AUSTRALIAN Lawyer might BE DRAWN INTO US Senate abuse Investigation.

[LittleApple81]

(I didn't know that the Pentagon was trying to stop the Red Cross report to be given to the Senate... amazing!!!)


O'Kane could be drawn into US political stoush
By Marian Wilkinson, Herald

The Australian military lawyer who was given documents about prisoner abuses at the Abu Ghraib jail while working for the US-led coalition headquarters in Iraq may be drawn into the investigation into the scandal by the US Armed Services Committee.

Documents by the International Committee of the Red Cross detailing abuses at Abu Ghraib and another prison last October and November were given to Major George O'Kane to work up a response for US commanders. It now appears that the Pentagon may try to use Red Cross confidentiality rules to block the release of its working papers to the Senate committee. If that happens, Major O'Kane's records and his account of how the US military headquarters dealt with the complaints could become a critical line of investigation for the US Senate.

The working papers are crucial documents because they provided independent witness accounts of abuses at the jail two months before shocking photographs of assaults on prisoners were handed to military investigations. Already, lawyers acting for several of the military guards charged over the abuses have said they will try to get access to Major O'Kane's documents under discovery from the Pentagon. But the Red Cross has declined to hand over its working papers to the US Senate because strict confidentiality rules allow it only to deal with the Bush Administration and the Pentagon, which is responsible for the Iraqi prisons. And the Pentagon has also not been willing to give the working papers to the Senate.

Major O'Kane's report to his Australian commanders confirms that he drafted the letter that responded to the ICRC complaints which was signed by General Janis Karpinski, who has since been suspended.

more at link...
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/04/1086203633226.html

[LittleApple81]

1. This is important because the Senate needs to GO TO AUSTRALIA

to read papers denied by the Pentagon.