U.S. General Says Bush Admin Committed War Crimes
You don't see this story in the headlines. It's being listed as a 'side' or 'back page' story.
LONDON -- A former U.S. general said graphic images of rape and torture are among the photos of Iraqi prisoner abuse that President Barack Obama's administration does not want released.
Retired Major Gen. Antonio Taguba, who oversaw the U.S. investigation into the abuses at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, was quoted as telling Britain's Daily Telegraph in an article Wednesday that he agreed with Obama's decision not to release the pictures...
According to the Telegraph, the new photos depicted much more serious abuses than previously documented. One photo reportedly showed an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner and another was said to show a male translator raping a male detainee, the paper reported.
The Telegraph said the photos related to 400 cases of alleged abuse between 2001 and 2005 at Abu Ghraib and six other prisons.
That was FOX NEWS report. The following report on ChattahBox.com MSNBC is a bit more specific with details of abuse:
Although Taguba's 2004 report detailed incidents of rape of detainees, it was not revealed that photos existed of the shocking abuses, until now. Some of the unreleased photographs show detainees being raped and sexually abused with objects, such as a truncheon, wire, a phosphorescent tube and a policeman's baton.
One photo also shows a female prisoner with exposed breasts after her clothing was forcibly removed.
Maj. Gen Taguba saw the horrors first hand during his Abu Ghraib investigation and he believes the Bush administration is guilty of war crimes.
In a preface to a report by Physicians for Human Rights on prisoner abuse and torture in U.S. military prisons Taguba wrote: "There is no longer any doubt that the current administration committed war crimes. The only question is whether those who ordered torture will be held to account."
Note the SIX OTHER PRISONS statement and the years of 2001 through 2005. The famous Abu ghraib story came out in 2004. This means torturing and abuse was happening way past that time that we were told it was just "A Few Bad Apples" that committed the crimes.
If the General that investigated the abuse thinks it's a war crime -- shouldn't the rest of us?
War Crimes. Full stop!
May 28, 2009 11:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
If Bush did it, it's "war crimes."
But when Obama's boys abuse prisoners at Guantanamo, "breaking bones, gouging eyes, squeezing testicles, and 'dousing' them with chemicals." it's all in good fun!
Harharharhar!!!
Bush and Obama... just a couple of Harvard boys who made good!
Chug that koolaid! Tote that barge!
Hope and change!
Except at Guantanamo, nothing has changed, and there's no honking HOPE for the tortured prisoners.
May 28, 2009 8:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm very pro-Obama and I agree with you that torture is torture no matter who's in power and that it must be stopped as a first priority of governance. I think elimination of torture and full restoration of habeas corpus should be activism's sole goal until these abuses are stopped permanently, with trials and convictions for those responsible, top to bottom. Meanwhile, organize on all progressive issues and be ready to carry on once the prime directive is achieved.
May 28, 2009 8:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yep, war crimes.
May 28, 2009 12:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
.
Well . . .
War Crimes? It's been my mantra since the Bush administration ordered the invasion of a sovereign nation without cause.
And yes ... This torture issue is another crime to add to the long list.
~OGD~
May 28, 2009 2:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Long list, indeed!
May 28, 2009 2:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
It sure looks that way to me. Maybe there is more here than I initially thought. Maybe, in fact, there are investigations that 'we' really are not aware of.
I hope so!
Great Post Coonsey. As usual.
May 28, 2009 2:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Still, nothing would be better than an independent investigation.
May 28, 2009 2:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks DickDay.
And YES Matyra, we need an independent investigation and LIVE TELEVISED trials of those guilty.
May 28, 2009 3:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
thanks Coonsey for keeping this at the forefront. I just instinctively believed that what has occurred is even worse than what has been portrayed. I don't know what it would take for Obama to say "ENOUGH!" and call for a war crimes special investigation.
Seriously, what would have to happen?
May 28, 2009 3:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anyone convinced that Bush or Cheney or Rumsfeld will ever be frog marched for this shit? I'm not.
May 28, 2009 3:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama doesn't wanna upset anyone...wants to "move on"...Damn!!!
May 28, 2009 7:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Taguba has made this assertion previously in the past few weeks but it didn't get much attention.
May 28, 2009 4:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
I thought this looked too familiar.
May 29, 2009 1:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
WHAT does it take to get General Takuba in front of the vast audience of couch potatoes?
May 28, 2009 5:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
WHAT does it take to get General Takuba in front of the vast audience of couch potatoes?
May 28, 2009 5:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is significant, and thank you for highlighting it.
May 28, 2009 7:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Perhaps General Takuba should go on Talk Shows and radio shows to discuss this. Not only shows like Olbermann or Maddow or Hardball; but shows like Today and Morning Joe, Meet the Press, etc.. All those that most voters listen to.
If he truly feels the Bush admin committed War Crimes, then he should be shouting it out at the top of his lungs.
Only when there is enough media TALKING about it, will Obama and the Dems DO ANYTHING.
Otherwise it will take another nation calling for a War Crimes tribunal at the U.N. or something like that. I don't know the legal side of stuff like this, I just know that we cannot just MOVE ON.
Even if they end up getting off scott free, they MUST be put under oath LIVE on TV -- if we want to ever gain back the respect we once had.
May 28, 2009 11:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is anyone asking what Taguba's current angle is here?
On a purely technical note, it seems some pics are alleged to be unpublished pics from AG (denied by Pentagon spokesperson today), while others are said to be from other facilities. Did I miss the reports of investigations etc. in re those other facilities?
May 29, 2009 1:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Best I can tell: Taguba did an investigation and report that was leaked in 2004 (why this stuff seems familiar?). Here are some of the supporting docs from the Taguba report: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6527.htm
The Telegraph article mostly uses descriptions from the leaked report and then ties it in with a few quotes from Taguba that confirm such abuse is also documented photographically. Sy Hersh has also alleged (in a speech) that videos exist - but it seems apparent he hasn't actually viewed them himself.
It seems we're dealing with 2 different issues. First is the entire batch of Iraq(+Afghanistan?) abuse documentation ... 2000-odd pieces of media. These were shown to members of congress when the scandal first broke, and I recall a congresswoman also mentioning sexual assaults. Taguba is likely speaking about this whole group of pictures. I think his angle is simple - try and help quash the ACLU lawsuit.
The second issue is photographs actually subject to the ACLU lawsuit. These are reportedly 2 batches of 20-odd photos each. Obama and the Pentagon are likely speaking only of this subset. There is no reason to think Taguba would know exactly which photos were involved. So, while there are indeed some really nasty photos/movies, none were at risk of being disclosed directly as a result of this particular lawsuit. My impression is these are like the Abu Ghraib photos - easy to compartmentalize and blame on a few grunts misbehaving. IMO this makes the hype about endangering the troops seem overblown to say the least.
If there has been disclosure of investigations at other facilities I sure haven't encountered it yet. I still can't shake the impression all of these maneuvers are to protect McChrystal (and by extension, Rumsfeld). But I've laid all that out in the past, and won't bore you with it again except to reiterate that McChrystal doesn't want the Cropper photos to come out.
May 29, 2009 3:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Are there photos from Camp Cropper which are "ugly" or worse? What does that have to do with McChrystal, was he responsible for Cropper too?
May 29, 2009 4:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
"If the General that investigated the abuse thinks it's a war crime -- shouldn't the rest of us?"
This is meant as irony, right? As in, "If the police who investigated the crime say the defendant is guilty -- shouldn't the rest of us?"
May 29, 2009 8:57 AM | Reply | Permalink