| Rumsfeld approved physical contact with prisoners US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is responsible for the torture of prisoners captured by the Americans during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. At least yesterday, there was evidence that on the eve of the presidential elections in November, the White House wants to shift all the blame onto him.
The Republican government, concerned about the scandal over photographs showing American soldiers abusing Iraqis in the Abu Ghraib prison, declassified documents designed to prove that the White House was not involved in the incident. “I have never ordered and will never order torture,” George W. Bush said in the Oval Office yesterday. “Torture is not in our nature.”
George Bush appeared in published documents as a noble head of the nation. Among the documents released is a memorandum dated February 7, 2002, in which Bush says that the fight against international terrorism "requires a new understanding of the laws of war." But there, the president called on the military to “humanely treat detained members of al-Qaeda and the Taliban.”
Along with the “good investigator,” “bad” ones also appear in documents published in the United States. The leaders of the Ministry of Justice and the Pentagon found themselves in their role. The memorandum, signed in August 2002 by US Deputy Attorney General Jay Bybee, defines torture only as acts that cause pain “equivalent to that accompanying serious physical injury, impairment of vital functions, or even death.” Everything else is “within legally permissible limits” of impact.
The technique of torture is directly discussed in a document approved by US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in November 2002. A total of 14 types of torture were allowed. Thus, it was allowed to place the interrogated person in a “stressful position” for four hours - for example, force him to stand motionless. “Why is standing limited to four hours,” Donald Rumsfeld imposed a resolution on the document, “I insist on 8-10 hours a day.” It was also allowed to put caps on the heads of prisoners. Interrogate for 20 hours. Forcibly shave off hair and beards. Scared by dogs. Go for “moderate, non-injurious physical contact.” And even “replace the hot diet with canned food.”
In April 2003, on the advice of military lawyers, Rumsfeld canceled this tough memorandum and all its clauses. The new one established more lenient rules for the treatment of prisoners. They were forbidden to undress. In addition, additional management approval was required to conduct interrogations using four developed interrogation techniques (among them “verbal abuse of prisoners” or “alternating between friendly and unfriendly interrogators”).
Despite the new regulations, guards at the Abu Ghraib prison not only literally followed the provisions of the previous document (these include caps on heads, naked bodies, and dogs), but also improved the technique of torture, forcing Iraqi prisoners into group sex or collective masturbation .
Is the resignation of the head of the Pentagon now possible? As Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council Kyle Parker told the Vremya Novostey newspaper yesterday, “on the eve of the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqis on June 30, Bush considers it too risky for US national security to change the key figure who stood at the origins of the war.” According to Kyle Parker, Bush understands that "any other person as secretary will be in the wrong shoes and will be weaker than the influential Rumsfeld."
South Korea is not afraid of casualties
Yesterday in Seoul, 50 members of parliament from the ruling and opposition parties came up with a draft resolution demanding that the government abandon plans to send additional troops to Iraq. But South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, who received an urgent call from US President George W. Bush the night before, said he would not abandon these plans. The South Korean president expressed grief over the death of South Korean hostage Kim Sung Il in Iraq, conveying condolences to his parents.
The decapitated body and severed head of a 33-year-old business translator were found by US soldiers late Tuesday on the road between Baghdad and Fallujah. The militants from the Iraqi wing of al-Qaeda, whose name translates from Arabic as “Monotheism and Jihad,” who kidnapped the Korean, said they beheaded Kim because Seoul did not reverse the decision to send 3,000 troops to Iraq in addition to those stationed there are 670 military doctors and engineers. South Korea's National Security Council ordered the evacuation of Iraqi civilians but confirmed the troop deployment would begin in August as planned.
Yesterday, a missile strike by American aircraft in Fallujah killed several militants from the group of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one of the leaders of al-Qaeda. The terrorist remained alive and even announced via the Internet his intention to destroy Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Al-Zarqawi added that the prime minister, who collaborates with the CIA, more than once almost fell into traps set by al-Qaeda and was saved only by a miracle. Alexander SAMOKHOTKIN Andrey ZLOBIN |
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