[Tezcatlipoca]

Some stories from today's Guardian...

"Rumsfeld: I won't quit"

Originally Posted by The Guardian

Julian Borger in Washington and Luke Harding in Baghdad, Saturday May 8, 2004

Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, yesterday struggled to contain America's prisoner abuse crisis as he faced allegations that the maltreatment of Iraqi detainees was widespread and systematic.
Amid allegations that he and other top officials in the Bush administration knew about the brutality of treatment meted out in military jails in Iraq since the occupation began, Mr Rumsfeld faced fierce questioning at a congressional hearing and was accused of "disregard" of the Geneva Conventions.

Though he issued an uncharacteristic and comprehensive apology for the "brutal, cruel and inhumane treatment" the prisoners had endured, Mr Rumsfeld seemed to hesitate when senators grilled him about who was in overall charge of the regime.

His appearance came hours after a leaked report from the International Red Cross detailed that the "degrading" treatment of Iraqi prisoners was not isolated to Baghdad, and that the organisation had uncovered incidents in detention centres across Iraq.

The ICRC also expressed concern about British-run centres. The report was presented to the administration in February yet the extent of the abuses have just come to light.

During his evidence yesterday, Mr Rumsfeld warned that further damaging evidence would come to light, in the form of more photographs and a video of prisoner abuse. ........

(snip)

"UK Forces taught torture methods"

Originally Posted by The Guardian

David Leigh, Saturday May 8, 2004

The sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison was not an invention of maverick guards, but part of a system of ill-treatment and degradation used by special forces soldiers that is now being disseminated among ordinary troops and contractors who do not know what they are doing, according to British military sources.
The techniques devised in the system, called R2I - resistance to interrogation - match the crude exploitation and abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad.

One former British special forces officer who returned last week from Iraq, said: "It was clear from discussions with US private contractors in Iraq that the prison guards were using R2I techniques, but they didn't know what they were doing."

He said British and US military intelligence soldiers were trained in these techniques, which were taught at the joint services interrogation centre in Ashford, Kent, now transferred to the former US base at Chicksands.

"There is a reservoir of knowledge about these interrogation techniques which is retained by former special forces soldiers who are being rehired as private contractors in Iraq. Contractors are bringing in their old friends".

Using sexual jibes and degradation, along with stripping naked, is one of the methods taught on both sides of the Atlantic under the slogan "prolong the shock of capture", he said.

Female guards were used to taunt male prisoners sexually and at British training sessions when female candidates were undergoing resistance training they would be subject to lesbian jibes. .......

(snip)

"Violations 'tantamount to torture' "

Originally Posted by The Guardian

Saturday May 8, 2004

Edited extracts of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) report into the treatment of Iraqi prisoners by coalition [US, British and other countries'] forces
The ICRC draws the attention of the Coalition Forces (hereafter called "the CF") to a number of serious violations of International Humanitarian Law. These violations have been documented and sometimes observed while visiting prisoners of war, civilian internees and other persons protected by the Geneva Conventions in Iraq between March and November 2003.

The main violations

The main violations, which are described in the ICRC report and presented confidentially to the CF, include:

· Brutality against protected persons upon capture and initial custody, sometimes causing death or serious injury;

· Absence of notification of arrest of persons to their families;

· Physical or psychological coercion during interrogation to secure information;

· Prolonged solitary confinement in cells devoid of daylight;

· Excessive and disproportionate use of force, resulting in death or injury.

(snip)

And the New York Times says.....

"Rumsfeld must go"

Originally Posted by NY Times Editorial

New York Times, Editorial, May 7

There was a moment about a year ago, in the days of Mission Accomplished, when Donald Rumsfeld looked like a brilliant tactician. American troops - the lean, mean fighting machine Mr Rumsfeld assembled - swept into Baghdad with a speed that surprised even the most optimistic hawks. It was crystal clear that the defence department, not state and certainly not the United Nations, would control the start of nation-building. Mr Rumsfeld, with his steely grin and tell-it-like-it-is press conferences, was the closest thing to a rock star the Bush cabinet would ever see.

That was then.

It is time now for Mr Rumsfeld to go, and not only because he bears personal responsibility for the scandal of Abu Ghraib. That would certainly have been enough. The United States has been humiliated to a point where government officials could not release this year's international human rights report this week for fear of being scoffed at by the rest of the world. The reputation of its brave soldiers has been tarred, and the job of its diplomats made immeasurably harder because members of the American military tortured and humiliated Arab prisoners in ways guaranteed to inflame Muslim hearts everywhere. And this abuse was not an isolated event, as we know now and as Mr Rumsfeld should have known, given the flood of complaints and reports directed to his office over the last year.

The world is waiting now for a sign that President Bush understands the seriousness of what has happened...

(snip)