| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Jei" |
| Date: |
09 May 2004 09:49:11 AM |
| Object: |
Live Action Torture & Rape Videos - by US Troops in Iraq |
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~1865~2137717,00.html
Rumsfeld defended Bush's top brass
Pentagon spends weekend reviewing more Iraq abuse images
By Mike Allen and Josh White, Washington Post
WASHINGTON -- After gauging reaction to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's
testimony Friday about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, the White House
deployed President Bush's most senior officials Saturday to make the case
that the Pentagon chief is too valuable to lose now.
Vice President ***** Cheney, who was defense secretary under President George
H.W. Bush, said through a spokesman that Rumsfeld "is the best secretary of
defense the United States has ever had."
"People ought to let him do his job," Cheney said.
Administration officials spent the weekend reviewing hundreds of photographs
collected as part of the investigation of abuse of prisoners in Iraq, some
showing new cases of the humiliation of captives and many consisting of
heterosexual pornography involving soldiers in uniform. Senior military
officials said the images, including digital video files, depict stunning
physical abuse of prisoners in Iraq.
"It's not snapshots of people pointing at detainees -- it's live-action
abuse," said a Pentagon official who would speak only anonymously because
the videos have not been released. "It's horrible."
Some White House officials pushed for the immediate release of the photos.
But the Pentagon held back and instead is considering offering viewings to
Congress.
Republican officials said the White House has concluded that despite some
remaining skepticism among Republicans on Capitol Hill, support for Rumsfeld
in the country is strong and that replacing him would be disruptive to the
war effort and could be seen as a concession of broader failure by Bush.
These officials said Rumsfeld's resignation would provide an opening to Sen.
John Kerry, D-Mass. They said Bush's popularity rests on his personal
characteristics, including steadfastness and loyalty, and said that could be
undermined if he abandoned Rumsfeld.
Confirmation hearings for a new Pentagon chief could open up a damaging
debate about the war right before the election. However, GOP officials said
Bush would be more likely to leave Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz
as the acting secretary rather than nominate someone new.
National security adviser Condoleezza Rice said in a telephone interview,
after speaking to Bush at Camp David, that Rumsfeld "has the president's
support and he's going to continue to have it."
"Don Rumsfeld was effective before all this began, and he's effective now,
and he's going to be effective in the future because he has the complete
confidence of the president," Rice said. "He's doing exactly what the
president needs him to do, and he has the strongest possible support here in
the White House."
Another official who has talked to Bush said Rumsfeld was "rock solid" with
the president.
A Republican close to the White House called the statements "a much
stronger, clearer, unambiguous endorsement of Rumsfeld's future than you had
earlier in the week."
"The White House was waiting to see whether Republicans in the Senate were
going to stay with him after the hearing, and they did," the official said.
Other officials said Bush's aides took comfort in polling showing Rumsfeld
remains popular in the country and that most respondents have said they do
not think he should resign. A Washington Post-ABC News survey found that
seven in 10 Americans said Rumsfeld should not be forced to quit.
Republicans senators sounded more supportive of Rumsfeld after the hearing
than they did before. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said that officials
should "go slow" and give Rumsfeld a chance to show that he understands the
problem and is going to fix it. But Graham said Rumsfeld left many questions
unanswered. "I'm still not so sure who knew what when, and that's important
to me," Graham said.
Asked about the unreleased images, Graham said, "The American public needs
to understand, we're talking about rape and murder here." Pentagon officials
said that revelations in an investigative report about allegations of abuse
at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad meant that such crimes may have been
recorded, but said they had not seen any such images yet.
At the same time, more evidence is emerging that the United States
government was warned about conditions at the prison long before they
launched a formal investigation. U.S. and Red Cross officials said the Red
Cross advised U.S. authorities in Iraq about three months before the
investigation was launched on Jan. 12. Red Cross teams had paid 29 visits to
14 detention centers between March and October 2003, and followed up each
visit by reporting the findings, which included what the Red Cross
considered strong evidence of the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib.
Rumsfeld said in testimony on Capitol Hill on Friday that the additional
pictures he has seen are "hard to believe," and that their publication would
"make matters worse."
A senior administration official said the abuse of detainees in the
unreleased photos is similar to what has already been revealed, but involves
more victims. "It's the volume, and the uncertainty about what else is out
there," the official said.
Defense officials said they have not reviewed all the incriminating photos,
and that many more could be in the hands of individual soldiers and their
families.
The officials said they fear that some of the photos may have been taken of
casualties in a morgue in Baghdad and could include beatings of prisoners.
Some White House officials wanted the Pentagon to publish the photos as soon
as this weekend to try to defuse a story that has produced such massive news
coverage that it has been impossible for Bush or his re-election campaign to
break through with any other message. A White House official helping set the
strategy argued for a "sooner-the-better approach."
"There are still some terrible images yet to be seen by the public, and it's
important to get as much as possible out, as quickly as possible," the
official said. "That's the way to stay in front of the story."
Pentagon officials said that they have not decided what to do with the
photos, but that they do not currently plan to release them en masse to the
news media.
The officials said they have privacy concerns, want to preserve the photos
as evidence and need to protect the rights of those accused. But these
officials said another consideration is the need of the White House to move
on to other topics.
Rumsfeld said he worries that there could be even more images out there.
aides. The officials acknowledged that the photos are likely to become
public, but they have calculated that it might be smart to have lawmakers
describe them for a week before they are published.
"You devalue the shock value of these things if there's enough people saying
it's shocking," the official said.
Through the United States Central Command, which includes Iraq, Rumsfeld
obtained two discs that include a few video clips and hundreds of photos.
But officials said many of the photos do not involve detainees, and some
could be duplicates. They said they are not sure why soldiers made so many
of the photos.
Bush said in his radio address, recorded Friday, that he will not let the
incidents derail his commitment to Iraq after the scheduled handover of
sovereignty June 30. "Our mission in Iraq will continue July 1st and
beyond," he said. "We have no intention of leaving that nation at the mercy
of thugs and murderers."
The Democratic response was delivered by retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark,
the former presidential candidate, who said that "apologies aren't enough"
and that "America's moral leadership's been undercut."
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