- WASHINGTON/MANNHEIM
(Reuters) -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld came under fire on Tuesday
from a high-level inquiry into the Abu Ghraib prison scandal but a U.S.
military judge ruled he did not have to testify at a trial arising from
the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.
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- A four-member panel headed by former Defense Secretary
James Schlesinger issued a report accusing the chain of command from Rumsfeld
down of leadership failures that created conditions for the abuse late
last year that sparked anti-American outrage across the world.
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- Schlesinger described the events at the U.S.-run Baghdad
prison as "'Animal House' on the night shift," a reference to
a 1970s U.S. film about riotous behavior at a student boarding house.
-
- But he said it was clear that Rumsfeld had issued no
orders for the mistreatment of prisoners and direct responsibility ended
with field commanders in Iraq.
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- "Command failures were compounded by poor advice
provided by staff officers with responsibility for overseeing battlefield
functions related to detention and interrogation operations," said
the report, commissioned by Rumsfeld in May.
-
- "Military and civilian leaders at the Pentagon share
this burden of responsibility."
-
- Seven military police personnel have been charged so
far in connection with the abuse at Abu Ghraib, which became public in
April when photographs emerged of naked, hooded Iraqi prisoners being sexually
humiliated and threatened with dogs.
-
- In Mannheim, Germany, the judge hearing some of the cases
dismissed a motion brought by one of the accused, Sgt. Javal Davis, to
force Rumsfeld to testify.
-
- "I fail to see a connection between this group and
the authorities in Washington. I'm not saying there is no link, but you
have not shown sufficient evidence," said Judge James Pohl.
-
- One of Davis's lawyers, Paul Bergrin, referred to memos
which he said showed Rumsfeld had approved hooding and stripping prisoners,
who could also be put in stress positions and subjected to "physical
conduct."
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- RUMSFELD "APPROVED TECHNIQUES"
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- "As insurgencies (in Iraq) increased, the need for
actionable intelligence increased. These techniques were approved by Donald
Rumsfeld," Bergrin said.
-
- He and other defense lawyers say their clients were following
orders to break inmates for interrogation.
-
- The highest-ranking of the seven, Staff Sergeant Ivan
Frederick, has reached a deal to plead guilty to some charges at his court
martial, lawyer Gary Myers told reporters.
-
- "He has, unlike many, accepted responsibility for
corrupt behavior generated by the circumstances that existed in Abu Ghraib,"
Myers said.
-
- The Schlesinger report said interrogation policies in
Iraq were inadequate and deficient, and changes made by Rumsfeld between
December 2002 and April 2003 in the techniques permitted contributed to
uncertainties in the field as to what was allowed and what was not.
-
- But panel members said there was no reason for Rumsfeld
to step down. "If the head of a department had to resign every time
anyone down below did something wrong, it would be a very empty Cabinet
table," said one panelist, former defense secretary Harold Brown.
-
- Shortly after the scandal erupted, President Bush rejected
calls for Rumsfeld's resignation, saying he was doing a "superb job."
Bush asserted the abuse was the work of "a small number" of soldiers.
-
- However, the Schlesinger panel said 300 cases of abuse
were being investigated, many beyond Abu Ghraib. "So the abuses were
not limited to a few individuals."
-
- A senior Army official said a separate investigation
headed by Maj. Gen. George Fay would fault Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, at
the time the top U.S. commander in Iraq, for leadership failures for not
addressing troubles at Abu Ghraib.
-
- The Fay report, to be released on Wednesday, found Sanchez
and his staff were preoccupied with an escalating insurgency and did not
focus on the festering problems at Abu Ghraib, the Army official said.
-
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