Torture: The Case Against Rumsfeld

From Dailykos:

Frontline kicked off it's 24th season this week, with a blockbuster on Rumsfeld's role in the Torture Atrocities. You can watch the entire program online Source

"I'm screwed, and Donald Rumsfeld is going to walk away from this."

Abu Ghraib has always been a terrifying place to Iraqis -- Saddam Hussein used it as his primary torture chamber -- but in 2004, when graphic photographs of American soldiers abusing prisoners surfaced, Abu Ghraib took on deeper meaning.

"The details of what happened in those cellblocks between the American soldiers and Iraqi detainees are well known," says producer/director Michael Kirk, "but how and why it happened is what took us into the heart of Abu Ghraib that night."

In "The Torture Question", FRONTLINE traces the history of how decisions made in Washington in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11 -- including an internal administration battle over the Geneva Conventions -- led to a robust interrogation policy that laid the groundwork for prisoner abuse in Afghanistan; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and Iraq.

"They can do whatever they want; they could make it appear any way they want. I will not be silenced," Karpinski tells FRONTLINE. "I will continue to ask how they can continue to blame seven rogue soldiers on the nightshift when there is a preponderance of information right now, hard information from a variety of sources, that says otherwise."

Powell's speech included a talking point about Iraq providing weapons and training to Al Qaedia. Turns out the "informant" "confessed" to that under torture.

"General Miller insisted that the prisoners be treated like dogs."

Because the prisoners at GITMO were either innocent or basic, none-ranking members of Al Qaedia, they had no information, and as a result, the torture increased

One method used was so atrocious, that I won't repeat it here. I've only heard of it once before -by Nazi doctors.

In this report, American soldiers give first-hand accounts of their involvement in the harsh treatment of prisoners. Moreover, one former Army interrogator and member of a special intelligence team insists that the use of torture was happening all over Iraq. Other military sources, some of whom had to be disguised, confirm that prisoner abuse is a more widespread problem than previously reported.

The Report includes an interview with Capt Fishback, who has come forward with reports of widespread prison abuse in Iraq even after the revelation of the Abu Ghraib scandal.

"Now it's all over Iraq, people are being tortured in thier homes - they'll break bones, ribs - that was serious stuff..."

Vyan