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Scoop Link: Seymour M. Hersh - The Gray Zone
THE GRAY ZONE
by SEYMOUR M. HERSH
How a secret Pentagon program came to Abu Ghraib.
Issue of 2004-05-24
Posted 2004-05-15
For full
story click here…
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040524fa_fact
The
roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie not in the
criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists but in a
decision, approved last year by Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld, to expand a highly secret operation, which had
been focussed on the hunt for Al Qaeda, to the interrogation
of prisoners in Iraq. Rumsfeld’s decision embittered the
American intelligence community, damaged the effectiveness
of élite combat units, and hurt America’s prospects in the
war on terror.
According to interviews with several past
and present American intelligence officials, the Pentagon’s
operation, known inside the intelligence community by
several code words, including Copper Green, encouraged
physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners
in an effort to generate more intelligence about the growing
insurgency in Iraq. A senior C.I.A. official, in confirming
the details of this account last week, said that the
operation stemmed from Rumsfeld’s long-standing desire to
wrest control of America’s clandestine and paramilitary
operations from the C.I.A.
Rumsfeld, during appearances
last week before Congress to testify about Abu Ghraib, was
precluded by law from explicitly mentioning highly secret
matters in an unclassified session. But he conveyed the
message that he was telling the public all that he knew
about the story. He said, “Any suggestion that there is not
a full, deep awareness of what has happened, and the damage
it has done, I think, would be a misunderstanding.” The
senior C.I.A. official, asked about Rumsfeld’s testimony and
that of Stephen Cambone, his Under-Secretary for
Intelligence, said, “Some people think you can bullshit
anyone.”
For full story click here…
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040524fa_fact
Also
archived here…
http://truthout.org/docs_04/051604A.shtml
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