US inquiry censures Australian military lawyer

US inquiry censures lawyer
27sep04

AUSTRALIAN military lawyer George O'Kane has been censured by a US Army investigation for responding inadequately to early Red Cross warnings about the abuse of prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, a Sydney newspaper reported today.

At the time of the abuses, Major O'Kane was stationed at coalition military headquarters in Baghdad and was in charge of liaising with the International Committee of Red Cross and responding to its complaints, the Sydney Morning Herald says.
The US report said a letter replying to Red Cross concerns last December, of which Major O'Kane was the primary author, glossed over the organisation's concerns, almost to the point of denying the humiliation and abuse identified.

In his letter, he said some detainees were not protected by the Geneva Conventions.

The newspaper reports that US investigators were unable to interview Major O'Kane and suggest attempts to do so were blocked by the Howard government. Major O'Kane also he failed to respond to written questions in time.

The paper says the US report raises questions about government assurances that Australians did all they could to make life better for Iraqi prisoners and that there has been no attempt to cover up Major O'Kane's activities.

The defence department has already been forced into an embarrassing backdown over the Iraqi prisoner abuse issue.

It claimed no Australian defence personnel knew about the abuse before January, but later admitted that Major O'Kane had seen Red Cross reports in October and November about the humiliation and torture of Iraqi detainees by their US guards.

Major O'Kane visited the prison several times, the first time in August last year.

But he was banned by the government from appearing before a Senate Committee inquiry.

A Defence Department spokesman told the paper that there had been no request for an interview with Major O'Kane and a written response had been forwarded earlier this month.

The department did not comment on the report's findings on Major O'Kane.

Defence Minister Robert Hill did not return calls and attempts to contact Major O'Kane for comment were unsuccessful, the paper says.