WASHINGTON,
April 23, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The US
army’s decision on Friday, April 23, to exonerate four senior brass,
including the former top US commander in Iraq, of any wrongdoing in
the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, drew fire from human rights
watchdogs.
“What
this decision unfortunately continues is a pattern of exoneration and
indeed promotion for many of the individuals at the heart of the
torture scandal,” Amnesty International spokesman Alistair Hodgett
told Reuters.
A
10-member army investigative team found that Let. Gen. Ricardo
Sanchez, who commanded US troops in Iraq until the summer of 2004, and
three top aides had not committed dereliction of duty and should not
face criminal or administrative punishment.
The
investigators even justified his action by saying he had to fight an
increasing “insurgency” – a term used to refer to
anti-occupation attacks - and that he faced pressure to find
then-fugitive deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
The
other senior officers exonerated by the investigation were: Maj. Gen.
Walter Wojdakowski, Sanchez's former top deputy; Maj. Gen. Barbara
Fast, formerly Sanchez's top intelligence official; and a colonel who
served as Sanchez's top legal adviser.
But
the investigation found that “allegations of dereliction of duty
were substantiated” in the case of Army Reserve Brig. Gen. Janis
Karpinski, who had commanded the 800th
Military Police Brigade at the heart of the Abu Ghraib abuse.
Karpinski
will not face criminal charges but has received an official letter of
reprimand from a senior Army general and has been relieved of her
command.
She
told the BBC last year that had been made a “convenient scapegoat”
for abuse ordered by others at the top, including Sanchez.
A
Sept. 14, 2003, memo signed by Sanchez that was made public last month
showed he authorized prisoner interrogation tactics more harsh than
accepted Army practice, including using guard dogs to exploit “Arab
fear of dogs.”
Independent
Probe
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Hodgett
said the decision continues “promotion for many of the
individuals at the heart of the torture scandal”.
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The
London-based Amnesty International called for an independent probe
into the Abu Ghraib grisly practices, which have damaged US
prestige worldwide.
“It
only serves to underscore the desperate need for an independent
investigation that will scrutinize the policy decisions and the
individuals who made and implemented them,” Hodgett said.
He
added that this “will expose the truth and ensure that the US
can once again criticize other nations for their use of torture
without being accused of hypocrisy.”
The
results of the investigation were made public days before the one-year
anniversary of the publication of the
first photographs depicting US forces sexually humiliating and
physically abusing Iraqi prisoners at the jail on the outskirts of
Baghdad.
The
scandal triggered international criticism of the US. Since then,
numerous cases of detainee abuse have surfaced.
A
US soldier making her presence in most of the Iraqi abuse photos said
she was instructed by her commanders to pose for photographs with
naked Iraqi detainees.
Human
rights groups and other critics have blamed the abuse on actions by
top US commanders in Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other
Bush administration officials.
In
the first legal action against a senior US official on the abuse of
detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan, two US human rights groups filed a
lawsuit against Rumsfeld for his “direct responsibility” in the
illegal torture and prisoners' abuses.
The
lawsuit was filed by the two groups on behalf of eight detainees, four
Iraqis and four Afghans, who were subjected to torture, beatings,
cutting with knives, assault, sexual humiliation, mock executions and
other illegal treatment.
