Registered: Aug 2001
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i heard a fair amount of the q&a performed by the committee members, Rumsfeld & General Smith.

NPR

i am assuming there is a link to the broadcast.

very interesting. the most disturbing thing to come out was the assurance that there "is more to come", meaning more photographs and some mention of a video.

the General admitted to contacting CBS to delay airing of the photos on 60 minutes for fear of the repercussions for troops in Iraq. apparently there have been investigations into prisoner abuse since January of this year...

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Registered: Jul 2000
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Yep, and here's the announcement that was made at the time:

"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

"DETAINEE TREATMENT INVESTIGATION BAGHDAD, Iraq An investigation has been initiated into reported incidents of detainee abuse at a Coalition Forces detention facility. The release of specific information concerning the incidents could hinder the investigation, which is in its early stages. The investigation will be conducted in a thorough and professional manner. The Coalition is committed to treating all persons under its control with dignity, respect and humanity. Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the Commanding General, has reiterated this requirement to all members of CJTF-7." News release, U.S. Central Command, Jan. 16, 2004.

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Registered: Jul 2000
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And wasn't it interesting how that Senator from Minnesota was more interested in pressing his agenda and misrepresenting the situation when questioning Myers (sp) about the CBS situation (by using the word "suppress" instead of delay, accusing him of nothing less than subverting the Constitution, and not letting Smith finish answers.)

Edit: wrong name

Last edited by MstrG on 05-08-2004 at 12:20 AM

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I'm not of the mind that Trenchant is, that being that it's the media's fault, that they're responsible for increased harm to our troops that may come from the stories, or that they're somehow (in his words) traitorous.

If they came upon the story, it was their duty to publish it. It was newsworthy, it was true, it was important. To me, it would have been chickenshit to NOT publish it. I'm willing to accept some very extreme insances when the media should silence itself for the sake of national security; systemic (not my word, something I heard on the wires today) abuses of Iraqi prisoners by coalition forces is not one of those situations. If anything, that's a situation that DEMANDS to see the light of day in terms of public accountability.

I have no problem with the military trying their level best to do their thing, though; that being to quiet the media and save face. But, I have no problem with the media trying their level best to do their thing; that being to publish stories of national and international interest that demand attention and perusal.

That's sort of a digression, I suppose.

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One effect the tapes/photos have is to put missing troops and civilians at greater risk of death and/or torture.

Not that it negates the duties of the military and the press.

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Indeed, the point Smith was trying to make was the timing was the problem. He wasn't asking 60 minutes to shelve the story, just delay it.

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I had heard initially that the request for a delay was because the situation in Najaf and Fallujah was dicey, but a solution of some sort was being attempted and there was a concern that the release of the photos would throw everything back into chaos.

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quote:

---

Originally posted by DevilMoon
One effect the tapes/photos have is to put missing troops and civilians at greater risk of death and/or torture.

Not that it negates the duties of the military and the press.

---

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opening remarks from rumsfeld

who bares responsibility?

it was on my watch, i am accountable, i take full responsibility. we will bring those who commit the wrongdoing to justice and see to it that it doesnt happen again, i feel terrible of what happened to the detainees. we failed in our obligation to the prisoners. i offer my deepest apology, it was inconsistant with the teachings of our nation and military. it was unamerican.

i regret the damage to our reputation and the reputation of our kick ass uber patriotic wonderful armed forces.

we were pretty pissed off at the dod when we saw the pictures.

this was brought to light by good military personnel, remember that, we ARE self regulating, and have succeeded in uncovering it OURSELVES. the responsible chain of command have been relieved and replaced.

there are other investigations in process at the moment.

'if some of our responses to questions are measured' its because we dont want to have an impact on the trials of those accused of these crimes, ... and we must protect the rights of the accused.

'we need to review our habits and our procedures' to reflect that we're in a time of war and in the information age. but we need to make adjustments in a new area

i failed to recognize how important it was to elevate knowledge of this situation to the highest levels, including the president

im looking for a way to make it up to those prisoners

--some chick just yelled out and chaos is happening they're protesting IN the hearing, screaming about firing rumsfeld and claiming the war is wrong, hahah that was funny, they restored order--

beyond abuse of prisoners, there are other fotos that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel, and inhuman. there are more fotos, and some videos.

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continued:

we're good, terrorists are bad; we're trying to spread hope and freedom. to do so we have to expose our own wrongdoing and bring the guilty to justice.

'judge us by our actions' watch how americans deal with wrongdoing and a scandal, watch how we correct our own mistakes, and act.

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"it is respect for the rule of law that we're trying to teach ... in afghanistan and iraq"

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all of the people testifying are agreeing

"we're handling it in the way it must be handled, not covering it up, we're investigating as to whether the abuse is systemic, and bringing everyone involved to justice. when we have answers, we will provide them"

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