[A-List] War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity Reach To White House- US Military Paper

[Rick Rozoff <r_rozoff@xxxxxxxxx>]

1) US Assault Forces Re-Enter Fallujah Flashpoint
2) Fallujah Shattered By Explosions
3) New Accusations of Sexual Abuse By US Troops At Abu
Ghraib Bastille
4) Seven-Year-Old Iraqi Girl Latest Symbol Of US
Brutality
5) Iraqi Prisoners Detail Sadism, Torture, Death
Threats
6) Italian Leftists Call For Troop Withdrawal,
Rightists For Rumsfeld Resignation
7) Detained By US Troops, Elderly, Ill Ukrainian
Sailors Languish In Abu Ghraib Torture Dungeon
8) Iraqis Subjected To Sexual Degradation, Sensory
Deprivation: International Committee Of The Red Cross
9) Japanese Foreign Minister: US Torture, Abuse May
Violate Geneva Conventions
10) Military Times: Responsibility "Extends All The
Way Up The Chain Of Command To The Highest Reaches Of
The Military Hierarchy And Its Civilian Leadership"


1)
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=0E7EC776-E51C-43B9-95A0182E463608A6

Voice Of America News
May 10, 2004

US Military Convoy Enters Fallujah


A U.S. Marine convoy in central Iraq has entered the
center of Fallujah for the first time in weeks, in a
test of a shaky truce in the Sunni-controlled city.
Marines in armored vehicles rolled in Monday,
accompanied by Iraqi security forces that U.S.
military officials have placed in charge of
maintaining order in the Fallujah.

The commander of the First Marine Division, Major
General James Mattis, led the convoy, and met with the
mayor. There were no reports of confrontations with
insurgents.

Meanwhile, in the Sadr City district of Baghdad today,
witnesses say U.S. aircraft bombed an office of
radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who is holed
up with armed supporters in the southern holy city of
Najaf. U.S. military officials have yet to comment on
the airstrike. On Sunday, U.S. officials said 19
al-Sadr militiamen were killed in clashes in the same
area of the capital.

In the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk today, police say
at least two foreigners working on reconstruction
projects - a South African and a New Zealander - and
their Iraqi driver were shot dead in an ambush.

In the south, a fire has been raging for more than a
day after insurgents blew up part of a key oil
pipeline close to the Persian Gulf.
Some information for this report provided by Reuters
and AFP.
------------------------------------------------------
2)
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=34480

Novinite (Bulgaria)
May 10, 2004

Falluja Shattered by Explosions


At least ten explosions were heard early on Monday in
the Iraqi city of Falluja.

AFP also reported that right after the explosions two
helicopters flew over the zone. There is no further
information on the cause of the explosions that are
reported to have taken place in the southwestern
regions controlled by the Falluja's brigades.

Just a day earlier media reported that the situation
in Falluja was returning to normal as Iraqi force
patrols the streets.
----------------------------------------------------
3)
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=060000&biid=2004051182258

Donga (South Korea)
May 10, 2004


Allegations of Sexual Abuse of POWs by U.S. Military
by Jin Lee


Another round of shocking allegations and pictures of
U.S. military abuse of POWs at Abu Ghraib prison has
surfaced, with one claiming that U.S. solders sexually
abused Iraqi POWs.

Apologies by President George W. Bush and U.K. Prime
Minister Tony Blair have failed to mollify criticism.

The aftershock of the Abu Ghraib scandal will likely
make NATO member countries more uneasy about sending
troops to Iraq, frustrating efforts by the Bush
administration to farm the burden internationally.

Mohammed Unis Hassan, who had been detained for seven
months for looting a bank, told the latest issue of
Time magazine that U.S. soldiers sexually abused Iraqi
inmates.

He also said he saw a US soldier having regular sex
with a female inmate across the hallway of his cell.

Haider Sabbar Abed Al Abbadi, who said he was the
hooded man shown naked with Lynndie England, an
American woman soldier, pointing at his genitals,
added, ?I felt a mouth closing around my genitals. It
was only when they took the bag off my head that I saw
it was my friend.?

The May 10 issue of the New Yorker, a U.S. weekly, ran
a gruesome picture of an Iraqi inmate cowering from
two German shepherds, with his hands behinds the head.


Amnesty International said, ?The organization raised
allegations of abuse and ill-treatment of Iraqi
detainees in a memorandum to the British secretaries
of defense and international relations in May of last
May.? It added, ?The organization sent memorandums in
July and October.?

The rights watchdog?s allegations divulge a 10-month
gap between what it said the British government knew
about the complaints and Blair?s answer to a question
by the opposition Conservative Party that he took
measures after receiving reports of prisoner abuse in
Iraq in February.

In an interview with French TV network France 3 while
on a visit to the country, Blair said on May 9, ?We
apologize deeply to anyone who has been mistreated by
our soldiers. He said, ?Those responsible will be
punished according to army disciplinary rules.?

The ongoing bloodshed in Iraq, coupled with the Abu
Ghraib scandal, will likely make NATO members postpone
their troop deployments after the U.S. Presidential
elections in November, the Los Angeles Times reported
on May 9.
------------------------------------------------------
4)
http://english.eastday.com/epublish/gb/paper1/1263/class000100006/hwz193747.htm

Xinhua News Agency (China)
May 10, 2004

Iraqi girl frustrated after suffering from US military
actions


-"She suffers from two broken bones in her shoulder,
another fracture in the right hand and a crack in her
skull that led to endless pain and continuous bleeding
in her right eye," her mother said.
-Mariam's father was captured by coalition forces in
Um Qasr seven months before and the captors accused
him of collaboration with the resistance. No news from
him reached the family for the last weeks.
-Many of the some one third of the citizens who fled
the city during the first days of the confrontation
last month began to return, only to find many of the
houses were damaged or completely destroyed.




Mariam, a 7-year-old Iraqi girl with bandages around
her head and her right hand, frowned without a word
when asked who should made all the misfortunes for
her.

"She suffers from two broken bones in her shoulder,
another fracture in the right hand and a crack in her
skull that led to endless pain and continuous bleeding
in her right eye," her mother said.

The mother, in her thirties and dressed in a
traditional black robe, said the girl was injured
during a US airstrike at their neighborhood in
Fallujah last month, when two bombs fell near the
house tearing down a wall which smashed on Mariam.

She was lucky, though, to have survived, said the
mother, but whenever she put a hand on her daughter's
body, the girl cried because of pain.

Mariam's father was captured by coalition forces in Um
Qasr seven months before and the captors accused him
of collaboration with the resistance. No news from him
reached the family for the last weeks.

Mariam has a twin brother and four sisters, all of
whom were no older than four years old. The family
lived an uptight life ever since.

Mariam's family was one of those who chose to stay in
Fallujah despite the fierce clashes between US Marines
and the insurgents which killed hundreds of civilians
and wounded more than 1,000 others in two weeks.

Many of the some one third of the citizens who fled
the city during the first days of the confrontation
last month began to return, only to find many of the
houses were damaged or completely destroyed.

Sheikh Dhafer Al Ubaidi, head of the Supreme society
of Iftaa, praised the supply of food and medicine
donated by Iraqis in other provinces during the
battles, saying it showed that "Iraq is Fallujah and
Fallujah is Iraq."

However, "The problem now is the high number of
refugees who came back to the city compared with the
aids we have had," he added.

Mariam and her mother were interviewed by Xinhua in
the Al Hadhra Al Mohammadya Mosque in Fallujah, where
they went to look for help.

"I am looking forward to some nice people who would
donate some money for me to cure my daughter," said
the mother, sitting in the courtyard.

"Mariam was very active, she was just like an adult
woman standing with me to offer help in everything,
until the bombs of the Americans tried to take her
away from me," said the mother.

Mariam was supposed to start school this year, but her
mother said the plan was impossible. "I can not let
her enter the school, not in this situation, although
she wishes."

"Yes," said Mariam when asked if she wanted to go to
school. It was the only word that slipped out of her
mouth and she spoke it with a mixed look of pains and
bleakness.
------------------------------------------------------
5)
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?sf=2813&art_id=qw1084192741965I621&click_id=2813&set_id=1

Independent Online (South Africa)
May 10, 2004


Former detainees tell of Iraq prison drama
By Deborah Pasmantier


-"They hit me with a truncheon, beating me on the ribs
so as not to leave any marks. Once, they electrocuted
me in the nape of the neck. I had to sit on my knees.
They beat me and I couldn't move.
"When I fell, a soldier put a gun to my head. He told
me he had come to kill me and pulled the trigger, but
it wasn't loaded."
-"They beat and spat on me. They stuck my arms out in
the air and burnt me with cigarettes. When I said I
was tired, they hit me. They hooked up electric wires
to my arms and feet, just to scare me."



Baghdad - From north to south, Iraqis have detailed
abuse at United States-run detention centres as
military officials insist gruesome deeds at the Abu
Ghraib jail were the work of a few and not an
indictment of the entire system.

But human rights campaigners say torture is endemic at
camps across the country, while others lambast the
American military for continuing to deny all but the
International Committee of the Red Cross access to
security detainees.

Qusay Mehawish, 23, told reporters that he was held
for five months at various prisons, including the
infamous Abu Ghraib, because the Americans were
hunting down his father, a former army general under
deposed leader Saddam Hussein.

'They beat me and I couldn't move'

Arrested in October, he said he was abused during a
two-hour interrogation at Camp Tiger, near the
Iraqi-Syrian border.

"They hit me with a truncheon, beating me on the ribs
so as not to leave any marks. Once, they electrocuted
me in the nape of the neck. I had to sit on my knees.
They beat me and I couldn't move," he said.

"When I fell, a soldier put a gun to my head. He told
me he had come to kill me and pulled the trigger, but
it wasn't loaded."

Ten days later, he was taken to Camp Bagdadi, in
Al-Anbar province.

"The interrogator put me in a sleeping bag and coiled
a long belt around my body. Then he put my head in a
plastic bag and pulled it tight. I was suffocating, I
thought I was going to die," he added.

Complaints by ordinary criminals included violence and
manhandling

Najm Majid, a shopkeeper in his 50s, was jailed for
six months at Abu Ghraib on suspicion of belonging to
an Islamist group, before being released in January.

"They beat and spat on me. They stuck my arms out in
the air and burnt me with cigarettes. When I said I
was tired, they hit me. They hooked up electric wires
to my arms and feet, just to scare me," he said.

Khairallah Wali, a 65-year-old shopkeeper, showed
reporters a medical certificate saying he had two
broken ribs, following his 33-day ordeal in Um Qasr in
spring 2003.

Omar Motaleb, a 19-year-old student, was held for four
months last year on charges of selling weapons and
belonging to the radical Ansar al-Islam group, which
is believed to have ties to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda
terror network.

He showed a medical certificate dated October 28,
attesting to damaged knees and memory loss after he
was subjected to "physical and psychological torture".

Last week, Suhaib al-Baz, a 24-year-old cameraman
working for Dubai-based Al-Jazeera television, said he
was beaten for three days at a military base near
Samara, north of Baghdad, when he was arrested in
November.

The first three witnesses spoke to reporters on Sunday
at a conference organised by the International
Occupation Watch Centre and the Iraqi Institution for
Human Rights that slammed US claims that torture was
not a systematic practice.

"It is evident that torture is systemised and
deliberate in all the detention camps all over Iraq,"
the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) said in a
statement.

Cases of maltreatment include "kicking, punching,
beating, electric shocks, dog biting, solitary
confinement or putting the detainees in animal cages,"
it added.

In Geneva on Saturday, the Red Cross said systematic
abuse in Iraq's US-run prisons amounted to torture,
adding that it first raised concerns with the United
States more than a year ago.

Seven US guards have been charged with criminal
offences in relation to the abuse of prisoners at Abu
Ghraib.

Human Rights Watch (HRW), which says it has been
denied access of US-run jails in Iraq, said scores of
former detainees had informed the New York-based group
of mistreatment at the hands of the US-led coalition.

HRW representative in Iraq, Hania Mufti, said
complaints by ordinary criminals included violence and
manhandling, sleep deprivation, lack of food and
occasional beating.

She echoed calls for an immediate investigation into
claims of abuse and pressed the US military to allow
NGOs into detention facilities in the wake of the
revelations at Abu Ghraib that have shocked the world.

------------------------------------------------------
6)
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/040510/2004051006.html

Arabic News
May 10, 2004

Italians call on troops to leave Iraq


Leader of the Italian Re-foundation Communist Party (
IRCP) Fausto Pertinotti called for immediate
withdrawal of his country's troops from Iraq.

In a statement published Saturday by the Italian
press, Pertinotti said there was need for putting an
end to the American occupation in Iraq, and for the
transfer of power to the UN during a transitional
period followed by a process of rebuilding the country
by Iraqis themselves.

The Italian leftist leader also strongly condemned
American soldiers' abuse of Iraqi prisoners, saying
that war on Iraq was a big mistake that led to tragic
consequences.

For her part, Ilektra Diana, member of the Parliament
for the IRCP, criticized her country's policy towards
latest torture and abuses of Iraqi prisoners. She said
the Italian government kept silent and turned deaf
ears to what happened in Iraq until U.S. President
Bush himself expressed sorrow, and only then the
government followed the American line.

Earlier, Georgio Lamlafa, leader of the Italian
Republican Party, called U.S. Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld, one of the hawks behind Iraq war, to quit
his post over the abuses inflicted by his soldiers on
Iraqi prisoners.
------------------------------------------------------
7)
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2004/05/721c9feb-d92b-4143-936f-a1985a50b970.html

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
May 10, 2004

Iraq: Ukrainian Sailors Continue To Languish In Abu
Ghurayb Prison
By Askold Krushelnycky


Two Ukrainian citizens - the captain and second in
command of a Dubai-based oil tanker - have been held
captive for eight months in Iraq's notorious Abu
Ghurayb prison. That prison is at the heart of a
mounting scandal involving the abuse of detainees by
their U.S. captors. With evidence mounting about the
scale of the abuse, Kyiv is renewing efforts to free
the two sailors, who it says are suffering in harsh
conditions.


-Mazurenko and Soschenko - both in their sixties and
suffering from poor health - have been languishing in
Baghdad's Abu Ghurayb prison complex.
-The recent publication of photographs detailing the
abuse has outraged the Arab world and put the United
States on the defensive. It has also alarmed the
families of the two Ukrainian detainees, and raised
questions in Kyiv about how the men are being treated.

-Mazurenko's wife said her husband had complained of a
sinister atmosphere at Abu Ghurayb, saying he was
being held in cramped conditions and that prison
guards had attacked some detainees.
-[T]he health of the two men is poor. The ministry
spokesman said Captain Mazurenko, who is 66, is at
particular risk, because he suffers from diabetes but
reportedly is only able to receive medicine when his
symptoms become acute.




Prague - Last summer, the "Navstar-1," a
Panamanian-flagged vessel belonging a United Arab
Emirates company, was detained off the southern coast
of Iraq. Its Ukrainian crew was arrested and changed
with smuggling Iraqi oil from the port of Umm Qasr.

Most of the crew was eventually released. But the
ship's captain and second in command, Mykola Mazurenko
and Ivan Soschenko, respectively, were brought to
trial. The two men denied knowing that the 1,100 tons
of oil on board the "Navstar-1" were banned for
export. But in October, an Iraqi court sentenced the
men to seven years in jail, and fined $1.2 million
each.

Since then, Mazurenko and Soschenko - both in their
sixties and suffering from poor health - have been
languishing in Baghdad's Abu Ghurayb prison complex.
Infamous under Saddam Hussein as a place where
opponents of the regime were routinely tortured and
murdered, Abu Ghurayb is at the heart of a new
controversy involving systematic abuse of Iraqi
detainees by U.S. forces.

"The state of their health in these conditions and the
understandable stress they are undergoing causes us
concern." - Ukrainian spokesman. The recent
publication of photographs detailing the abuse has
outraged the Arab world and put the United States on
the defensive. It has also alarmed the families of the
two Ukrainian detainees, and raised questions in Kyiv
about how the men are being treated.

Mazurenko and Soschenko's wives told RFE/RL they have
been unable to speak to their husbands by phone since
February. Mazurenko's wife said her husband had
complained of a sinister atmosphere at Abu Ghurayb,
saying he was being held in cramped conditions and
that prison guards had attacked some detainees.

A spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said
diplomats had not been able to visit the two men in
some time because of continued fighting between
coalition forces and Iraqi insurgents.

At the end of April, the Ukrainian ombudsman for human
rights, Nina Karpachova, asked the U.S. ambassador to
Ukraine, John Herbst, for his country's diplomatic
support to enable Ukrainian diplomats to visit the two
sailors and assess their conditions. Karpachova
reiterated her call last week, after the Abu Ghurayb
abuse photographs had been aired. She said she "could
not exclude absolutely" that the two Ukrainians were
not being subjected to similar treatment.

Patricia Guy, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in
Kyiv, said embassy officials were looking into the
matter. "We have seen the letter from ombudsman
Karpachova about the 'Navstar' crewmen and we are
inquiring into the situation of the Ukrainian seamen,"
Guy said.

Guy said the U.S. government condemned the way some of
its soldiers had treated the Iraqi prisoners, but she
said the situation of the two sailors was different.
"We have no information suggesting that the crewmen
are not receiving proper care. If we were to receive
such information, we would address these concerns with
the appropriate authorities," she said.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Markiyan
Lubkivskiy said the U.S. military allowed Ukrainian
diplomats on 2 May to visit Mazurenko and Soschenko,
who were deemed to be in satisfactory condition.
"According to the information that our diplomats got
directly from the Ukrainian sailors, there are no
complaints about the behavior towards them of other
prisoners or the guards," Lubkivskiy said.

He said the two sailors had been transferred to
slightly better conditions than the ones they were
initially held in. However, he said the conditions
were still extremely grim. "Mazurenko and Soschenko
have been transferred to a cell for older people,"
Lubkivskiy said. "There are 56 people in that cell --
you can imagine they all sleep on mattresses on the
floor next to one another. Therefore, conditions are
not straightforward even from the point of view of
their accommodation. Even though from the point of
view of food, the information we get is that they
receive food regularly and there are no complaints on
that count."

Lubkivskiy said that the health of the two men is
poor. The ministry spokesman said Captain Mazurenko,
who is 66, is at particular risk, because he suffers
from diabetes but reportedly is only able to receive
medicine when his symptoms become acute. "The state of
their health in these conditions and the
understandable stress they are undergoing causes us
concern," he said. "They do not have regular contact
with doctors. Doctors have restricted access to the
prison. Therefore, we are troubled by this situation
and we have called the attention of both the Iraqi
transitional government and the effective [U.S.]
authorities to the situation of our sailors."

Lubkivskiy said the two men, who are awaiting a second
appeal of their sentence, have become a top priority
for the Foreign Ministry. He said Ukraine, which is
contributing 1,650 troops in Iraq, hopes the United
States will lend its weight to help the two sailors in
their forthcoming appeal.

"The Iraqi courts will have the last word. But at the
same time we rely on the support of the Americans as
our partners in the coalition. I think that they are
listened to and their role and their influence will
not be the least important factor in the resolution of
this issue," he said. Lubkivskiy hopes that even if
the appeal is unsuccessful, a deal can be worked out
to allow the two sailors to serve their prison
sentences in Ukraine.
------------------------------------------------------
8)
http://www.bgnewsnet.com/story.php?sid=4954

Bulgarian News Network
May 20, 2004


US Held Iraqis Naked in Darkness, Red Cross Says


-The 24-page report, issued in February, concluded
"persons deprived of their liberty face the risk of
being subjected to a process of physical and
psychological coercion, in some cases tantamount to
torture, in the early stages of the internment
process."


LONDON (BGNES)- The Red Cross saw U.S. troops
imprisoning Iraqis naked in the dark in the Abu Ghraib
jail last October and was told by the intelligence
officer in charge that it was "part of the process", a
leaked report said on Monday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
said it had repeatedly alerted U.S.-led occupation
authorities to practices it described as "in some
cases tantamount to torture". The Wall Street Journal
published the confidential Red Cross report on its Web
site on Monday. The Red Cross confirmed the report is
genuine.

The 24-page report, issued in February, concluded
"persons deprived of their liberty face the risk of
being subjected to a process of physical and
psychological coercion, in some cases tantamount to
torture, in the early stages of the internment
process."

During a visit to Abu Ghraib last October Red Cross
delegates witnessed "the practice of keeping persons
deprived of their liberty completely naked in totally
empty concrete cells and in total darkness," the
report said.

"Upon witnessing such cases, the ICRC interrupted its
visits and requested an explanation from the
authorities. The military intelligence officer in
charge of the interrogation explained that this
practice was 'part of the process'."

It said it met prisoners who were being held naked in
complete darkness. Others had been held naked and were
allowed to dress, but given only women's underwear.

The Red Cross visit took place two months before
pictures were taken of U.S. troops abusing prisoners,
which later led to criminal charges against seven
soldiers.

Those pictures appeared in the media last month,
causing international outrage and prompting apologies
by U.S. President George W. Bush and other senior
officials.

Washington said it believed the practices were
isolated incidents of aberrant behavior by individuals
and not its usual practice.

The newspaper said the Red Cross report showed the
organization alerted Washington as early as October to
maltreatment in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison. But U.S.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others have said
they were only aware of a problem when the case
revealed by humiliating photographs was opened by the
military in January.

Rumsfeld, who has faced calls for his resignation from
some U.S. newspapers and from opposition Democrats,
offered an apology on Friday for the suffering that
Iraqi prisoners faced at the hands of the American
military.
------------------------------------------------------
9)
http://www.bgnewsnet.com/story.php?sid=4952

Reiters
May 10, 2004

Iraq Abuses May Violate Geneva Convention : Japan


TOKYO (BGNES)- The abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S.
soldiers in Iraq may have violated the Geneva
Convention on the treatment of military prisoners,
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi was quoted
as saying on Monday.

The treatment of the prisoners was "inhumane and
regrettable", Kyodo news agency quoted her as telling
a parliamentary committee on defense. "There is a
possibility it violated the Geneva Convention,"
Kawaguchi said.

Japan, a close ally of the United States has conveyed
its displeasure to Washington, Kyodo said. U.S.
officials have insisted the abuses at the Abu Ghraib
prison west of Baghdad were carried out by a handful
of soldiers and were not part of a systematic program
of brutality.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who has faced
calls for his resignation from some Democrats, offered
an apology on Friday for the suffering that Iraqi
prisoners faced at the hands of the American military.


President George W. Bush apologized on Thursday.

The scandal exploded last week with the release of
photographs showing grinning uniformed personnel
posing in front of naked detainees.

Seven military police have been charged with abusing
prisoners in the prison, where Saddam Hussein
tormented thousands of Iraqis.
------------------------------------------------------
10)
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/040510/1/3k4xp.html

Agence France-Press
May 10, 2004


Military newspaper blames Rumsfeld, Myers for
"professional negligence"


-"Accountability here is essential - even if that
means relieving top leaders from duty in a time of
war."
-Responsibility, it said, "extends all the way up the
chain of command to the highest reaches of the
military hierarchy and its civilian leadership."
-"Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld set the tone early
in this war by steadfastly refusing to give captives
the rights accorded to prisoners of war under the
Geneva Convention."


A leading military newspaper said that US Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld set the tone for the
prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq by refusing to give
captives rights due prisoners of war under the Geneva
Conventions.

"This was a failure that ran straight to the top,"
said the editorial appearing in the May 17 edition of
the Military Times weeklies.

"Accountability here is essential - even if that means
relieving top leaders from duty in a time of war," it
said.

Owned by Gannett, the Military Times publishes the
Army, Navy and Air Force times, weeklies that are
widely read by servicemembers and distributed on US
military bases around the world.

The editorial said the soldiers caught in photographs
and videos abusing prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison
are referred to around the Pentagon as "the six morons
who lost the war."

"But the folks in the Pentagon are talking about the
wrong morons," it said.

Responsibility, it said, "extends all the way up the
chain of command to the highest reaches of the
military hierarchy and its civilian leadership."

"The entire affair is a failure of leadership from
start to finish," it said.

"Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld set the tone early
in this war by steadfastly refusing to give captives
the rights accorded to prisoners of war under the
Geneva Convention," it said.

"From the moment they are captured, prisoners are
hooded, shackled and accorded no rights whatsoever.
The message to the troops: Anything goes."

The editorial also faults General Richard Myers, the
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for trying to
persuade CBS television to refrain from airing the
images while failing to read the army's own damning
internal report detailing the abuses.

"On the battlefield, Myers' and Rumsfelds' errors
would be called a lack of situational awareness -- a
failure that amounts to professional negligence," it
said.






	
		
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