House Panel Argues Over Abuse in Iraq

[Barrett808]

House Panel Argues Over Abuse in Iraq
By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - A congressional hearing on Iraq broke into partisan bickering Friday as more photos emerged of prisoner abuse.

Photographs published in The Washington Post depicted a U.S. soldier apparently preparing to strike a shackled detainee, a hooded inmate collapsed with his wrists handcuffed to a railing and a baton-wielding soldier appearing to order a naked detainee covered in a brown substance to walk a straight line with his ankles shackled.

Some prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison were forced to denounce Islam and were ridden like animals, fondled by female soldiers, force-fed pork or liquor and required to retrieve their food from toilets, the Post said in an accompanying story it said came from secret prisoner testimony.

Noting the new photos, Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., said at a House Armed Services Committee hearing that the panel should be doing a better job of looking into the prison abuse so members would know how to explain it to their constituents.

The comment started one of several politically charged exchanges in which committee Republicans and Democrats left three top Pentagon generals sitting at the witness table in silence.

(more)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040521/ap_on_go_co/us_iraq&cid=512&ncid=1480

[7th_Sephiroth]

1. whats there to argue about?

prosecute the soldiers in the photos

[aquart]

3. Soldiers follow orders.

Who gave the orders? If they were acting without orders, why did no officer stop them?

Sorry, this is another Bush management failure.

[7th_Sephiroth]

5. well, the photo's and videos will eventually be released, its unstoppable

now, and people involved, like lindie, will never be able to walk down the street again

[GregW]

2. They're arguing about whether the "brown substance" is ...

... shit or Kraft Chocolate Pudding

:eyes:

[damnraddem]

4. They shouldn't argue over abuse in Iraq.

They should argue over torture in Iraq.

Rummy may not be able to tell the difference, but what they are talking about is TORTURE.

[joanski01]

6. I watched the major part of those

hearings, and the bickering was definitely NOT over the pictures. That awful Chairman Duncan Hunter is really second only to Tom Delay. Meek was trying to get information and Duncan kept interrupting him and belittling him. Then Cong. Miller (R.FL) started in on Nancy Pelosi for saying bush* was incompetent. Then when Ellen Tauscher was asking questions, Miller kept butting in. Ellen complained that she had to get news from CNN -- then Miller butted in and said he got his news from FOX.

Then when Ellen T. began again, she said that Reps. talking when she is asking questions is beyond the pale. Then that stupid chairman Duncan Hunter butted in again and said it wasn't beyong the pale. That Ellen didn't have a sense of humor. Then Hunter repeated that Miller said "he gets his news from Fox. Fox would like that".

The most shocking thing I heard though was when a Congressman from Ohio, a Democrat whose name I forgot at the moment, asked about the upcoming crop of poppies in Afghanistan. Joint Chief of Staff Meyers said matter-of-factly that the poppy crop was already harvested. It came in early. What??? says the Dem Congressman. Who's watching? What are they doing on the ground there? Then JCS Meyers said the UK Goverment was in charge of the drug stuff.

What? says Cong. from Ohio, again. I'm from Ohio and when the corn crop is coming in early, we know about it. Why didn't they know about it? Meyers - Dunno, that's was I was told -- the crop came in early. Cong. from Ohio says this is outrageous and that there is now another year's worth of drug money to finance the terrorists. Chairman Dumbass Duncan Hunter butts in again and cuts off Dem from Ohio and says something like we will call in someone from UK and get information.

Wow, what a show this hearing was. If you get a chance to see a repeat on C-Span, please watch. Wow!!

[gratuitous]

7. Thanks for the recap

Uh oh, I guess Lil George's pep rally yesterday didn't solve quite everything. Get Karl working the phones, because some of the bad little children appear to have wandered away from the playground. Spank, spank!

[joanski01]

10. According to Bob Novak

this afternoon on Inside Politics, bush's* little bash on the Hill yesterday was a bust. The Congressmen were told that they could ask questions and it would be a big deal. So the Repukes set up mikes and all, so they could ask questions. Novak said it turned out that bush* just rambled on like he does at campaign speeches and that NO questions were taken by bush*.

No wonder everyone on the Hill has sad faces. Hee Hee!!!

[TahitiNut]

9. Impressively described.

I watched that obscene abomination as well. The unbelievable arrogance of Duncan Hunter was infuriating. He was carrying fascist water big time, interrupting EVERY Democrat constantly and letting the posturing of the Pukes have free rein, even to the point of going over time without a halt. Hunter is absolutely disgusting.

[xchrom]

8. this division is going to get worse before it gets better

republicans will do anything to make sure they control the flow of info and stepping on democrats is part of that process.
think back to newt and reagan era repukes -- well now they are in charge and it isn't going to change soon.
something bad is going to happen in this country because of them. and i'm talking about between the people -- think mcveigh.

[Disturbed]

12. Scared

These people in Congress are scared because Amerika, the real Amerika, is starting to be shown to the people in the USA. Amerika is now a Neo Fascist Imperialist Oligarchy. That is what the Cover Up is all about.
The rest of the world has known this but Amerikans have been the mushrooms: Kept in the dark and fed shit.

[AZCat]

11. Whoa! Yahoo changed the article!

The link, author, and title are all the same, but there is no mention of the dispute!

Thanks again, liberal media! :eyes:

[Barrett808]

13. Wow. Could it be...a mistake? Impossible to be too suspicious nowadays

:tinfoilhat:

[Danieljay]

14. Another article "Report: Soldiers fondled Iraq Prisoners"...

you get to it..click on "more" and it has been removed.. says could be expired...

Here is the original link...with the first part of the text..

Washington Post) - Previously secret sworn statements by detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq describe in raw detail abuse that goes well beyond what has been made public, adding allegations of prisoners being ridden like animals, sexually fondled by female soldiers and forced to retrieve their food from toilets. The fresh allegations of prison abuse are contained in statements taken from 13 detainees shortly after a soldier reported the incidents to military investigators in mid-January

http://news.yahoo.com/fc?tmpl=fc&cid=34&in=us&cat=us_armed_forces

Here is the page you get if you want to read the entire article...its been removed. http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/washpost/20040521/ts_washpost/a43783_2004may20


This thing stinks to high heaven... something big is going to go down soon, and I hope its the Bush administration.

[AZCat]

17. Refound Link! HERE --->

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/142/wash/More_prison_abuse_photos_discl%3A.shtml

Why we have to resort to these sort of tactics, I don't know.

I guess I just don't trust those who 'process' news for me anymore.

[joanski01]

15. Yes. I, too, went to read the entire

article and found that it was different. The only thing resembling what was in the original post was the title of the article. Yoiks!!!

[Danieljay]

16. How can ANYONE excuse this..

and now they are releasing old footage of Saddam abuses to try and justify it. What the hell is wrong with these people..and worse..what the hell is wrong with those on the "right" that they can't admit their leadership is a total failure.

This country is in deep trouble...

[dArKeR]

18. TORTURE UNLEASHED - Mirror

Shocking new pictures put US troops in dock

By Anthony Harwood, Us Editor, In New York And Stephen White

SHOCKING new pictures of Iraqi prisoners being abused by US troops were revealed yesterday.

With them came graphic accounts of savage beatings and torture, including claims that a boy was raped in custody and other inmates threatened with death and made to retrieve food from toilets.

One picture showed a baton wielding soldier ordering a naked detainee, apparently smeared in excrement, to walk in a straight line with his ankles handcuffed.

Another was of a guard restraining a snarling dog inches from the face of a handcuffed priosner.

In a third, accused soldier Charles Graner was pictured, fist raised ready to pummel a hooded detainee lying on the floor.

And a prisoner was shown standing handcuffed on top of a box with his leg through his arms and his ankle chained to a door handle behind him.

Six photos appeared in the Washington Post alongside graphic testimony from 13 prisoners at the notorious Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad.

The 65 pages of sworn statements taken by military investigators told of detainees being forced to retrieve food from toilets and being ridden like animals.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/tm_objectid=14264509%26method=full%26siteid=50143%26headline=jailed%2diraqis%2dtell%2dof%2dabuse%2d%2dtorture%2dunleashed-name_page.html

[Spazito]

19. Well, the foreign media shows they are more intelligent than the..

US media, yet again:

"apparently smeared in excrement"

It seems they can recognize "undetermined brown substance" for what it is unlike the US media, pretty sad.