Thursday, June 17, 2004
The Fog Machine Starts to Break Down
Back here on June 6 Lambert noted this story:
At his press conference today Rumsfeld essentially acknowledged the above. Now let's go to the Wayback Machine all the way to May 7. When Rummy-tum-tum held up his hand before the Senate Armed Services Committee and went under oath and said, first to John McCain:
Yes the above is heavily edited. Anyone who goes and reads the transcripts and feels it was edited unfairly is asked to note details in Comments.
At the press conference Rumsfeld--who appears to be ever closer to the brink of nervous breakdown, or possibly just having his head spontaneously explode--was reduced to near babbling as he tried to keep track of which denial went to which atrocity, at which time, in which theater, in keeping with what Constitutional abrogations by which legal staffs at which time were then in force.
My conclusion? Rumsfeld lied. Under oath. To Congress.
UPDATE: Of course after slaving away for hours on this I find the basic concept is now blazingly obvious all over the better part of the blogosphere, as for instance at Atrios. Digby and Billmon have their own takes on it. All are worth reading as others use different quotes and sources to come to the same conclusion. Like the bumper sticker says, Always Question Authority.
The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, issued a classified order last November directing military guards to hide a prisoner, later dubbed "Triple X" by soldiers, from Red Cross inspectors and keep his name off official rosters.Yesterday the following broke: (via CNN):
Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba .. blamed the 800th Military Police Brigade, which guarded the prison, for allowing "other government agencies"--a euphemism that includes the CIA--to hide "ghost" detainees at Abu Ghraib. The practice, he wrote, "was deceptive, contrary to Army doctrine, and in violation of international law."
(via US News)
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last October ordered the high-value Iraqi prisoner held in secret at the request of CIA Director George Tenet, Pentagon officials disclosed. Some soldiers dubbed the prisoner "Triple X."
Officials say the Pentagon was asked by the CIA to take custody of the prisoner and to hold him incognito because he had been involved in ongoing military operations against the United States and the disclosure of his capture would compromise his intelligence value. The prisoner... remains at the U.S.-run "Camp Cropper" detention facility.
The prisoner was not assigned a number, nor was his presence disclosed to the International Committee of the Red Cross, but officials say his secret status was supposed to be temporary and deny he was a "ghost detainee."
At his press conference today Rumsfeld essentially acknowledged the above. Now let's go to the Wayback Machine all the way to May 7. When Rummy-tum-tum held up his hand before the Senate Armed Services Committee and went under oath and said, first to John McCain:
MCCAIN: ... that's a very simple, straight-forward question.And then he said, to Joe Lieberman of all people..
RUMSFELD: ...The Geneva Conventions apply to all of the individuals there in one way or another. They apply to the prisoners of war, and they are written out and they're instructed and the people in the Army train them to that and the people in the Central Command have the responsibility of seeing that, in fact, their conduct is consistent with the Geneva Conventions. ...
LIEBERMAN: Are these detainees, do you assume, members of Al Qaida -- that is, the thousands that have been held in Iraq? Or are they in another status?
RUMSFELD: Oh no, the president announced from the outset that everyone in Iraq who was a military person and was detained is a prisoner of war, and therefore the Geneva Conventions apply.
Yes the above is heavily edited. Anyone who goes and reads the transcripts and feels it was edited unfairly is asked to note details in Comments.
At the press conference Rumsfeld--who appears to be ever closer to the brink of nervous breakdown, or possibly just having his head spontaneously explode--was reduced to near babbling as he tried to keep track of which denial went to which atrocity, at which time, in which theater, in keeping with what Constitutional abrogations by which legal staffs at which time were then in force.
My conclusion? Rumsfeld lied. Under oath. To Congress.
UPDATE: Of course after slaving away for hours on this I find the basic concept is now blazingly obvious all over the better part of the blogosphere, as for instance at Atrios. Digby and Billmon have their own takes on it. All are worth reading as others use different quotes and sources to come to the same conclusion. Like the bumper sticker says, Always Question Authority.
