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Report: Rumsfeld, senior Pentagon officials share blame for prisoner abuse scandal
August 24, 2004

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is implicitly faulted in the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal in a report released Tuesday afternoon. The report found that those responsible for the military prison system in Iraq were operating under confusing policies on interrogation techniques. (Photo by Shaun Heasley/Getty Images)

Washington, D.C. — (AP) - The Pentagon's most senior civilian and military officials share a portion of blame for creating conditions that led to the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq, according to a report released Tuesday by an independent panel of civilian defense experts.

The findings were presented at a Pentagon news conference by James Schlesinger, the former secretary of defense who headed a four-person commission created last May by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

"There was chaos at Abu Ghraib," Schlesinger said, and "sadism on the night shift." The report said the direct responsibility lay with commanders in the field rather than in Washington. Pentagon leaders, however, had an indirect role.

The mistreatment of prisoners, described by the commission as "acts of brutality and purposeless sadism," would have been avoided with proper training, leadership and oversight, it said.

In most cases, the abuse was not carried out with the purpose of achieving intelligence from prisoners, he said.

"There were freelance activities on the part of the nightshift at Abu Ghraib," he said.

There was chaos at Abu Ghraib, and sadism on the night shift. - James Schlesinger, chairman of the panel

The report did not suggest that Rumsfeld ordered any of the abuses or did anything to encourage them. But it indicated that his policies created some confusion at lower levels of the military.

"The abuses were not just the failure of some individuals to follow known standards, and they are more than the failure of a few leaders to enforce proper discipline," the report said. "There is both institutional and personal responsibility at higher levels."

The commission was particularly critical of Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. commander in Iraq at the time of the abuses, which occurred mainly between October and December 2003.

"We believe Lt. Gen. Sanchez should have taken stronger action in November when he realized the extent of the leadership problems at Abu Ghraib," the report said. It concluded that he "failed to ensure proper staff oversight" of detention and interrogation operations.

The Schlesinger commission interviewed Rumsfeld twice during its investigation, which began in May. The three other commission members are former defense secretary Harold Brown, former Republican Rep. Tillie Fowler of Florida, and retired Air Force Gen. Charles Horner.

When he chartered the commission, Rumsfeld told its members that he wanted independent advice on a wide range of issues related to the abuse allegations. "I am especially interested in your views on the cause of the problems and what should be done to fix them," he wrote at the time.

Fay's investigation concluded that Sanchez failed to deal with rising problems at the prison as he tried to manage 150,000 troops countering an unexpected insurgency. But Sanchez will not be recommended for any punitive action or even a letter of reprimand, a Pentagon official told the Washington Post.

The Army report also says soldiers used police dogs to intimidate Iraqi detainees as young as 15, the Post said.

Handlers have told investigators that the use of unmuzzled military police dogs was sanctioned by top military intelligence officers. But the new report shows that MPs were using their animals to threaten detainees as part of an unusual competition among themselves - not in accordance with intelligence officers - the Post reported, citing a Pentagon source.

Both reports will be reviewed by the Senate Armed Services Committee in hearings scheduled for Sept. 9.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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