corrente

Here is a profile in courage from Briefing General Kimmit:

Gen Peter Pace, the vice chairman of the joint chiefs, denied all talk of a cover-up. He protested that Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt, the US military spokesman in Baghdad, had alerted the media to allegations of abuse as early as mid-January and in March said six military personnel had been charged.

However, when pressed, senior Pentagon officials conceded that those two announcements were buried, or sneaked out, over a weekend. Gen Pace was technically correct to say that, on March 20, Brig Kimmitt told reporters in Baghdad that six soldiers had been charged with assault, indecency and cruelty against prisoners.

But the briefing took place at the weekend, was not relayed to the press in Washington, as normally happens, and is not included in the Pentagon's official media archives.

A senior defence official said there was no apparent record of Brig Kimmitt's January announcement that abuse allegations were being investigated. "I believe he did speak with reporters about the investigation being under way. I think it might have been a background briefing."
(via Telegraph)

Funny, though, that none of the reporters who were there in Baghdad, even on the weekend, followed up on the story. Eh? Your SCLM at work again. Thank heavens for Seymour Hersh!