corrente

One for each side?

In an effort to contain the mounting controversy, Larry Di Rita, Rumsfeld's chief spokesman, provided a timeline of U.S. military responses to the reported instances of abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad. He said the abuse, alleged to have happened last fall, was reported to U.S. military commanders on Jan. 13 by a soldier in the 800th Military Police Brigade, commanded by Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski of the Army Reserve.

[1]A criminal investigation was launched the next day by the U.S. military command in Baghdad, headed by Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez. On Jan. 19 Sanchez requested [2]a high-level review of practices and procedures at detention and interrogation centers; on Jan. 31 the review was begun, under direction of Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba. He finished it March 3.

In early February the Army inspector general began [3]a review of U.S. detention facilities throughout Iraq and Afghanistan, at about the time the chief of the Army Reserve, Lt. Gen. James R. Helmly, began [4]an assessment of training for his MPs and military intelligence personnel.

[5]A fifth line of inquiry was started April 23. It is headed by Maj. Gen. George Fay, an assistant to the Army's deputy chief of staff for intelligence in the Pentagon, and it is focusing on military intelligence practices and procedures in Iraq, Di Rita said.

Di Rita said repeatedly that he could provide no information about the role of private contractors, who are alleged to have played a role in the abusive situation at the Abu Ghraib prison.

"I'll tell you right now, I have nothing to say about that. I just don't know anything about it," he said.
(via AP)

And would we be hearing anything about this if Seymour Hersh and the New Yorker hadn't published the photos? The question answers itself.

And notice how—Fancy!—the Pentagon has nothing to say about the mercenaries.... That's where the real story is. Say, I wonder if the New Yorker has more for next week? Incidentally, support them by going to buy the magazine. It's got a great cover, as usual, suitable for framing. And what's that other news publication in Manhattan? The New... The New York.... I know it'll come to be, they've got this really great Ombudsman....