90% innocent is a figure I had not heard before. Abu Ghraib is seeming more and more like a bottomless pit of evil; when it can not get any worse, you turn the page, and find a deeper level of hell.
Like most diarists and posters I've read here, I agree that torture and abuse has no place, no rationale, no apology. Ticking-bomb is a fantasy, torture doesn't work, and abuse is a recruiting tool against us. These basics hold true whether the detainee is an actual member of Al Qaeda or a taxi driver who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Yet it somehow brings the horror into greater focus to think that, in the words of the commanding General at the time:
generally 90 percent of the security detainees being held at Abu Ghraib were just innocent, had no information at all.
This quote is from an interview" with Gen. Janis Karpinski related to her book, "One Woman's Army: The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story.
While the abuse was inexcusable in any circumstance, it's all the more horrifying to think that 90% of the people in the photos had no idea what the hell was going on. And as the Commanding General herself admits, they "had no information at all."
While Karpinksi would seem to have her own objectives to cover via her book, and it's doubtful that history will hold her in much esteem, she at least shines a light into the darkness. It's helpful, for example, that she does not feel the need to protect the guilty:
I was at a briefing over at [Lt. Gen. Ricardo] Sanchez's headquarters [as the head of coalition forces in Iraq] and the deputy commander, [Maj.] Gen. [Walter] Wodjakowski, turned around to me and said, "You are not to release any one of them, Janis." And I said, "Sir, that information came from the military intelligence." And he said, "Get me somebody from the military intelligence." So this captain comes over and is trying to explain that none of these 35 had any further value. They were in fact in the wrong place at the wrong time, [gathered] up with the target individuals. So, Gen. Wodjakowski now turns on this guy and tells him, "You are not to release any of them. Do you understand me? Am I making myself perfectly clear? You are not to release any one of them." And this captain tries valiantly to explain that we'll be holding innocent people, and Gen. Wodjakowski says he doesn't care.
I thought, "How can we hold hundreds or thousands of these people in Iraq? We'll never get out of here." But that was the plan. And Gen. Wodjakowski said, "I don't care if we're holding 15,000 innocent Iraqis, we're winning the war."
A guy who doesn't care if innocent people are imprisoned...
Regarding the "ghost detainees":
Before those individuals were turned over to us by the task force or OGA [for "other government agency," typically a reference to the CIA], we received a message: "This individual will not be entered in any database. REPEAT not entered in any database. The individual will be secured in a separate section in a location with no contact with other prisoners." So if the Geneva Conventions say that prisoners will be listed in a database, and you're not calling them a prisoner, you're bypassing the Geneva Convention. Most of these messages said at the beginning, "Rumsfeld Sends."
Of course, that would be Rumsfeld "sending," with Cheney looking over his shoulder. How can it be argued that these menaces should not be removed from society?
I highly recommend the Salon article: linked again here. And it appears that Gen. Karpinski's book will potentially help strengthen the case against the "big guys" (to reference Cheney's pseudo-support for the "little guys."
While Abu Ghraib is in focus, I also recommend for those who have not done so, a look at the Taguba Report
The impassive language in the report is like a metaphor for the concrete walls and steel of the facility itself. It addresses villains, random acts of violence, the wasteland of Karpinski's command, and the occasional hero, with the same cinderblock vocabulary:
A villain:
- (U) That Mr. Steven Stephanowicz, Contract US Civilian
Interrogator, CACI, 205th Military Intelligence Brigade,
be given an Official Reprimand to be placed in his
employment file, termination of employment, and
generation of a derogatory report to revoke his security
clearance for the following acts which have been
previously referred to in the aforementioned findings:
* Made a false statement to the investigation team
regarding the locations of his interrogations, the
activities during his interrogations, and his knowledge of
abuses.
* Allowed and/or instructed MPs, who were not trained in
interrogation techniques, to facilitate interrogations by
"setting conditions" which were neither authorized and in
accordance with applicable regulations/policy. He clearly
knew his instructions equated to physical abuse.
Random violence:
Shooting by non-lethal means of detainee from Abu Ghraib (320th MP Battalion). Several detainees allegedly assaulted an MP at 1459 inside the Ganci Encampment, Abu Ghraib (BCCF). An SIR was initiated by SSG Matash (320th MP BRIGADE, S-3 Section). The SIR indicated that three detainees assaulted an MP, which resulted in the use of a non-lethal shot that calmed the situation. No information on findings, contributing factors, or corrective action has been provided to this investigation team. (ANNEX 17)
... a non-lethal shot that calmed the situation. (bold added)
Apocalypse Now:
- (U) Numerous witnesses stated that the 800th MP Brigade
S-1, MAJ Hinzman and S-4, MAJ Green, were essentially
dysfunctional, but that despite numerous complaints,
these officers were not replaced.
One interesting legal point is this conclusion from the report:
- (U) That BG Janis L. Karpinski, Commander, 800th MP
Brigade be Relieved from Command and given a General Officer
Memorandum of Reprimand for the following acts which have
been previously referred to in the aforementioned findings:
snip
* Failing to ensure that MP Soldiers in the 800th MP
Brigade knew, understood, and adhered to the protections
afforded to detainees in the Geneva Convention Relative to
the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
This reference in the Taguba report to the Geneva Conventions led to some squirming by Cambone and repub senators in the Senate session after the report came out, won't quote from it here, but I found one transcripton the nets, try to follow Cambone's logic as he explains how he does / doesn't / does believe the Geneva Conventions apply in Iraq.
There's a section on battalions which tried to lift themselves out of the wasteland and establish some sense of order:
- (U) Throughout the investigation, we observed many individual Soldiers and some subordinate units under the 800th MP Brigade that overcame significant obstacles, persevered in extremely poor conditions, and upheld the Army Values. We discovered numerous examples of Soldiers and Sailors taking the initiative in the absence of leadership and accomplishing their assigned tasks.
1. (U) The 744th MP Battalion, commanded by LTC Dennis
McGlone, efficiently operated the HVD Detention
Facility at Camp Cropper and met mission
requirements with little to no guidance from the
800th MP Brigade. The unit was disciplined,
proficient, and appeared to understand their basic
tasks.
And finally, 3, and only 3, heroes:
- (U) The individual Soldiers and Sailors that we observed
and believe should be favorably noted include:
1. (U) Master-at-Arms First Class William J. Kimbro,
US Navy Dog Handler, knew his duties and refused to
participate in improper interrogations despite
significant pressure from the MI personnel at Abu
Ghraib.
2. (U) SPC Joseph M. Darby, 372nd MP Company
discovered evidence of abuse and turned it over to
military law enforcement.
3. (U) 1LT David O. Sutton, 229th MP Company, took
immediate action and stopped an abuse, then reported
the incident to the chain of command.
One thing especially interesting is the comment from Col. Wilkerson that the abuse at Abu Ghraib stopped after the original photos were released. If that's the case, then it looks like these 3 guys are responsible for saving untold innocent people from being tortured.
At least the Navy Times gave credit where due:
In a scathing 53-page investigative report detailing abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq a re-port replete with names of military wrongdoers - the name of one Navy sailor stood out.
And that was a very good thing. Master-at-Arms 1st Class William J. Kimbro, 34, a dog handler who worked at the prison alongside the Army's 800th Military Police Brigade, was cited on Page 49 of what's become known as the "Taguba report."Army Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba conducted the Article 15-6 investigation of the now-infamous military prison.
The paragraph preceding Kim-bro's citation issued a damning conclusion: Poor leadership and the refusal of Army commanders to both "establish and enforce basic standards and principles among its soldiers" led to many of
the problems at Abu Ghraib. That blistering indictment was followed by this passage: "Throughout the investigation, we observed many individual soldiers and some subordinate units under the 800th MP Brigade that overcame significant obstacles, persevered in extremely poor conditions, and upheld the Army values. We discovered numerous examples of Soldiers and Sailors taking the initiative in the absence of leadership and accom-plishing their assigned tasks."
And then Kimbro's name rose to the top:
"The individual Soldiers and Sailors that we observed and believe should be favorably noted include ... Master-at-Arms First Class William J. Kimbro, U.S. Navy Dog Handler, knew his duties and refused to participate in improper interrogations despite significant pressure from the MI personnel at Abu Ghraib."
While short on specifics - nowhere in the report does it say exactly what Kimbro did or did not do - the inference was clear: Kimbro did it right. The Navy could be proud.
"He was deployed to Iraq to do his job, and from what we can tell, he did it very well," said Lt. Steven Curry, a spokesman for Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy, where Kimbro is based.
As senior military leaders from the secretary of defense to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs continue to reel from the shock, Curry's response may well be the understatement of the year.
snip
Kimbro, now back at Sigonella, declined an interview request with Navy Times. Navy officials were reluctant to discuss his involvement - albeit positive - in the prison affair.
snip
Over his career, Kimbro has been awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation, Good Conduct Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Southwest Asia Service Medal, Armed Forces Service Medal and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.
Curry called Kimbro a "top performer" in a "large" military dog unit stationed at Sigonella. Kimbro deployed to Iraq along with Nikki, a 6-year-old Belgian Malinois.
Original Navy Times article link is in Word, here's the html link.
The "90% innocent" got this diary started, so perhaps it's best to end with the story of William Kimbro, and the hail mary pass that there's hope for us yet.