ABU
GHRAIB, Iraq, May 13 (IslamOnline.net News Agencies) - U.S. Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise visit Thursday, May 13, to the
notorious Abu Gharib prison where horrific images of U.S. soldiers
torturing and sexually abusing Iraqi detainees were taken.
Hundreds
of prisoners lined up behind concertina wire inside their tent camps as
he passed through Camp Ganci at Abu Ghraib in a hulking Rhino Runner
armored bus, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Some
gave the secretary a thumbs down, one group held a tattered Iraqi flag
and others yelled.
But
most stood in silence with their arms crossed as Rumsfeld and his
entourage went by in a swirl of dust.
The
grim sight contrasted with the enthusiastic welcome given Rumsfeld
moments before at the prison's new visitors center.
Terrific
The
defense secretary and General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, arrived earlier in Baghdad on an unannounced visit
intended to offset the negative news out of Washington.
He
told the soldiers at Abu Ghraib that he and Myers had come to "look
you folks in the eye and tell you you're terrific. What you're doing is
important. It is noble work."
"It's
been a body blow for all of us," Rumsfeld acknowledged of the
scandal ignited by the publication of photographs taken by guards at Abu
Ghraib.
The
pictures showed Iraqi prisoners in humiliating sexual poses, cowering
before barking dogs, made to stand balanced on a box with wires attached
to their privates.
Interrogation
Techniques
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A list of two types of interrogation techniques: one basic for all prisoners; the other much tougher and requires approval
|
Earlier
this week, one senior Pentagon official told a Senate hearing
investigating the abuses that Rumsfeld personally approved the use of
"harsh" interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay, adding
severe interrogation techniques had been approved by military commanders
in Iraq.
They
included stripping detainees naked, making them hold "stress"
positions and depriving them of sleep, and the use of dogs to intimidate
prisoners, Undersecretary of Defence for Intelligence Stephen Cambone.
In
a damning report presented to the administration in February, U.S. Major
General Antonio Taguba found numerous "sadistic,
blatant and wanton criminal abuses" at a U.S.-run prison complex near Baghdad.
"The
despicable actions described in General Taguba's report not only reek of
abuse, they reek of an organised effort and methodical preparation for
interrogation," Democrat Senator Carl Levin, according to the
website.
Rights
Neglect
Despite
criticism it failed to properly train soldiers in Iraq to comply with
international human-rights laws, the Pentagon has approved a new
interrogation-training program that "de-emphasizes" compliance
with the Geneva Conventions regulating the handling of prisoners,
according to U.S. military officials and documents obtained by
WorldNetDaily. (Click to read
)
U.S.
Congressmen expressed their appall and disgust after privately seeing "hellish
" Wednesday, May 12, the unreleased photos and videos.
The
images "include an American soldier having sex with a female Iraqi
detainee and American soldiers watching Iraqis have sex with
juveniles," reported
the Newsweek in its May 10-17 issue.
