put under oath and question.
Lt. General William (Jerry) Boykin
December 15, 2003
Job Security For General Boykin
There is huge coverage of the capture of Saddam at the InstaPundit, and the Corner. However, one seemingly overlooked sidebar is this: the controversial General William (Jerry) Boykin (My Christian god is tougher than Allah!) has probably bought himself a bit of job security. Based on various reports, his group was involved in the capture of Saddam.
We find this in the recent New Yorker, by Seymour Hersh:
The Bush Administration has authorized a major escalation of the Special Forces covert war in Iraq. In interviews over the past month, American officials and former officials said that the main target was a hard-core group of Baathists who are believed to be behind much of the underground insurgency against the soldiers of the United States and its allies. A new Special Forces group, designated Task Force 121, has been assembled from Army Delta Force members, Navy seals, and C.I.A. paramilitary operatives, with many additional personnel ordered to report by January. Its highest priority is the neutralization of the Baathist insurgents, by capture or assassination. MORE...
http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2003/12/job_security_fo.htmlLt. General Boykin...Task Force 121? 'Manhunts'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4156421And then there's Brig. General Formica
Pentagon Study Describes Abuse by Units in Iraq
By ERIC SCHMITT
WASHINGTON, June 16 — United States Special Operations troops employed a set of harsh, unauthorized interrogation techniques against detainees in Iraq during a four-month period in early 2004, long after approval for their use was rescinded, according to a Pentagon inquiry released Friday.
The investigation is the last of 12 major inquiries to be made public that focus on allegations of detainee abuse by American personnel in Cuba, Afghanistan and Iraq, and the first to focus on Special Operations troops, who operate with more latitude than other military units. It detailed harsh treatment that continued at isolated bases even after the abuses first surfaced at the Abu Ghraib prison.
Special Operations interrogators gave some detainees only bread or crackers and water if they did not cooperate, according to the investigation, by Brig. Gen. Richard P. Formica of the Army. One prisoner was fed only bread and water for 17 days. Other detainees were locked for as many as seven days in cells so small that they could neither stand nor lie down, while interrogators played loud music that disrupted their sleep.
The inquiry also determined that some detainees were stripped naked, drenched with water and then interrogated in air-conditioned rooms or in cold weather. General Formica said it appeared that Navy Seals had used that technique in the case of one detainee who later died during questioning in Mosul in 2004, but he reported that he had no specific allegations that the use of the technique was related to that death. More...
http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/sf/nyt6_17_06_2.htmTorture Before and After Abu Ghraib
Before and After Abu Ghraib, a US Unit Abused Detainees
By Eric Schmitt and Carolyn Marshall
The New York Times
Sunday 19 March 2006
As the Iraqi insurgency intensified in early 2004, an elite Special Operations forces unit converted one of Saddam Hussein's former military bases near Baghdad into a top-secret detention center. There, American soldiers made one of the former Iraqi government's torture chambers into their own interrogation cell. They named it the Black Room.
In the windowless, jet-black garage-size room, some soldiers beat prisoners with rifle butts, yelled and spit in their faces and, in a nearby area, used detainees for target practice in a game of jailer paintball. Their intention was to extract information to help hunt down Iraq's most-wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, according to Defense Department personnel who served with the unit or were briefed on its operations.
The Black Room was part of a temporary detention site at Camp Nama, the secret headquarters of a shadowy military unit known as Task Force 6-26. Located at Baghdad International Airport, the camp was the first stop for many insurgents on their way to the Abu Ghraib prison a few miles away. More...
http://www.truthout.org/article/torture-before-and-after-abu-ghraibTASK FORCE 6-26: Inside Camp Nama; In Secret Unit's 'Black Room,' A Grim Portrait of U.S. Abuse
By ERIC SCHMITT AND CAROLYN MARSHALL
Published: March 19, 2006
The Justice Department inspector general is investigating complaints of detainee abuse by Task Force 6-26, a senior law enforcement official said. The only wide-ranging military inquiry into prisoner abuse by Special Operations forces was completed nearly a year ago by Brig. Gen. Richard P. Formica, and was sent to Congress. More...
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE6DD1F31F93AA25750C0A9609C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=6I have always thought that political pressure on Bush and Blair led to the abuse of these prisoners.
Bush ans Blair looked like fools as long as Saddam was on the loose. Then there was the WMD stash that was never found. Then there was the pissed off Iraqis killing GIs instead of throwing flowers like Bush promised us...then there was the American election for president in November of 2004. The Pressure was on Bush, so he put the pressure on anyone that he thought might gain him some relief in Iraq for all the shit that had hit the fan and was making him look like the dumb ass that he really was. I'll bet you Karl Rove was egging the torture policy on above all the other necons in the gang.
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