WP: Soldier Says Intelligence Directed Abuse

[kskiska]

Thursday, May 20, 2004; Page A01

Military intelligence officers at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq directed military police to take clothes from prisoners, leave detainees naked in their cells and make them wear women's underwear, part of a series of alleged abuses that were openly discussed at the facility, according to a military intelligence soldier who worked at the prison last fall.

Sgt. Samuel Provance said intelligence interrogators told military police to strip down prisoners and embarrass them as a way to help "break" them. The same interrogators and intelligence analysts would talk about the abuse with Provance and flippantly dismiss it because the Iraqis were considered "the enemy," he said.

The first military intelligence soldier to speak openly about alleged abuse at Abu Ghraib, Provance said in a telephone interview from Germany yesterday that the highest-ranking military intelligence officers at the prison were involved and that the Army appears to be trying to deflect attention away from military intelligence's role.

Since the abuse at Abu Ghraib became public, senior Pentagon officials have characterized the interrogation techniques as the willful actions of a small group of soldiers and a failure of leadership by their commander. Provance's comments challenge that, and attorneys for accused soldiers allege that the techniques were directed by military intelligence officials.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41035-2004May19.html

[Wickerman]

1. Dead man walking

Sorry, Sgt. Samuel Provance, but that was, while admirable, probably heroic and from the surface quite patriotic, probably a very, very bad thing to do.

Thanks for setting the record straight!

[ClintonTyree]

2. Cover up?

There's no stinking cover up! And even if there were, the people in charge will investigate themselves and find no wrong doing. <sarcasm off>
This scandal goes way up the food chain in the military and perhaps the White House. Let's hope any investigations expose those truly responsible for these horrendous acts.

[RedEarth]

3. A lot of contradictory statements starting to come out....

I wonder why.....could it be someone up the chain is lying.