AbuGhraib attys will blame "most senior" WH, Pentagon officials

[DeepModem Mom]

New York Times:

ABU GHRAIB
Top Commanders Face Questioning on Prison Abuse
By EDWARD WONG

Published: June 22, 2004


BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 21 — A military judge (Col. James Pohl) ruled Monday that the top American commanders currently involved in the Iraq war will have to submit to questioning by lawyers for two servicemen charged in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse case. The defense lawyers said they would show that the most senior military and civilian officials approved interrogation methods that violated the Geneva Conventions.

Among those who could be questioned are Gen. John P. Abizaid, commander of the United States Central Command, and Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the senior American commander in Iraq; and Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz, who is overseeing daily military operations....

***

The hearings gave the strongest indication to date that defense lawyers plan to pin blame for the abuses on the most senior officials in the White House and Pentagon, as well as the top generals in Iraq. They suggested in arguments on Monday that the officials had created an atmosphere that encouraged the flouting of the conventions of war during interrogations....

***

(Guy Womack, the civilian lawyer for Specialist Charles Graner) also asked the judge to order the government to release several memos written at the top levels of the Bush administration that showed officials trying to stretch the allowable limits for prisoner interrogations. Recent news reports have said that the memos — including one by the White House counsel, Alberto R. Gonzales, that called the Geneva Conventions "quaint" — were written TO ADVISE MR. BUSH that international laws concerning torture did not apply to "unlawful combatants" captured during the "war on terror."...


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/22/international/middleeast/22IRAQ.html...

[izzie]

1. I see this as a really big WH problem

I do not think you are going to find many in the military that will be willing to fall on this. They find it a slap in their face even if Bush is C and C. I am willing to bet they will fight all the way to clear their name. You have to think that Bush will be gone and these military men will still be in the service and they are people who love the flag and what they do. It is also special as it is a real sub-culture. Own laws, and the works. It is even more so now then when my husband was in as it is a group that all sign up on their own. A President that will try and blame them for this prison stuff will not make them happy campers, believe me.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. I hope you're right, izzie -- sounds like you know...

what you're talking about!

[Norquist Nemesis]

3. Would have loved to be a fly on the wall

for those hearings! I know they don't televise/tape them, but I wonder if they allow the public to see the transcripts of proceedings. :shrug: Reading Rummy on defense attack mode just doesn't have the same impact as seeing it. :lol:

It's going to be a bumpy ride!

[Hubert Flottz]

4. Some things do trickle up sometimes!

The lawyers in America do not seem to be real happy with Bush's Judge Roy Bush act! The Legal Eagles who advised Bush might end up in court yet! The Eagles looked kind of sore the day Ashcross refused to turn over the torture memos to the Senate! Shrub is giving American Justice a bad name all over the world! Trust is becoming extinct! Faith Based Crime is eating us alive!

[opihimoimoi]

5. The Assholes figured a "paper trail" clearing them of guilt while

privately egging on the boys to get it on with the torture thing is gonna find out it don work that way. The Bushies will burn for this torture shit, as well they should.