Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal (2004)

Why Oh Why Can't We Have a Better Press Corps? (Donald Rumsfeld Edition)

Michael Froomkin asks why he doesn't see things like this in his daily newspaper:

Whiskey Bar: Donald Rumsfeld's Battle With The Truth: Donald Rumsfeld's Battle With The Truth

"Beyond abuse of prisoners, there are other photos that depict incidents of physical violence toward prisoners, acts that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhuman."

Donald Rumsfeld
Testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee
May 7, 2004

"I'm not a lawyer. My impression is that what has been charged thus far is abuse, which I believe technically is different from torture … I don't know if it is correct to say what you just said, that torture has taken place, or that there's been a conviction for torture. And therefore I'm not going to address the torture word."

Donald Rumsfeld
Press Briefing
May 4, 2004

________________

"Let me be clear: I failed to recognize how important it was to elevate a matter of such gravity to the highest levels, including the president and the members of Congress."

Donald Rumsfeld
Testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee
May 7, 2004

According to eye witnesses to debate at the highest levels of the Administration. ... whenever Powell or Armitage sought to question prisoner treatment issues, they were forced to endure what our source characterizes as "around the table, coarse, vulgar, frat-boy bully remarks about what these tough guys would do if they ever got their hands on prisoners."

The Nelson Report
As quoted by Talking Points Memo.com
May 6, 2004

________________

"It's not correct to say "Nothing was done." You're making a set of conclusions that are just simply not accurate."

Donald Rumsfeld
Testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee
May 7, 2004

From U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell to investigators for the International Committee of the Red Cross, a broad array of officials pressed the Pentagon to improve conditions or face a likely Iraqi backlash, officials from the government and the organizations said yesterday."

The Washington Post
Pentagon Was Warned of Abuse Months Ago
May 8, 2004

________________

"I can't conceive of anyone looking at the pictures and suggesting that anyone could have recommended, condoned, permitted, encouraged, subtly, directly, in any way, that those things take place."

Donald Rumsfeld
Testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee
May 7, 2004

Detainees under supervision of military intelligence were at high risk of being subjected to a variety of harsh treatments ranging from insults, threats and humiliations to both physical and psychological coercion, which in some cases was tantamount to torture...

International Committee of the Red Cross
Report on the Treatment of Iraqi Prisoners
February, 2004

________________

"I have the [ICRC] report somewhere here and I'd be happy to let you see it. I'm reluctant to start discussing it, but I can say what I said. They found a number of things that they were concerned about, as they always do. And it's helpful, I must say."

Donald Rumsfeld
Testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee
May 7, 2004

The report said the ICRC’s inspections “suggested the use of ill-treatment against persons deprived of their liberty went beyond exceptional cases and might be considered a practice tolerated by” coalition forces.

Wall Street Journal
Bush Faces Some Stark Choices in Iraq
May 7, 2004

________________

"And when General Taguba came in and made his report, he indicated that a number of the issues that had been raised last year by the ICRC had, in fact, been corrected by the command structure between the time that they were observed by the ICRC and the time that General Taguba's team arrived on the scene."

Donald Rumsfeld
Testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee
May 7, 2004

On at least one occasion, the 320th MP Battalion at Abu Ghraib held a handful of “ghost detainees” … that they moved around within the facility to hide them from a visiting International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) survey team. This maneuver was deceptive, contrary to Army Doctrine, and in violation of international law."

Gen. Antonio Taguba
Article 15-6 Investigation of the 800th Military Police Brigade
May 7, 2004

(note: this is the only mention of the ICRC in the Taguba report.)

________________

"We did not release the Taguba report to the press. That was done by someone to release against the law a secret document."

Donald Rumsfeld
Testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee
May 7, 2004

Q: "Mr. Secretary, can you say why it was classified secret?" Do you know?

RUMSFELD:"No, you'd have to ask the classifier."

Donald Rumsfeld
Press Briefing
May 4, 2004

In no case shall information be classified in order to: (1) conceal violations of law, inefficiency, or administrative error; (2) prevent embarrassment to a person, organization, or agency.

George W. Bush
Executive Order 13292
March 25, 2003

________________

We do not want America -- they do not want Americans or coalition forces in their country over a prolonged period, and goodness knows we don't want to be there."

Donald Rumsfeld
Testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee
May 7, 2004

The United States is planning to establish up to four long-term military bases in Iraq. The proposal would transform America's ability to project its power in the Middle East.

The Daily Telegraph
America plans military bases in Iraq to apply pressure on Middle East
April 21, 2003

________________

"We value human life. We believe in individual freedom and in the rule of law. For those beliefs, we send men and women of the armed forces abroad to protect that right for our own people and to give others who aren't Americans the hope of a future of freedom."

Donald Rumsfeld
Testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee
May 7, 2004

The latest allegation involved an elderly Iraqi woman said to have been abused by U.S. military guards. The woman, arrested last July, was reportedly put into a harness and forced to crawl on her hands and knees while a guard rode her donkey-style.

The Boston Herald
Guards treated woman like donkey
May 6, 2004

________________

"Above all, ask them if the willingness of Americans to acknowledge their own failures before humanity doesn't light the world as surely as the great ideas and beliefs that made this nation a beacon of hope and liberty for all who strive to be free."

Donald Rumsfeld
Testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee
May 7, 2004

"This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation and we're going to ruin people's lives over it and we're going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time. You know, these people are being fired at every day. I'm talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You of heard of need to blow some steam off?"

Rush Limbaugh
It's Not About Us; This Is War!
May 4, 2004

________________

"This is also an occasion to demonstrate to the world the difference between those who believe in democracy and in human rights, and those who believe in rule by terrorist code."

Donald Rumsfeld
Testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee
May 7, 2004

"My view and the view of the British chain of command is that the Americans' use of violence is not proportionate and is over-responsive to the threat they are facing. They don't see the Iraqi people the way we see them. They view them as untermenschen."

Senior British Officer
Quoted in the Daily Telegraph
April 11, 2004

________________

"These events occurred on my watch. As secretary of defense, I am accountable for them and I take full responsibility."

Donald Rumsfeld
Testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee
May 7, 2004