Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=5-11-04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=CONGRESS / IRAQ (L)

NUMBER=2-315812

BYLINE=DEBORAH TATE

DATELINE=CAPITOL HILL

INTRO: The U-S Army General investigating the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U-S troops blames a failure of leadership for the scandal. Correspondent Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill.

TEXT: Army Major General Antonio Taguba, who wrote a report detailing the abuses against detainees at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, told the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday that the mistreatment stemmed from faulty leadership.

/// TAGUBA ACTUALITY ///

Failure of leadership, sir, from the brigade commander on down, lack of discipline, no training whatsoever, and no supervision. Supervisory omission was rampant.

/// END ACT ///

But Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the committee, said the acts of abuse were not the spontaneous actions of lower enlisted personnel. In questioning General Taguba, Mr. Levin said it appeared that leadership condoned, and even suggested and planned such activities.

/// LEVIN ACTUALITY ///

That is more than a failure of leadership. That is an active decision on the part of leadership. It is not just oversight, negligence or neglect or sloppiness, but purposeful, willful, determination to use these techniques as part of an interrogation process. Would you include that in your definition of failure of leadership?

/// TAGUBA ACTUALITY ///

Yes, sir, they were.

/// END ACT ///

General Taguba said Brigadier General Janis Karpinski of the 800th Military Police Brigade was to blame for the failed leadership.

General Karpinski is in the Army Reserves and had command of military prisons in Iraq. She has been suspended in connection with the abuse, but not charged.

Still, General Taguba said he never found any orders to U-S soldiers to abuse detainees.

/// TAGUBA ACTUALITY ///

We did not find any order whatsoever, sir, written or otherwise, that directed them to do what they did.

/// END ACT ///

Undersecretary of defense for intelligence, Stephen Cambone, says U-S troops in Iraq were under orders to abide by the Geneva Conventions, which spell out the terms for humane treatment of prisoners.

/// CAMBONE ACTUALITY ///

From the outset of the war in Iraq, the United States government has made clear that the Geneva Conventions applied to activities in that country.

/// END ACT ///

It was the second public hearing by the Armed Services Committee into the prisoner abuse matter. Images of U-S troops mistreating detainees has sparked international outrage and calls from Democrats for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign - appeals dismissed by congressional Republicans and the White House. (Signed)

NEB/DAT/KBK/RH