This is the latest story from WaPo
Thursday, November 17, 2005; 5:20 PM
BAGHDAD, Nov. 17 -- The United States expanded its probe of alleged abuses to all Iraqi-run detention sites nationwide on Thursday, saying Iraq's Shiite-led government had agreed after the U.S. discovery of alleged torture and starvation of Sunni Arabs at a secret Interior Ministry prison in Baghdad.
The sheer hypocricy of the US's public stance on torture layered within this story is mind-boggling.
The breadth of the crackdown, and the involvement by top U.S. officials including the leading U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, and Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, indicated the gravity with which American leaders here viewed the torture allegations -- and the scandal's possible impact on the marginalized Sunni community, whose support is vital to ending the insurgency.
Iraq and U.S. officials in Iraq were "united" in instituting means to "ensure humane treatment of all detainees," the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. U.S. diplomats also issued a rare public rebuke to the U.S.-fostered Iraqi government over the abuse scandal -- warning the Shiite-led administration about the growing charges that it was letting politically and faction-driven Shiite ex-militias run the country's police forces.
Because, you know, the US has been quite clear in how it thinks detainees should be treated.
Does this sound familiar?:
Jabr insisted that Sunni Arab and news media charges of more widespread abuses at the center were "untrue and inaccurate."
"I reject torture, and anyone found guilty of that will be punished," he said.
Oh...wait! Something a tad different in this next part:
"Those who were held inside the center were some of the most dangerous criminal terrorists of various Arab nationalities," he declared.
Among other detainees was an Iraqi Shiite, crippled by polio, who had taken $1,000 from militants to detonate car bombs and booby-traps that have killed more than 60 Iraqis, Jabr said.
While U.S. generals found what they said were cases of torture, Jabr said Gen. Casey also told him that "all the suspects' files were in order -- which shows that our practices and procedures are correct." All the men at the center were there because of a judge's orders, Jabr said.
See? These guys at least had a reason to detain the bad guys. It's not like they were just swept up off the streets, kidnapped, and dragged off to parts unknown without even catching the whiff of a courtroom. Huh. That is different.
Well, maybe not so different:
The uproar over the secret prison has forced the seven-month-old Shiite-led government to confront in the most direct way yet the expanding charges of mass illegal detentions, torture and killings of Sunni men. Members of the Sunni minority, locked in a struggle with the Shiite majority over the future division of power in Iraq, say men dressed in Interior Ministry uniforms have repeatedly rounded up Sunni men from neighborhoods and towns. The bodies of scores of the men have been found dumped in mass graves by roadsides or in gullies.
So, General, plan on making any speeches in Washington, or do these following statements of yours only apply to the Iraqi government:
The impact of the airing of the allegations against police forces may depend in part on the government and U.S. response; a widening of sectarian rifts could occur if Sunnis believe the abuses are not being corrected. U.S. officers maintain, however, that the American crackdown on the secret prison already has won back some lost Sunni confidence for American efforts here.
U.S. Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, who oversees training of Iraq's security forces, said the prison case "points out the necessity for an internal oversight that clearly isn't there" of all people taken into custody by Iraq's security and intelligence services.
"These kind of things are a huge detriment to the morale of the force," said Dempsey. "I think the ministry understands it, or I hope it does. We're looking for them to take it seriously."
So, I wonder who is providing the oversight for the CIA prisons, for Guantanamo Bay, and for Abu Ghraib? Oh, those are the responsibility of the US government. Different rules...so sorry, I forgot.