Posted on 05/08/2004 2:59:45 PM PDT by LandOfLincolnGOP
May 6, 2004
Inspector says he warned U.S. officials of Iraqi prisoner abuse
By BOB GIBSON
Media General News Service
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- David Kay, the man who led the U.S. search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, says he repeatedly told people about problems with the interrogation of prisoners, but the military ignored him.
"I was there and I kept saying the interrogation process is broken. The prison process is broken. And no one wanted to deal with it," Kay said. "It was too, too distasteful. This is a known problem, and the military refuses to deal with it."
Kay said in an interview Tuesday after speaking at the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs that the abuse of Iraqi inmates at an American-run prison west of Baghdad is a disaster for the United States.
Anything less than severe action, which he described as a "hanging," against a two- or three-star general in charge means "in the Middle East, they are always going to believe we did it as part of a sanctioned process," Kay said.
"I am terribly worried that if we only charge the seven or 15 reservists who were involved and condemn the contractors who were involved and maybe the one-star reserve general who was in charge of this overall military prison unit, I think we will have done a horrible mistake," Kay said.
"Who's responsible for their behavior? Or are they scot-free?" Kay asked. He said that contract employees could be charged by a federal prosecutor with "violating a normative international law" but cannot be touched by the military that hired them because "the only sanction the military has against them is removal."
"I can't tell you how revolted I am," he said, yet Iraqis are far more revolted at the photos broadcast worldwide the past week showing U.S. soldiers smiling and giving thumbs-up signs while naked prisoners were forced to assume humiliating positions.
In his speech at the Miller Center, Kay defended the decision to go to war in Iraq even though no one has been able to find weapons of mass destruction, which had been the main reason given for going to war. Kay also said he never saw any evidence of a connection between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida. terror network.
Kay, who previously worked in Iraq as the United Nations' chief nuclear weapons inspector, said that when American troops forced Iraq out of Kuwait in 1991, Iraq was "within six to 12 months of their first nuclear weapon."
Years after Iraq was defeated in the first Gulf War, Saddam Hussein secretly decided in the mid-'90s to get rid of his weapons of mass destruction, mostly chemical stockpiles, because they were too easy to find and could be rebuilt after world sanctions lapsed, Kay said.
Saddam kept up a policy of deception against weapons inspectors because he feared that the Iraqi people and his own army might overthrow him if they were not convinced he still had the weapons, Kay said. Every Iraqi general who has been interrogated was convinced the weapons were still in Iraq but had not seen them for years, he said.
American intelligence agencies remained fooled because Iraqis who wanted Saddam toppled kept feeding them false stories about his hidden stockpiles of chemical and other weapons, Kay said.
"They told us about weapons in order to get us to invade Iraq," he said. "They moved U.S. policy, and we didn't catch it."
The United States needs to massively rebuild human intelligence sources after too long a period of over-reliance on technology, Kay stressed. "As a nation, we've got to get serious about understanding the threats" and the conditions that build and foster terrorism, he said.
All the major western intelligence services were fooled about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction in the past three years, he said. "Around the world in the intelligence services, there was a shocking uniformity. ... Everyone was drinking from the same polluted pool and drawing the same wrong conclusions."
Bob Gibson is a staff writer for the Charlottesville Daily Progress.
Seems a stretch to me that American MI would be abusing Iraqi Scientists with Citizen Kay observing.
Kay might be turning Ritter-esque in his grandiose and hot-headed claims.
Why doesn't he spill the beans on that new anthrax process Iraq developed.d - which he hinted to Miniter.
I think he's lying. Think?
FMCDH
Unless he went out and disposed of the stuff all on his lonesome, there were still people around him who knew the stuff had been destroyed. How was he going to ensure that none of these people spilled their guts? I can't help but believe that Kay is definitely wrong in this theory. You mean to tell me not one of those people who Saddam had confided his little secret in, wasn't in a position to spread the news, and thus cause an overthrow anyway. It just doesn't make any sense.
Personally, I think Kay was way over his head on this job. He should have been hired as a driver for Halliburton and nothing more.
Fedayeen Saddam (Saddam's Men of Sacrifice) Saddam's Martyrs Fidayi Saddam Fedayeen Saddam Militia Iraqi Fedayeen
General The Fedayeen Saddam are comprised of young and politically reliable paramilitary soldiers that may be leveraged against perceived domestic agitators and opponents of the Al-Baath regime. The unit reports to the Presidential Palace, rather than through the army command, and is also responsible for conducting patrols and anti-smuggling duties.
Background Since their creation in 1995 by Saddam Hussein's oldest son Uday, Fedayeen members have been primarily recruited from regions loyal to Saddam Hussein.
Activities In addition to performing patrols and engaging in anti-smuggling operations, the unit is also responsible for implementing police "dirty work," namely torture and executions among other nefarious tasks.
Strength 30,000 - 40,000 members.
Additional Info Presently commanded by Qusay Saddam Hussein with Staff Lieutenant General Mezahem Saab al Hassan al Tikriti as second-in-command. Numerous reports suggest that a faction of Fedayeen Saddam, called Fidayi Saddam was responsible for the decapitation campaign directed against female prostitutes during June 2000 through May 2001.
Would it have been possible to "humiliate" the SS guards at Auschwitz?
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