WTF?? Taguba now says "they did it on their own"????...GTFOOH

(get the f**k out of here)

His written report states abuse was systemic. His written report taken alongside the ICRC's reports about abuse and Seymour Hersh's reports and interviews -indicate a POLICY of torture.

Did the Bush fascists get to Taguba?

Hard to believe that untrained reserve soldiers in an undermanned unit understood enough about Arab culture to use photography to blackmail and shame potential insurgents for information.

As it turns out, up to 90% of the detainees at Abu Ghraib were innocent and wer ecaught up in the military raids and sweeps of neighborhoods.

Where did he say this?

n/t

(read Rumsfeld) insisted that he appear with two senior officials, I suspected it would be a very different Taguba that would testify. And it was.

lower level people did it on their own. But then one of the senators asked if he had interviewed the contractors and he said he had not been allowed to do that.

lower level people to torture the POW's but that they may well have acted under someone's 'influence.'

is the key to the question.

have access to the particular wing of the prison where some of the torture was carried out - that wing was controlled by military intel and/or 'the contractors.'

I don't have a link for this - just recalled reading it somewhere in the last two days.

n/t

that he has a source that told him that Military Intelligence was making training films that outright said that the Geneva conventions did not have to be obeyed.

http://www.hackworth.com/

Direct link to article about MI source

http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=Hacks%20Target%20Feedback%202004.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=13&rnd=90.85378306639735

The pictures were taken as a way to intimidate the prisoner and then keep them working as low level collectors (if they did not the pictures would have been released to their family and tribes) Videos were also made as a way to record the "success" to be used as a teaching tool at Fort Huachuca (to train future interrogators). The MPs and Interrogators were told the Geneva Convention did not apply to Iraq Soldiers and Civilian Detainees. The methods the MPs used were actually taught to the MPs by military intelligence professionals and civilian contractors. This was a sanctioned operation and the methods were known to be used by Generals in the chain of command. Women MPs were sought out to further humiliate the Iraqi prisoners. The female MPs who accepted the jobs, conducted degrading acts upon the Iraq men, because such acts by women on men in the Arab culture are so humiliating, it was thought that the men would then talk just to stop the abuse by the female MPs. This abuse was done in stages and the less cooperative Iraqis were given the more degrading abuse to condition them to interrogation. The Major General (Barbara Fast) in charge of the MI personnel in Baghdad sanctioned this treatment... more

http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=Hacks%20Target%20Feedback%202004.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=13&rnd=719.0505541914532

also mentioned Gen. Barbara Fast as a key player. I think they are circling the wagons around Fast, because she is the link to the Whitehouse.
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/05/08/Worldandnation/Report_steers_clear_o.shtml
"The scant mention of Fast in the report is likely because Taguba was told to focus on the role of the military police, not military intelligence."

Now you are instructed to think, act and speak as you have been directed to give testimony. The Truth? Are we finished as a free society?

It's depressing...

Perhaps these particular troops in the torture pictures were picked out of the crowd and used for fodder - shown the 'training films,' stoked up by being told they were doing the country's business.

He was supposed to investigate one military unit at one prison, during a specific period of time. Nothing more, nothing less.

The Taguba report is being presented as if it was a thorough investigation of the whole system. Taguba can only confirm what he found within very narrowly defined parameters.

Gen Toguba covered the MP side of the house. He did not investigate the intelligence community nor their chain of command. There is alot more to come.

I think his superiors, over the last several days, have been debriefing him on exactly how he would testify. They probably were emphasizing that he stick to just what he found out and that he not speculate on any answer. In the course of this debriefing, they discovered exactly what questions could be expected to get the best answers from him. These questions were then fed to the Republicans on the committee.

The escort of senior officials was to insure his compliance and to "set the stage" - both superiors testified before him.

going higher than a 2 star general is very political.

Very, very political.

although i've heard it spun that way once today...now twice