Smoking Gun: Rumsfeld ordered torture [VIDEO]

Posted by Evan Derkacz at 5:29 PM on November 26, 2006.

There was no "smoking gun" found in Iraq in the form of WMD because there was no smoking gun of that flavor to be found.

A smoking gun of a different flavor has surfaced, however, placing Rumsfeld at the helm of torture at Abu Ghraib and beyond.

Sure, it's something that's been "understood" to have been sanctioned "from above" for the past 4 years, but now Janis Karpinski, former head of Abu Ghraib prison, has told a Spanish newspaper that she is willing to testify that Rumsfeld "personally authorized" torture at Abu Ghraib (Video right). Why she went to a Spanish newspaper to make this claim is anyone's best guess.

Reuters:

"The handwritten signature was above his printed name and in the same handwriting in the margin was written: "Make sure this is accomplished"," she told Saturday's El Pais.

"The methods consisted of making prisoners stand for long periods, sleep deprivation ... playing music at full volume, having to sit in uncomfortably ... Rumsfeld authorized these specific techniques."

The Geneva Convention says prisoners of war should suffer "no physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion" to secure information.

When the Abu Ghraib scandal came to light in the form of a Seymour Hersh article and a shocking 60 Minutes II broadcast in April of 2004, Rumsfeld and the new stenographers, glommed onto the "bad apples" theory. It was just the work of some bad people acting independently, they claimed.

Of course, even were the bad apple theory valid...

Lt. Gen Ricardo Sanchez and then-Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld would be accomplices as they ignored the "Taguba Report" detailing sadistic and disturbing treatment at Abu Ghraib leading up to the more infamous incidents documented in the infamous photos.

From the Taguba Report, on treatment at Abu Ghraib between Oct & Dec, 2003 and submitted on February 26, 2004:

6. (S) I find that the intentional abuse of detainees by military police personnel included the following acts:

a. (S) Punching, slapping, and kicking detainees; jumping on their naked feet;

b. (S) Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees;

c. (S) Forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions for photographing;

d. (S) Forcing detainees to remove their clothing and keeping them naked for several days at a time;

e. (S) Forcing naked male detainees to wear women’s underwear;

f. (S) Forcing groups of male detainees to masturbate themselves while being photographed and videotaped;

g. (S) Arranging naked male detainees in a pile and then jumping on them;

h. (S) Positioning a naked detainee on a MRE Box, with a sandbag on his head, and attaching wires to his fingers, toes, and penis to simulate electric torture;

i. (S) Writing “I am a Rapest” (sic) on the leg of a detainee alleged to have forcibly raped a 15-year old fellow detainee, and then photographing him naked;

j. (S) Placing a dog chain or strap around a naked detainee’s neck and having a female Soldier pose for a picture;

k. (S) A male MP guard having sex with a female detainee;

l. (S) Using military working dogs (without muzzles) to intimidate and frighten detainees, and in at least one case biting and severely injuring a detainee;

m. (S) Taking photographs of dead Iraqi detainees.

Back before the Iraq War had begun Rumsfeld was busy making a preemptive strike on the Geneva Conventions, characterizing complaints as "isolated pockets of international hyperventilation." Those isolated pockets have successfully, albeit slowly, exposed Rumsfeld's "techniques" to the world. These days, "isolated pockets" are seeking war crimes trials against the Secretary in Germany. Testifying against him, should the suit make it to trial, will be former U.S. Army Brigadier General (now Colonel) Janis Karpinski.

Meanwhile, the "bad apples" continue...

The second video, of Rummy flipping off a long-hair, is just for fun.

Tagged as: torture, geneva conventions, rumsfeld, abu ghraib

Evan Derkacz is an AlterNet editor. He writes and edits PEEK, the blog of blogs.