical disorder.
Turkish Women Blast Karen Hughes With Iraq War Criticism
Glenn Kessler Washington Post September 30, 2005
A group of Turkish female activists confronted Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes Wednesday with heated complaints about the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, turning a session designed to highlight the empowering of women into a raw display of the anger at U.S. policy in the region. "This war is really, really bringing your positive efforts to the level of zero," said Hidayet Sefkatli Tuksal, an activist with the Capital City Women's Forum. She said it was difficult to talk about cooperation between women in the United States and Turkey as long as Iraq was under occupation. Hughes, a longtime confidant of President Bush tasked with burnishing the U.S. image overseas, has generally met with polite audiences -- many of whom received U.S. funding or consisted of former exchange students -- during a tour of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey this week.
Generals Say Iraq War Strategy Is Working WASHINGTON Sep 29, 2005 — Only one Iraqi army battalion seems capable of fighting without U.S. help, a senior American general told Congress on Thursday, leaving some lawmakers worried about worsening conditions there despite his assurances that the overall military strategy is working.
Assoc. press Abc News September 30, 2005
Pentagon Reimbursement Delays Decried
DAVID LIGHTMAN Hartford Courant September 30, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Sgt. Todd Bowers held up the gun scope - a heavy, black 8-inch cylinder - and pointed to the bullet hole.
A bullet that a sniper fired a year ago, still lodged in the narrow metal scope, would have shattered the Iraq war veteran's face and probably killed him if it had not been stopped.
It stopped largely because of the scope that the Marine's father bought at an Arizona gun show for $600 - half the usual price. Bowers had it on top of his M-16A2 rifle the night he was on security patrol outside Fallujah.
But Bowers' father never got his $600 back, even though Congress voted 11 months ago to set up a reimbursement program
White House talks up Iraq war
Correspondents The Australian September 30, 2005
GEORGE W. Bush, facing a dramatic surge of chaotic violence in Iraq, yesterday sought to buttress failing domestic support for the conflict that has killed almost 2000 Americans
Iraqis Call Lynndie England Jail Term Travesty
Waleed Ibrahim Reuters September 29, 2005
Iraqis expressed fury on Wednesday over the three-year jail sentence for Lynndie England, the U.S. soldier notorious for holding a naked inmate by a leash in Abu Ghraib prison, saying it exposed American hypocrisy. They said the sentence would have been more harsh had she been convicted of abusing Americans. "America should be ashamed of this sentence. This is the best evidence that Americans have double standards," said Akram Abdel Amir, a retired bus driver in Baghdad. "There are Iraqis in jail without any charge, just based on suspicion. But when it comes to Americans, the matter is totally different."
Torture is un-American
Editorial Board Star News on line - North Carolina September 29, 2005
John McCain and two other conservative Republican senators are right: Congress must do what it can to stop American soldiers from torturing prisoners. It’s shocking and shameful to have to make such a statement. But we have to face facts. Since the wars started in Afghanistan and Iraq, prisoners in American custody have been systematically abused, tortured and in some cases killed. We can no longer pretend these were bizarre aberrations by a handful of sadists. There is ample evidence that they were committed by intelligence officers, CIA agents and ordinary soldiers – apparently badly trained and led – who were told to “soften up” prisoners for interrogation.
Gitmo Judge Rejects Claim He's Interfering
LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press September 29, 2005
A federal judge Monday rejected a government argument that he was interfering with the president's constitutional authority to wage war by insisting that Guantanamo Bay detainees be asked if they want their names to be made public. The government raised the objection after U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff last month ordered the Defense Department to pose the question to detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval base. The judge wrote that the argument was without merit, and that it was offered improperly after he had already rejected the government's other reasons for insisting that the information not be released to The Associated Press.
Woman suicide bomber marks possible new insurgent tactic in Iraq
Lee Keath Associated Press September 29, 2005
The woman slipped into the town, passing checkpoints where women are not searched. Then, donning a man's "dishdasha" – a traditional white robe – and kaffiya headscarf, she blended in with the men waiting in line to join the Iraqi army. She then set off the explosives strapped to her body, killing six would be recruits and wounding 35 – and sparking worries over a potentially dangerous new insurgent tactic. The attack Wednesday in the northern town of Tal Afar, near the Syrian border 260 miles northwest of Baghdad, was the first successfully carried out by a female suicide bomber since Iraq's bloody insurgency began. The move exploits a hole in security that is tough to fill, especially ahead of an upcoming referendum on the country's new constitution, in which men and women are expected to be lining up at the polls. Iraqi officials on Wednesday worried about having to step up searches of women at the numerous checkpoints that guard facilities across Iraq – a process that requires extra resources and irritates cultural sensitivities.
Roadside Bombs Cause Increasing Concern in Iraq
Alisha Ryu VOICE OF AMERICA September 29, 2005
The U.S. military in Iraq is increasingly concerned about roadside bombs that are taking a greater toll on U.S. troops than at any time since dictator Saddam Hussein was toppled in April, 2003. Iraqi insurgents are assembling bigger bombs and finding better ways to hide them, often foiling American efforts to counter their effectiveness.
Iraq war leaves Americans skeptical of force-poll
reuters Reuters Alternet September 29, 2005
CHICAGO, Sept 29 (Reuters) - The war in Iraq has left Americans skeptical about the use of military force as a tool to spread democracy, according to a poll released on Thursday.
Calls Mount for Prisoner Abuse Commission
William Fisher Inter Press Service September 28, 2005
New allegations of prisoner torture in Iraq are likely to add urgency to pending legislation that would create a 9/11-type commission to investigate detainee treatment and ensure that the U.S. operates within the law on interrogations. The charges are the subject of a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW), which claims that U.S. Army troops subjected Iraqi detainees to severe beatings and other torture at a base in central Iraq from 2003 through 2004, often under orders or with the approval of superior officers, according to accounts from soldiers. "The administration demanded that soldiers extract information from detainees without telling them what was allowed and what was forbidden. Yet when abuses inevitably followed, the leadership blamed the soldiers in the field instead of taking responsibility," said Tom Malinowski, HRW's Washington director.
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