Some people will continue to deny the responsibility at the very top of this administration for the tortures of prisoners at Gitmo, Abu Garaib, and Afghanistan, because they don't want to learn the truth. The simple fact of the matter is, anybody who has spent time in the service knows that lower-ranking military does not do anything unless told to do so. Denial by the very people responsible say much about their character and ethics; they have none. The following article was sent to me by a friend in Australia.
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From a report entitled "Getting Away with Torture? Command Responsibility for the U.S. Abuse of Detainees", dated April 2005
As this report shows, evidence is mounting that high-ranking U.S.
civilian and military leaders ?- including Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld, former CIA Director George Tenet, Lieutenant
General Ricardo Sanchez, formerly the top U.S. commander in
Iraq, and Major General Geoffrey Miller, the former commander
of the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba ?- made decisions
and issued policies that facilitated serious and widespread
violations of the law. The circumstances strongly suggest that
they either knew or should have known that such violations took
place as a result of their actions. There is also mounting data
that, when presented with evidence that abuse was in fact taking
place, they failed to act to stem the abuse.
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/us0405/index.htm
Human Rights Watch expresses no opinion about the ultimate guilt or innocence of the four officials listed below, or of any other officials, particularly because so much evidence has been withheld and so many questions remain unanswered, but does believe that a prima facie case exists that warrants the opening of a criminal investigation with respect to each.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
"These events occurred on my watch. As Secretary of Defense I am accountable for them. I take full responsibility." -- Donald Rumsfeld
Secretary Rumsfeld should be investigated for war crimes and torture by US troops in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantánamo under the doctrine of "command responsibility." Secretary Rumsfeld created the conditions for U.S. troops to commit war crimes and torture by sidelining and disparaging the Geneva Conventions, by approving interrogation techniques that violated the Geneva Conventions as well as the Convention against Torture, and by approving the hiding of detainees from the International Committee of the Red Cross. From the earliest days of the war in Afghanistan, Secretary Rumsfeld was on notice through briefings, ICRC reports, human rights reports, and press accounts that U.S. troops were committing war crimes, including acts of torture. However, there is no evidence that he ever exerted his authority and warned that the mistreatment of prisoners must stop. Had he done so, many of the crimes committed by U.S. forces could have been avoided.
An investigation would also determine whether the illegal interrogation techniques that Secretary Rumsfeld approved for Guantánamo were actually used to inflict inhuman treatment on detainees there before he rescinded his approval to use them without requesting his permission. It would also examine whether Secretary Rumsfeld approved a secret program that encouraged physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners, as alleged by the journalist Seymour Hersh. If either were true, Secretary Rumsfeld might also, in addition to command responsibility, incur liability as the instigator of crimes against detainees.
Former CIA Director George Tenet
Under George Tenet's direction, and reportedly with his specific authorization, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is said to have tortured detainees through waterboarding and withholding medicine. Other tactics reportedly used by the CIA include feigning suffocation, "stress positions," light and noise bombardment, sleep deprivation, and making detainees believe they were in the hands of governments that routinely torture. Under Director Tenet, the CIA "rendered" detainees to other governments which tortured the detainees. Under Director Tenet's direction, the CIA also put detainees beyond the protection of the law, in secret locations in which they were rendered completely defenseless, with no resource or remedy whatsoever, with no contact with the outside world, and completely at the mercy of their captors. These detainees, in long-term incommunicado detention, have effectively been "disappeared."
Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez
"As senior commander in Iraq, I accept responsibility for what happened at Abu Ghraib" -- Ricardo Sanchez
Lt. Gen. Sanchez should be investigated for war crimes and torture either as a principal or under the doctrine of "command responsibility." Gen. Sanchez authorized interrogation methods that violate the Geneva Conventions and the Convention against Torture. He knew, or should have known, that torture and war crimes were committed by troops under his direct command, but failed to take effective measures to stop these acts.
Major General Geoffrey Miller
Major General Geoffrey Miller, as commander at the tightly-controlled prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, should be investigated for his potential responsibility in the war crimes and acts of torture committed against detainees there.
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/us0405/6.htm
