U.S. General Recommends Highest Rebuke for Prison Supervisors

U.S. General Recommends Highest Rebuke for Prison Supervisors
Former Iraqi Intel Officer Chosen to Lead Fallujah Brigade
By Sewell Chan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, May 3, 2004; 8:24 AM


BAGHDAD, May 3 -- U.S. officials disclosed Monday that the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, has recommended issuing the highest form of administrative rebuke against six officers or sergeants who helped supervise the troubled Abu Ghraib detention facility west of Baghdad, which is the focus of an investigation of alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

Six unnamed supervisors will each receive a general-officer memorandum of reprimand, a document that can effectively end an officer's career by making future promotion impossible. A seventh supervisor will receive a letter of admonishment, a lesser form of penalty.

The official would not identify the units or ranks of the seven supervisors who will be punished.

They are separate from the six enlisted soldiers who were criminally charged in March in the physical and sexual abuse of about 20 prisoners at Abu Ghraib in October and November last year. Four other enlisted soldiers are still under criminal investigation.
~snip~
more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61989-2004May3.html

:shrug:

:mad:

I saw the same sort of thing happen in Vietnam, when the officers who ordered a POW shot got reprimands at most, while the enlisted men who carried out the orders got long miliitary prison terms.

The enlisted men and women have got to know that when they follow illegal orders or behave in the "encouraged way", it is they who will bear the brunt of military punishment and public scorn - not their officers!! These guys are so stupid it makes me sick! This is the best we can do? The draft should be reinstated. I say this with two draft-age kids of my own. The reason it must be reinstated is so that there isn't the dependency on the "career". There would be some from of acknowledgement that there is a life beyond the military. I don't want a "professional" army. I want one with everyday men and women who love their country and think about the people - not their advancement. If that makes our army less effective, less able to range all over the world causing death and destruction - then good. I am far more afraid of our own "professional" army than I am of any foreign threat.

WTF!!!!

Why aren't their butts at a court-martial? Why no criminal charges? War crimes???

THis is atrocious.

So, its gonna be "SHAME on you. Now, go collect your pension and join the private sector".

Presumably the "contractors" won't even get a "bad boy" harangue.

The brass will get a pass, different spanks for different ranks, every officer in that prison should be court martial ed.

How many Americans are going to be tortured and killed as retaliation for the abuse that the Iraqi's have been subjected to?

I am just sickened by this.

...of CIA and contractor offenders to DOJ for prosecution?

If this were any other country we would be screaming about court martials, war crimes, terrorism, barberism, fascism, and 'these people'

n/t

we are in trouble. I can't recall his exact words, but essentially, Biden (on Fox News yesterday) said this is the worst debacle we've had in our Middle East relations in a decade, and if the Arab world does not see an immediate STRONG response on our part, the abuse incident will greatly intensify hate for Americans throughout the Arab world.

IMHO, this slap on the wrist ain't gonna cut it -- our ho-hum bureaucratic response is going to eventually cost a lot of American lives in the Middle East, perhaps elsewhere, as the hatred intensifies.

How about dishonorable discharge effective immediately?

...the way to get it immediately is to refer the case for court martial. Officers get dismisssed at courts-martial. The administrative equivalent is an Other than Honorable that may be elected by someone charged with a BCD or higher offense, subject to the approval of the courts-martial convening authority.

When is rumdum gonna refer civilian offenders to DOJ for prosecution?

to the letter.

So now Don't worry about them little blotches on your resume folks, just tell them you were in the Texas Air National Guard. Your future employer is sure to understand.

The names below are mentioned on the listed pages with the name
OPERATION PAPERCLIP
http://www.namebase.org/cgi-bin/nb06?_OPERATION_PAPERCLIP_

It's time for another Bush/Nazis thread
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=199853

They get a 'demerit'?

Man....even my cynical self thought they'd get more punishment than that...

After all, a slap on the wrist would be considered corporal punishment -- why that would be tantamount to torture!

When are these slime going to realize the covering up and dodging will do even more harm to the reputation of the U.S. and its military than did the original crimes?

than "harming the reputation of the US military".

nope, won't do. Nothing short of criminal will do. We need to demand an independant investigation.

http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde140172004
"Amnesty International is calling for investigations into alleged abuses by Coalition Forces to be conducted by a body that is competent, impartial and independent, and seen to be so, and that any findings of such investigations be made public."

Why bother with a rebuke? Honest mistake - they weren't sufficiently trained in running prisons, just like the enlisted / contractor perpetrators weren't trained in the Geneva Convention.

All they need is a bit of training in how prison life ought to work. 20 or 30 years living in a prison, as an inmate, ought to help them get some perspective. maybe 50, to be on the safe side.

And the offending army was going to hand out some administrative reprimands as punishment. How would that play in middle America?