Green light for Iraqi prison abuse came right from the top

• The top US general in Iraq authorized interrogation techniques including the use of dogs, stress positions and disorientation, a memo has shown

Classified documents show the former US military chief in Iraq personally sanctioned measures banned by the Geneva Conventions. Andrew Buncombe reports from Washington. America's leading civil liberties group has demanded an investigation into the former US military commander Iraq after a formerly classified memo revealed that he personally sanctioned a series of coercive interrogation techniques outlawed by the Geneva Conventions. The group claims that his directives were directly linked to the sort of abuses that took place at Abu Ghraib. Documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reveal that Lt General Ricardo Sanchez authorised techniques such as the use of dogs to intimidate prisoners, stress positions and disorientation. The ACLU says the documents reveal that the abuse of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere was the result of an organised and co-ordinated plan for dealing with prisoners captured during the so-called war on terror that originates at the highest levels of the chain of command. It says that far from being isolated incident, the shocking abuse at Abu Ghraib that was revealed last year was part of a pattern. [more] and [more] and  [more]

• DID SANCHEZ PERJURE HIMSELF? Gen. Sanchez told the Senate Armed Services Committee last May (under oath) that the abusive interrogation rules used at Abu Ghraib "were drafted 'at the company commander level,'" and that he had "no role in preparing or approving" them. Now the ACLU has sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asking him to open an investigation into the testimony, calling it a "clear breach of the public's trust" and "further proof that the American people deserve the appointment of an independent special counsel by the attorney general" to look into the systemic pattern of abuses in U.S. prisons. [more]
  
• Sworn statements that soldiers were told to ”beat the f**k out of” detainees. [more]
• Army reservist witnesses war crimes New revelations about racism in the military [more]
• U.S. Soldiers Accused Of Raping Iraqi Women Escape Prosecution [more]
• Halliburton Employee Says He Was Gang-Beaten By "Red Neck Mafia"  Co-Workers at Baghdad Airport [more]