Abu Ghraib, Task Force 121, and the 'Secret Army'

[EVDebs]

Use of Dogs to Scare Prisoners Was Authorized
Military Intelligence Personnel Were Involved, Handlers Say
By Josh White and Scott Higham
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, June 11, 2004; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32776-20...

"U.S. intelligence personnel ordered military dog handlers at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq to use unmuzzled dogs to frighten and intimidate detainees during interrogations late last year, a plan approved by the highest-ranking military intelligence officer at the facility, according to sworn statements the handlers provided to military investigators"

This may all be leading up to Task Force 121
http://www.rotten.com/library/conspiracy/task-force-121 /
and the 'higher ups' may reside in this particular area of MI

"Although it hasn't been definitely established yet, rumors have been flying thick that Task Force 121 may have been involved in directing interrogations at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere. TF121 has the particular misfortune to have been sponsored by the Defense Department's top spook, Stephen Cambone.

An Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, Cambone is more or less the top civilian exclusively responsible for military intelligence, including collection and covert operations. Cambone is an obvious choice to "take one for the team," and it looks like the Congressional overseers of the Defense Department are ready to take him as the first in a series of sacrificial lambs....

One of the benefits of using a group like Task Force 121 as a secret army, carrying out the country's dirty work all over the world, is that Special Forces mission are not included under the War Powers Act."

So far, the little people (as Leona Helmsly would have put it) are taking it for the team.

U.S. Generals in Iraq Were Told of Abuse Early, Inquiry Finds
By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 1, 2004; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23372-2004Nov30.html

"A confidential report to Army generals in Iraq in December 2003 warned that members of an elite military and CIA task force were abusing detainees, a finding delivered more than a month before Army investigators received the photographs from Abu Ghraib prison that touched off investigations into prisoner mistreatment.

The report, which was not released publicly and was recently obtained by The Washington Post, concluded that some U.S. arrest and detention practices at the time could "technically" be illegal. It also said coalition fighters could be feeding the Iraqi insurgency by "making gratuitous enemies" as they conducted sweeps netting hundreds of detainees who probably did not belong in prison and holding them for months at a time.

The investigation, by retired Col. Stuart A. Herrington, also found that members of Task Force 121 -- a joint Special Operations and CIA mission searching for weapons of mass destruction and high-value targets including Saddam Hussein -- had been abusing detainees throughout Iraq and had been using a secret interrogation facility to hide their activities."

[bobthedrummer]

1. Anyone recall the Phoenix program in Vietnam?

It's deja vu all over again.

Phoenix Rising by Robert Dreyfuss
http://www.prospect.org/print/V15/1/dreyfuss-r.html