Military: Only Three Violations at Gitmo (Levin calls BS)

[maddezmom]

By JOHN J. LUMPKIN and LOLITA BALDOR, Associated Press Writers
4 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - Military investigators found evidence of degrading and abusive treatment by interrogators at the prison for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee said Wednesday.

Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record) said their investigation, which looked into FBI allegations of abuse of prisoners, shows that the purpose of the abuses recorded by investigators was to gather intelligence — and indicated that the problem was not an isolated one.

"It is clear from the report that detainee mistreatment was not simply the product of a few rogue miltiary police in a night shift," said Levin, D-Mich. Bush administration officials have sought to portray the excesses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq as just that.

But Armed Services Chairman John Warner, R-Va., said investigators found only three instances, out of thousands of interrogations, where military personnel violated Army policy. He did not immediately describe those incidents.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050713/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/guantanamo_abuse_investigation_15

[maddezmom]

1. Probe: Some truth in abuse claims

A military inquiry delivered to Southcom in March confirmed some FBI accounts of sordid treatment of detainees at Guantánamo, but said many such practices have been abandoned.

BY CAROL ROSENBERG

[e-mail]


Military fact-finders have confirmed that U.S. interrogators smeared fake menstrual blood on a prisoner, posed as FBI agents and diplomats, and shackled a detainee to the floor in the fetal position at the Pentagon's prison at Guantánamo Bay -- all techniques that have since been abandoned, according to a report furnished to Congress on Tuesday.

The investigators, Lt. Gen. Randall Schmidt and Brig. Gen. John Furlow, described the techniques in the so-far secret report, which is the subject of a hearing today before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

A congressional aide familiar with the report described the contents to The Herald on the condition the source not be identified, and with the caveat that details provided were unclassified details.

Pentagon spokesmen responsible for commenting on the Guantánamo prison did not respond Tuesday night to requests for confirmation of the report's contents.

more:http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/12119989.htm?source=rss&channel=miamiherald_world

[lumpy]

2. Only three, Mr. Warner?

One is enough to require a through Congressional investigation into military 'intelligence gathering'. My intelligence tells me that there have been multiple violations of military policy.

[maddezmom]

3. Military Gives Details on Guantanamo Abuse

WASHINGTON - Interrogators subjected a suspected terrorist to abusive and degrading treatment, forcing him to wear a bra, dance with another man and behave like a dog, military investigators reported Wednesday, saying that justified their call for disciplinary action.

They said they recommended that Army Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller be reprimanded for failing to oversee his interrogation of the 9/11 suspect at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

~snip~

Investigators described their findings before the Senate Armed Services Committee Wednesday. They were looking into allegations by FBI agents who say they witnessed abusive interrogation techniques at the Guantanamo prison for terrorist suspects.

~snip~

Schmidt said that to get him to talk, interrogators told him his mother and sisters were whores, forced him to wear a bra, forced him to wear a thong on his head, told him he was homosexual and said that other prisoners knew it. They also forced him to dance with a male interrogator, Schmidt added, and subjected him to strip searches with no security value, threatened him with dogs, forced him to stand naked in front of women and forced him onto a leash, to act like a dog.

Still, he said, "No torture occurred."

more:http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050713/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/guantanamo_abuse_investigation_16