Early Abu Ghraib Reports Went Unheeded

[Spazito]

WASHINGTON - At least five soldiers objected last fall to abuses they saw at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. One demanded to be reassigned, saying the behavior he witnessed there "made me sick to my stomach."


Up the chain of command, the noncommissioned officers who heard such complaints did little to stop the mistreatment, according to Army records obtained by The Associated Press.


One of those same NCOs, Staff Sgt. Ivan L. "Chip" Frederick, is accused of stomping on prisoners' toes and punching another prisoner so hard in the chest that he remarked, "I think I might have put him in cardiac arrest." Frederick is among six soldiers facing courts-martial. Another soldier pleaded guilty last month.


The military's full-blown investigation into beatings and humiliations at Abu Ghraib began in January, after one soldier wrote an anonymous letter to superior officers about troubling photographs. That soldier, Spc. Joe Darby, came forward later to talk to Army investigators and eventually became known as the whistle-blower who uncovered the scandal.

more

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&ncid=716&e=5&u=/ap/20040611/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/prison_abuse_objections

[samhonk]

1. Not unheeded...

Somewhere somebody made a checkmark on a clipboard and said "Yup, things are right on schedule."

[UpInArms]

2. they weren't worried about

the truth coming out - they knew that *Co's attorneys were busy working on papers that would make all of this okay.

[Barrett808]

3. Important Taguba note finally mentioned

Taguba cites two others who did not go along with abuses. The report says 1st Lt. David O. Sutton stopped an abusive act and reported it to his chain of command.

Taguba also hailed Master at Arms 1st Class William J. Kimbro, a Navy dog handler, for refusing to participate in abuses despite "significant pressure from the MI (military intelligence) personnel at Abu Ghraib."

It just couldn't be any clearer than that. Torture was policy.

[struggle4progress]

4. kick

:kick:

[struggle4progress]

5. once more

:kick: