Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 19, 2004
WASHINGTON — A long-awaited report on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal will
implicate about two dozen military intelligence soldiers and civilian
contractors in the intimidation and sexual humiliation of Iraq war prisoners,
but will not suggest wrongdoing by military brass outside the prison, senior
Defense officials said Wednesday.
The report will recommend
disciplinary action against two senior prison officers: the colonel in charge
of the military intelligence brigade that oversaw interrogations at the compound
near Baghdad and a general in charge of a reserve military police brigade in
charge of the prison.
It also will recommend that the intelligence
soldiers face criminal abuse charges similar to those lodged earlier against
seven reserve military police soldiers, the officials said, speaking on
condition of anonymity.
But in the end, Defense officials said, the
report implicates no one outside the prison.
"The report is going to say
responsibility for Abu Ghraib sto ps at the brigade level," a senior official
said.
The scandal has drawn international condemnation and questions
about U.S. interrogation and detention policies. It also has cast a legal
cloud over U.S. moves to begin trials for detainees at the U.S. naval base at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Defense attorneys in those cases, which begin next week,
may submit evidence of abuse to question the legitimacy of confessions and other
government claims.
But one senior Defense official said the new report,
by Army Maj. Gen. George R. Fay, will make clear when it is released next
week that "no one in Washington said, 'Stack people on top of each other,
naked.' " That image was supplied by one of the graphic photographs that helped
fuel the scandal.
In his report, one of 11 ongoing internal military
inquiries into prison abuse, Fay was given the authority to recommend action
against senior military brass up to Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who was the top
ground commander in Iraq at the time. The results w ere delayed while a
supervisor to Fay — Lt. Gen. Anthony R. Jones, the Army's deputy
training commander — was brought in to facilitate questioning of the most
senior officers.
Some on Capitol Hill said they were dismayed that the
investigation failed to implicate more senior military officers or Bush
administration officials. The administration has portrayed the abuses as
isolated incidents committed in disregard of established procedures. But
critics have questioned whether administration policies favoring more aggressive
interrogations contributed to a climate in which abuses occurred and whether
Fay's findings might be part of a lax Pentagon response.
"I'm a little
shocked, I guess, that it doesn't go higher than that," a senior congressional
aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, said when told of the initial news
reports, adding that the findings weren't dramatic. "It's not big
stuff."
However, others said the prison scandal was fueled in part by
the political seas on.
"It's an election year. This is going to go on
and on until November," said Dana Dillon, a military analyst at the conservative
Heritage Foundation think tank.
"Unless there is demonstrable evidence
that somebody ordered these things carried out — and that seems pretty
incredible — I don't think it will go beyond" the military police brigade
general, Dillon said.
Another military investigation into prison
problems drew criticism when it was released last month.
The
investigation, a review of the detention system by the Army's inspector general,
concluded that instances of misconduct were "aberrations," a finding that was
widely denounced as a whitewash.
The Fay report recommendations would
significantly expand prosecutions for abuses at Abu Ghraib, going beyond the
seven members of the 372nd Military Police Company charged with committing
abuses to military intelligence officers and contract interrogators for the CIA
and possibly other agencies. One of the military police soldiers has pleaded
guilty, drawing a one-year prison sentence.
The recommendations for the
additional prosecutions were first reported last week by the Baltimore
Sun.
Fay's report also will recommend disciplinary action against Army
Col. Thomas M. Pappas, commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade.
Members of the brigade were implicated this month during a preliminary hearing
in the court-martial of Pfc. Lynndie R. England, one of the seven MPs charged
with abuse.
According to testimony, the intelligence officers
participated in some of the abuses and instructed MPs to help collect
intelligence.
The Fay report also is expected to recommend discipline
for Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, commander of the 800th Military Police
Brigade, a reserve unit in charge of U.S.-run prisons in Iraq, for her alleged
lax oversight of the compound, the officials said.
Karpinski and Pappas
are not likely to face criminal charges that could result in jail time , another
senior Defense official said. But if the recommendations for discipline go
forward, they would face the prospect of career-ending reprimands and relief of
their commands.
Both were disciplined as a result of recommendations
this year in an investigation by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba. Pappas
received a letter of reprimand for failing to ensure that his troops protected
rights for prisoners guaranteed by the Geneva Convention. Karpinski was
suspended for failing to maintain order. She is protesting her suspension.
Karpinski, reached Wednesday night, called the Fay report "another
whitewash," based on media reports. She said responsibility for the abuses went
much higher than those implicated thus far, reaching at least to Sanchez during
his time as ground commander.
Addressing the recommendations for action
against her, Karpinski indicated that senior commanders were making her the
scapegoat while evading responsibility.
Pappas could not be reached for
comment.
The Fay report is expected to lead to a series of rare
election-season hearings in the Senate Armed Services Committee, where Sen.
John W. Warner (R-Va.), the chairman, has promised to hold hearings soon after
its release.
Warner has scheduled two hearings for Sept. 9 to examine
the Fay report and the results of another investigation.
Results are
expected soon from an internal Pentagon inquiry headed by former Defense
Secretary James R. Schlesinger that is examining how the Pentagon dealt with
the prison abuse scandal and reviewing other investigations. Schlesinger's
report is considered the only one that could lead to recommendations for action
against senior military or civilian Defense Department officials.
At Abu
Ghraib, two prisoners were killed and five were wounded Wednesday when U.S.
troops opened fire on inmates to break up a brawl, military officials said. The
U.S. Central Command said "lethal force" against the inmates was required to
break up the early-morning fight.