Out of control
Iraq is not Vietnam.
It is becoming it's own special historical nightmare.
"The alleged abuse of Iraqi detainees by U.S. military police at a notorious prison near Baghdad was the result of 'systemic' problems that included poorly trained, overextended guards who were encouraged to go outside their proper roles and wear down prisoners before questioning, a military investigation concluded."
And General Meyers contention that this is, basically, just a few bad apples and that he hadn't yet even read Taguba's report -- which was finished more than two months ago -- because it was going up the chain of command is disturbing.
"Dan Senor, spokesman for the occupation authority in Iraq, said there would be severe consequences for wrongdoers.
"'Careers are going to be ended,' he told CNN. 'Criminal charges are going to be leveled. But let's not express frustration with the entire military in the process.'
"'I don't get the sense that they understand what an incredible sense of urgency there is to get this straight,' said Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware. 'Names, places, times.'"
It is significantly ironic that Seymour Hersh, who first reported on the My Lai massacre, broke the story.
The Pentagon is trying to contain the story and limit the damage, but "system" implies the involvement of more that 17 MPs, as Hersh reports.
General Taguba saved his harshest words for the military-intelligence officers and private contractors. He recommended that Colonel Thomas Pappas, the commander of one of the M.I. brigades, be reprimanded and receive non-judicial punishment, and that Lieutenant Colonel Steven Jordan, the former director of the Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center, be relieved of duty and reprimanded. He further urged that a civilian contractor, Steven Stephanowicz, of CACI International, be fired from his Army job, reprimanded, and denied his security clearances for lying to the investigating team and allowing or ordering military policemen "who were not trained in interrogation techniques to facilitate interrogations by" setting conditions "which were neither authorized" nor in accordance with Army regulations. "He clearly knew his instructions equated to physical abuse," Taguba wrote. He also recommended disciplinary action against a second CACI employee, John Israel. (A spokeswoman for CACI said that the company had "received no formal communication" from the Army about the matter.)
"I suspect," Taguba concluded, that Pappas, Jordan, Stephanowicz, and Israel "were either directly or indirectly responsible for the abuse at Abu Ghraib," and strongly recommended immediate disciplinary action.
Outsourcing the "bad cop" role. But who's the good cop in this situation?
Obviously, this has enormous consequences for Arab opinion and the recruiting efforts for fundamentalist Islamic terrorist networks. But, more immediately, this makes the already daunting task of turning the Iraqi political situation over to the UN, and the military situation over to a US-led NATO force, as John Kerry has proposed, nigh well impossible. It seems inconceivable that any other nation is going to have any desire to wade into morass of hatred and humiliation we have successfully created.
That's just the PR problem. The careening actions of the administration, the CPA, the Pentagon, and military commanders on the ground in Iraq grow more disheartening every day. They are desperately improvising, grasping at tactics with no apparent sense of a larger sense of strategy or consequences. How else do you explain this? After turning command of a Fallujah militia over to a former general from Hussein's Republican Guards, "'My guess is, it will not be General Saleh,' General Myers said on the ABC News Program 'This Week.' 'It will not -- he will not be their leader.'
"Only a day ago, the top Marine commander here, Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, said at a news conference at the Marine base that General Saleh and his troops were ready to take on the foreign fighters.
"'They understand our view that these people must be killed or captured,' General Conway said."
Trouble is that the good general didn't think there are any foreing fighters to be killed or captured in Fallujah, and that "'The reasons for the resistance go back to the American provocations, the raids, and abolishing the army, which made Iraqis join the resistance,' he told Reuters."
Ah, but not to worry, our man in Baghdad is looking after our interests, isn't he. Hmmm, desperatelye desparately trying to get the UN to take this timebomb off our hands, our friend Ahmed Chalabi is doing all he can to keep the UN out. Turns out the oil-for-food bribery scandal that's been laid at the UN's feet is based on documents no one other than Chalabi and his cronies have ever seen.
"The documents are in the charge of the Finance Committee of the IGC. And the Finance Committee is controlled by Ahmed Chalabi. The Chalabi-controlled investigation is being headed up by a man named Claude Hankes-Drielsma...The Economist calls him, 'a British financial adviser who was appointed by his old friend, Mr Chalabi, who chairs the finance committee of the GC in Iraq, to advise it on its investigations into the affair.'"
But that's okay, right? I mean, the accusations are probably true, and why shouldn't the brave exile try to spin this to give him maximum leverage over interests competing with his own? The bottom line is, he's watching our backs over there.
"But U.S. intelligence agencies have recently raised concerns that Chalabi has become too close to Iran's theocratic rulers. NEWSWEEK has learned that top Bush administration officials have been briefed on intelligence indicating that Chalabi and some of his top aides have supplied Iran with 'sensitive' information on the American occupation in Iraq. U.S. officials say that electronic intercepts of discussions between Iranian leaders indicate that Chalabi and his entourage told Iranian contacts about American political plans in Iraq. There are also indications that Chalabi has provided details of U.S. security operations. According to one U.S. government source, some of the information Chalabi turned over to Iran could 'get people killed.' (A Chalabi aide calls the allegations 'absolutely false.')"
Nevertheless, Wolfie -- who recently could not find the ballpark when asked for the number of US casualties in Iraq -- and the rest of the Best and the Brightest in the Pentagon, continue to stand by their man. "...Chalabi still has loyal defenders among some neoconservatives in the Pentagon. They say Chalabi has provided information that saved American lives. 'Rushing to judgment and cutting off this relationship could have unintended consequences,' says one Pentagon official, who did not respond to questions about Chalabi's dealings with Tehran. Each month the Pentagon still pays his group a $340,000 stipend, drawn from secret intelligence funds, for 'information collection.'"
It is becoming it's own special historical nightmare.
"The alleged abuse of Iraqi detainees by U.S. military police at a notorious prison near Baghdad was the result of 'systemic' problems that included poorly trained, overextended guards who were encouraged to go outside their proper roles and wear down prisoners before questioning, a military investigation concluded."
And General Meyers contention that this is, basically, just a few bad apples and that he hadn't yet even read Taguba's report -- which was finished more than two months ago -- because it was going up the chain of command is disturbing.
"Dan Senor, spokesman for the occupation authority in Iraq, said there would be severe consequences for wrongdoers.
"'Careers are going to be ended,' he told CNN. 'Criminal charges are going to be leveled. But let's not express frustration with the entire military in the process.'
"'I don't get the sense that they understand what an incredible sense of urgency there is to get this straight,' said Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware. 'Names, places, times.'"
It is significantly ironic that Seymour Hersh, who first reported on the My Lai massacre, broke the story.
The Pentagon is trying to contain the story and limit the damage, but "system" implies the involvement of more that 17 MPs, as Hersh reports.
General Taguba saved his harshest words for the military-intelligence officers and private contractors. He recommended that Colonel Thomas Pappas, the commander of one of the M.I. brigades, be reprimanded and receive non-judicial punishment, and that Lieutenant Colonel Steven Jordan, the former director of the Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center, be relieved of duty and reprimanded. He further urged that a civilian contractor, Steven Stephanowicz, of CACI International, be fired from his Army job, reprimanded, and denied his security clearances for lying to the investigating team and allowing or ordering military policemen "who were not trained in interrogation techniques to facilitate interrogations by" setting conditions "which were neither authorized" nor in accordance with Army regulations. "He clearly knew his instructions equated to physical abuse," Taguba wrote. He also recommended disciplinary action against a second CACI employee, John Israel. (A spokeswoman for CACI said that the company had "received no formal communication" from the Army about the matter.)
"I suspect," Taguba concluded, that Pappas, Jordan, Stephanowicz, and Israel "were either directly or indirectly responsible for the abuse at Abu Ghraib," and strongly recommended immediate disciplinary action.
Outsourcing the "bad cop" role. But who's the good cop in this situation?
Obviously, this has enormous consequences for Arab opinion and the recruiting efforts for fundamentalist Islamic terrorist networks. But, more immediately, this makes the already daunting task of turning the Iraqi political situation over to the UN, and the military situation over to a US-led NATO force, as John Kerry has proposed, nigh well impossible. It seems inconceivable that any other nation is going to have any desire to wade into morass of hatred and humiliation we have successfully created.
That's just the PR problem. The careening actions of the administration, the CPA, the Pentagon, and military commanders on the ground in Iraq grow more disheartening every day. They are desperately improvising, grasping at tactics with no apparent sense of a larger sense of strategy or consequences. How else do you explain this? After turning command of a Fallujah militia over to a former general from Hussein's Republican Guards, "'My guess is, it will not be General Saleh,' General Myers said on the ABC News Program 'This Week.' 'It will not -- he will not be their leader.'
"Only a day ago, the top Marine commander here, Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, said at a news conference at the Marine base that General Saleh and his troops were ready to take on the foreign fighters.
"'They understand our view that these people must be killed or captured,' General Conway said."
Trouble is that the good general didn't think there are any foreing fighters to be killed or captured in Fallujah, and that "'The reasons for the resistance go back to the American provocations, the raids, and abolishing the army, which made Iraqis join the resistance,' he told Reuters."
Ah, but not to worry, our man in Baghdad is looking after our interests, isn't he. Hmmm, desperatelye desparately trying to get the UN to take this timebomb off our hands, our friend Ahmed Chalabi is doing all he can to keep the UN out. Turns out the oil-for-food bribery scandal that's been laid at the UN's feet is based on documents no one other than Chalabi and his cronies have ever seen.
"The documents are in the charge of the Finance Committee of the IGC. And the Finance Committee is controlled by Ahmed Chalabi. The Chalabi-controlled investigation is being headed up by a man named Claude Hankes-Drielsma...The Economist calls him, 'a British financial adviser who was appointed by his old friend, Mr Chalabi, who chairs the finance committee of the GC in Iraq, to advise it on its investigations into the affair.'"
But that's okay, right? I mean, the accusations are probably true, and why shouldn't the brave exile try to spin this to give him maximum leverage over interests competing with his own? The bottom line is, he's watching our backs over there.
"But U.S. intelligence agencies have recently raised concerns that Chalabi has become too close to Iran's theocratic rulers. NEWSWEEK has learned that top Bush administration officials have been briefed on intelligence indicating that Chalabi and some of his top aides have supplied Iran with 'sensitive' information on the American occupation in Iraq. U.S. officials say that electronic intercepts of discussions between Iranian leaders indicate that Chalabi and his entourage told Iranian contacts about American political plans in Iraq. There are also indications that Chalabi has provided details of U.S. security operations. According to one U.S. government source, some of the information Chalabi turned over to Iran could 'get people killed.' (A Chalabi aide calls the allegations 'absolutely false.')"
Nevertheless, Wolfie -- who recently could not find the ballpark when asked for the number of US casualties in Iraq -- and the rest of the Best and the Brightest in the Pentagon, continue to stand by their man. "...Chalabi still has loyal defenders among some neoconservatives in the Pentagon. They say Chalabi has provided information that saved American lives. 'Rushing to judgment and cutting off this relationship could have unintended consequences,' says one Pentagon official, who did not respond to questions about Chalabi's dealings with Tehran. Each month the Pentagon still pays his group a $340,000 stipend, drawn from secret intelligence funds, for 'information collection.'"
posted by John at 8:14 PM
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