William Fisher: Getting Closer To The Top?

26 April 2006

Getting Closer To The Top? By William Fisher t r u t h o u t | Report From:http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042106Z.shtml

In less than a month, we may finally get to hear from thearmy general who ordered commanders at Iraq's Abu Ghraibprison to "get dogs."

Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, whoran the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, andthen was sent to Iraq to "Gitmo-ize" Abu Ghraib, has beensilent on his role in introducing cruel and degradinginterrogation techniques to that prison.

Originally,Gen. Miller invoked his military rights not to incriminatehimself. But last week, a military judge ordered prosecutorsto produce him on May 17 as a witness for the defense in thetrial of a military dog handler accused of abusing detaineesat Abu Ghraib.

Defense lawyers have said it was Millerwho first told intelligence officers at Abu Ghraib to "getdogs" to exploit Arab fears of the animals.

Asreported by The Washington Post, Miller's appearance "willgive defense attorneys a chance to question Miller about theuse of dogs in security and interrogation operations atGuantanamo and in Iraq. It also means lawyers could useMiller's testimony to attempt to draw connections betweenthe alleged abuse and the policies developed by top Pentagonofficials who had regular contact with Miller when he wasthe commander at Guantanamo."

Witnesses in other caseshave testified that Miller went to Iraq at the request ofDefense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who wanted to"Gitmo-ize" Abu Ghraib. Tactics used on detainees in Iraq -including dogs, a dog leash and placing women's underwear ontheir heads - were the same as those used on one GuantanamoBay detainee in 2002.

So, it seems, we inch closer tothe top - to the White House and Pentagon policy makers whosliced and diced the Geneva Conventions to redefine torture,and left the grunts who followed orders to pay the price.

Miller would be the first general and the highest-rankingofficer to testify in any case connected to the now infamousabuses at Abu Ghraib. Lawyers for Sgt. Santos A. Cardona,31, are the first to be successful in persuading a judgethat his involvement could shed light on how dogs came to beused to threaten high-value detainees during interrogationsin Iraq in late 2003.

One of Cardona's lawyers said heplans to question Miller about the Rumsfeld-inspired trip hemade to Iraq to advise US officials on how to get betterintelligence.

Prosecutors contend that Miller was notactively involved in the operations in Iraq until he wastransferred to the country to work full-time in April2004.

But shortly after Miller was ordered to go toIraq on temporary duty in September 2003, military workingdogs were shipped to Abu Ghraib and approved for use ininterrogations.

Col. Thomas M. Pappas, formerly thesenior military intelligence officer at Abu Ghraib, hastestified that Miller and his team recommended using dogs.As a result, Pappas said, he approved the use of dogs forinterrogations of one high-value detainee after Miller'svisit.

But shortly after the now infamous photos ofabuse were turned over to Army investigators, Pappas urgedan end to the use of dogs and recommended that charges notbe brought against the dog handlers. Pappas has made a dealwith military lawyers granting him immunity fromprosecution.

Last year, a team of militaryinvestigators looked into allegations by agents of theFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who said theywitnessed abusive interrogation techniques at Guantanamo.The FBI allegations were contained in documents obtained bythe American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) through theFreedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The chiefinvestigator into Guantanamo practices, Air Force Lt. Gen.Randall M. Schmidt, told a Senate panel of the interrogationtechniques used on Mohamed al-Qahtani, a Saudi who wascaptured in December 2001 along the Afghanistan-Pakistanborder. Al-Qahtani was thought to be involved in the attacksof September 11, 2001.

Schmidt said interrogators toldhim his mother and sisters were whores, forced him to wear abra and wear a thong on his head, told him he was ahomosexual and said that other prisoners knew it. They alsoforced him to dance with a male interrogator, subjected himto strip searches with no security value, threatened himwith dogs, forced him to stand naked in front of women, andto wear a leash and act like a dog.

These techniqueswere reportedly approved by Defense Secretary Donald H.Rumsfeld for use on al-Qahtani - the alleged "20th hijacker"in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks - and were usedat Guantanamo in late 2002 as part of a specialinterrogation plan aimed at breaking him down.

Membersof the team that conducted the three-month investigationtold the Senate Armed Services Committee they recommendedthat Gen. Miller be reprimanded, but their recommendationwas overruled by his superior, Gen. Bantz J. Craddock,commander of US Southern Command.

The Miller inquiryappears to strongly support the contention that Gen. Millerwas the constant in the prisoner treatment equation, firstat the US Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and later atmilitary prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan, where similarinterrogation techniques were employed.

Gen. Craddocksaid that Gen. Miller had used "creative" and "aggressive"tactics, but did not practice torture or violate law orPentagon policy. He concluded that Miller's techniques didnot rise to the level of torture, and referred the matter tothe Army's Inspector General.

Whether Miller willactually testify remains to be seen. If he does, histestimony will be limited to the dog issue, the judge hasruled. If he can't find a way out of testifying altogether,will his testimony link any prisoner abuse to policiespromulgated by the Secretary of Defense, the JusticeDepartment or the While House?

It would be, to say theleast, unexpected. The Bush administration has endlesslyproclaimed prisoner abuses to be the work of "a few badapples," most of who have already been punished. And, morethan most organizations, the military has a long traditionof taking care of (and sometimes overlooking) its ownmistakes and not hanging its dirty laundry in public.

But in light of the ongoing "revolt of the generals," whocan really predict how all this will end? Staytuned.

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William Fisher has managed economic development programs inthe Middle East and in many other parts of the world for theUS State Department and USAID for the past thirty years. Hebegan his work life as a journalist for newspapers and forThe Associated Press in Florida. Go to TheWorld According to Bill Fisher formore.
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