Congress Members Told of Abuse Months Ago

[Liberal Veteran]

HAGERSTOWN, Md. - Two months before pictures of Iraqi prisoner abuse became public, the family of one accused soldier wrote to 14 members of Congress that "something went wrong" involving "mistreatment of POWs" at Abu Ghraib prison.

Separately, a suspended Army officer in Iraq (news - web sites) wrote to Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania that he was being unfairly punished after "pictures of naked prisoners" were discovered. He sent the letter six weeks before the CBS program "60 Minutes II" first broadcast photographs of the prisoners on April 28.

The strongest reply any of them got was a note saying what they already knew — that the Army was investigating, according to documents released last week by Specter's office and the family of Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Ivan L. "Chip" Frederick.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040517/ap_on_go_co/prisoner_abuse&cid=512&ncid=716

[Tellurian]

1. Ahhhh...wasn't that about the time Condi Rice called for only Republican

Congressman (no dems allowed) to attend a WH briefing updating the status of the War in Iraq?

Condi must have asked the Republicans if they had received any outcry against the prisoner abuses from their constituency..

[leesa]

2. I'm sure they don't disapprove. After all, they approved the unprovoked

invasion opf a defenseless nation...twice.

[nolabels]

3. Yea, but seeing how most of them are very dependent on the big

donors and corporations that install them are also being given cover by the same people who own the media. What story do you think will get bigger play?

Bush reaches out to quell Arab rage at inmate abuse

President reported to rebuke Rumsfeld

By Wayne Washington, Globe Staff, Globe Correspondent, 5/6/2004
(snip)
''My army has been embarrassed by this," Kimmitt said as he was grilled by Arab journalists during a news conference in Baghdad. ''My army has been shamed by this. And on behalf of my army, I apologize for what those soldiers did to your citizens. It was reprehensible, and it was unacceptable."

The apologies from military officials in Iraq went much further than anything offered from Bush administration officials in Washington. Rumsfeld has angered even some of the administration's Republican supporters in Congress because of what they view as the Pentagon's slow response to the abuse allegations.

Bush told Al Hurra that ''of course I've got confidence in the secretary of defense, and I've got confidence in the commanders on the ground in Iraq because they and our troops are doing great work on behalf of the Iraqi people."

But key figures in Congress have asked, in light of the disclosures of the treatment at Abu Ghraib, how widespread the abuse of Iraqi prisoners has become, and they vented their anger at not being told by Rumsfeld what his department knew about the abuse allegations before they came to light.
(snip)
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/127/nation/Bush_reaches_out_to_quell_Arab_rage_at_inmate_abuse-.shtml

[Leilani]

4. Problem is

most of the members notified were Dems, & they did nothing.

11 Dems on the Senate Armed Services Committee were notified.

[sandnsea]

5. Don't blame Bush...

whatever you do, don't blame Bush. One more time, buy into the propaganda and blame Congress.

Bush & Rummy ordered this stuff, they've been receiving complaints for a year now.

And DUers want to blame the Democrats again. That's how Bush gets away with it. Too many on the left are always ready to line up and play right into the Republicans' hands.

[nolabels]

7. Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania

Does not sound like a Dem. The partisan B.S. is also done to put distance between our Representatives and us. If I had a problem like that he or people like him would be last of the people I would be contacting.

Talk about calling for the fox to guard the hen house

[keithyboy]

8. Hackworth also named Hillary Clinton as one who had been sent info

I don't care who they are, I would like to know the names of all those Congresspeople as well as administration officials who were told about these abuses and who did nothing.

[demdave]

11. Here are the Dems on that commitee...

Carl Levin (Michigan)
Ranking Member

Edward M. Kennedy (Massachusetts)
Robert C. Byrd (West Virginia)
Joseph I. Lieberman (Connecticut)
Jack Reed (Rhode Island)
Daniel K. Akaka (Hawaii)
Bill Nelson (Florida)
E. Benjamin Nelson (Nebraska)
Mark Dayton (Minnesota)
Evan Bayh (Indiana)
Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York)
Mark Pryor (Arkansas)

[PaDUer]

24. Also...

Congressmen Sherwood (R)and Kanjorski (D)were aware..they've been working with those people in their districts who are involved.

[keithyboy]

32. I didn't hear Hackworth mention any Dems other than Hillary.

He didn't say the entire Committee on the program I was watching.

[Tinoire]

29. Do you have a link to that? So far I only know of the 2 Dems

mentioned on 60 Minutes II on May 12th (as mentioned by Roguevalley in post 19).

This whole thing is sickening.

Thanks if you have that link.


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Girman and Canjar's families say they tried to bring attention to the problems at Camp Bucca.

They say they called Donald Rumsfeld's office repeatedly, and sent letters, emails and faxes to the White House, and to several senators, including Arlen Specter, Rick Santorum, Joe Lieberman and Carl Levin nearly a year ago.

The letters say that the "camps are in complete disarray with no reasonable voice of leadership..."

The letters also described the camp atmosphere "as a b-rated movie, filled with incompetence..."

The families say no one called back.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/11/60II/main616849.shtml

Links to audio and video here
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=109x8903

[struggle4progress]

17. The Democrats aren't dumb:

Asking the Dems what they knew may be a smart move. I'll bet Democrats who heard abou the abuse wrote to the Administration for info. And as secretive as the Administration is, I bet they never responded.

That doesn't help Bush get away. That puts pressure on Bush.

[TankLV]

20. Ding ding ding!

We've got a winner!

Bingo!

Levin stated that very fact in his grilling of rumsfeld - wanted to know just why no one responded to his request for information - rumsfeld tried to tap dance and avoid the question and Sen. Levin persisted - warner and the other repukes thought Sen. Levin was being harsh and belligerent and partisan in his line of questioning.

[Just Me]

25. They were assured actions were being taken to correct the problem.

Of course, they should no longer give the Busholinis any benefit of the doubt whatsoever,...that is and has been their greatest weakness.

[struggle4progress]

31. Certainly nobody in their right mind ...

believes much of what the Bushistas say anymore. But I feel some sympathy for the Democrats in Congress, since they really have to devise attacks somewhat more subtle than calling every Bushista a lying POS (even if it seems to be true).

[phoebe]

23. don't you think it bears some investigation if Democrats were

notified and they did nothing? This is the reality of the situation. Both sides bear responsibilty for this. Do you want to get to the truth or is it more comfortable to wear blinders? No issue is solidly black or white. DU'ers often accuse the * administration of seeing the world in black or white. There must be accountability on all sides otherwise we are no better than they are.

[dusty64]

6. another reason

not to allow them to bury the evidence, as usual they can NOT be trusted to work for the People.

[keithyboy]

9. Was Kerry sent this information?

I sure would like to know.

[demdave]

10. There are only 12 Dems on the commitee......

Carl Levin (Michigan)
Ranking Member

Edward M. Kennedy (Massachusetts)
Robert C. Byrd (West Virginia)
Joseph I. Lieberman (Connecticut)
Jack Reed (Rhode Island)
Daniel K. Akaka (Hawaii)
Bill Nelson (Florida)
E. Benjamin Nelson (Nebraska)
Mark Dayton (Minnesota)
Evan Bayh (Indiana)
Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York)
Mark Pryor (Arkansas)

The story states that 11 of them received the message. Is there any way to tell which ones?

[Francine Frensky]

12. Does receiving a letter from an unknown = "knowing"?

I'm guessing senators receive tons of mail, probably 99% gets read only by staffers. How many whistle-blower type letters do they get? How much staff time do they have to follow up? And maybe the most important question: did the letters include the photos themselves, which would have been a huge tip-off, and IMO, warranted closer inspection.

The bottom line is still that Rumsfield or someone at a high level from inside the pentagon should have been talking to the senate/congress much earlier. Someone who saw the pictures, it's obvious they would be incindiery.

Letters like these look 'brilliant" in hindsight (like the FBI field officers memos), but are like picking a needle from a haystack when they happen.

[PaDUer]

26. I read in an article..

that those military people leaving Iraq had their belongings, bags, gone thru..They confiscated the pix/photos that they found..They've been aware a LONG time and hoped they found all the evidence, but apparently, they weren't able to stop those that had already emailed them to family, friends, or whoever. That's why they kept silent and did nothing..they hoped they grabbed all the evidence and that no one would talk.

[underpants]

13. If I hear "since this story broke in January" one more time...........

I will puke. I heard some reporter from UPI on CNN yesterday and she said that and I have heard from all of the RW talking heads. This did not break until the photos were leaked by the father of one of the soldiers, at least it was reported on in nearly the same way and amount until then. These "this is OLD news" crap isn't taking anyway so they should stop it.

[BeFree]

14. Old story, yes, indeed

But they kept it secret for many, many months, the Pukes did.

This is the key: The administration labeled it top secret! It's the same as the missing 18 minutes from the Nixon tapes.

It's the Cover Up, Stupid!

[librechik]

15. yes--this story was actively suppressed

The "old story" crap is a RW talking point, trying to cast blame somehow on the Dems for a scandal which is obviously Republican from the get go!

And besides, how much can the minority members of a committee do? Even if fired up? They can't initiate any actions whatsoever. They have to wait on Warner to start an investigation for example. And Warner stalled until they aired the pictures on CBS.

[underpants]

16. Yep

We probably would have never known about it (we being the mass of the US) had the Repubes had their way.

[nolabels]

18. Another testament to American ingenuity

The things only dreamed about 20 or even 10 years ago, digital photography and instantaneous video communication through portable phones. Even better yet, Internet chat rooms where anybody concerned can have a voice and share what they know about it :D

[TankLV]

21. Yep - if it weren't for the pics that some crybabies/appologists on this

board were venting their spleans over weren't leaked, we'd have NEVER known a single thing about this.

"IT'S THE PICTURES, STUPID!"

Without all the pics, we'd have no investigation.

Interesting how the house side quashed their "investigation" right after the bushco beheading crap surfaced - just in time for them, too!

[roguevalley]

19. THe four mentioned on 60 Minutes II were Specter, Santori, Lieberman

and Levin. Pummel them with e-mail.

[TankLV]

22. Again - it was Levin who tried to get answers - bushco just never

responded.

I'd stake my life that the dems had tried to get this investigated, but the repukes were the sole ones who tried to cover this up.

[Tinoire]

30. I have a feeling they're all covering.

but that we're wanting to use this to our advantage. Rumors and reports have been out about Guantanamo & the Iraqi prisons for how long & people are only now getting outraged. There's no way all of these guys didn't know what we've all known all along. The only difference is that now they smell enough blood to go in for the kill. Forgive my cynicism of my own party but I see them more as wanting to use this against Bush than in wanting to really investigate and put an end to this atrocity.

They've been too silent about the atrocities against the Palestinians to be taken seriously.

Hopefully they'll do both- go after Bush & restructure Intel so that such an abuse never happens again. Until I hear them mentioning the name of the Intel General in charge (General Barbara Fast) and demanding a FULL investigation (as opposed to Taguba's that was specifically limited to the Brigade), I won't hold my breath.

[JayS]

27. Good timeline of events here.

A Broad Pattern of Abuse and Denial: A Timeline of Torture & Abuse Allegations and Responses
By Human Rights Watch
May 4, 2004

http://www.ccmep.org/2004_articles/iraq/050404_a_broad_pattern_of_abuse_and_den.htm

[nolabels]

28. Kick

http://www.hrw.org/