Rummy: Out of the Loop?

Image of Original Painting,"Rummy's Fiesta," Used with Permission of the Artist, Mark Bryan





We vote for Evil. Dastardly. Villanous.

News value: not really, since we always suspected it, despite all those vociferous denials (it was just a bunch of stressed-out kids & their loyal pets having fun, we all believed THAT!) But as part of my mission to keep the issues alive & in the headlines (at least mine), very important, and I certainly hope all five of my readers out there appreciate it.

Salon, one of my favorite online magazines, reported on April 14 that Rumsfeld "was personally involved in the late 2002 interrogation of a high-value al-Quaida detainee...and also communicated directly with Maj. General Geoffrey Miller, the controversial commander of the Guantamamo Bay Detention Center."

The following is excerpted from that article, which was the result of a Freedom of Information Act filing by the magazine. That FOIA request resulted in disclosure of a 391-page 2005 Army Inspector General's report, with even more heinous admissions very probably blacked out.

"During the same period, detainee Mohammed el-Kahtani suffered what Army investigators have called 'degrading & abusive' treatment by soldiers who were following the interrogation plan Rumsfeld had approved [emphasis mine]. Kahtani was forced to stand naked in front of a female interrogator, was accused of being a homosexual, was forced to wear women's underwear, & to perform dog tricks on a leash. He received 18 to 20 hour interrogations during 48 of 54 days.

"Little more than two years later, during an investigation into mistreatment of prisoners at Guantanamo, Rumsfeld expressed puzzlement at the notion that his policies had caused the abuse. 'My God, you know, did I authorize putting a bra & underwear on the guy's head?'"

"The report, which contained lengthy transcripts of interviews with the personnel involved, contained statements by Lt. General Randall Schmidt, an air force fighter pilot who "described Rumsfeld as 'personally involved' as well as 'talking weekly with Miller.' Schmidt...concluded that Rumsfeld did not personally prescribe the more 'creative' interrogation methods...

"But he added, that the open-ended policies Rumsfeld had approved, and the apparent lack of day-to-day supervision...permitted the abusive conduct to take place.

"...Schmidt also saw close parallels [of tactics used at Guantanamo] & the photographic evidence of the abuse at Abu Grhaib..."

Mind you, folks, this has all been known to the internal investigators since December 20, 2005.

They counted on our press, and the citizenry in general, having very short attention spans.