Iraq

Rumsfeld tours problem prison

The defense secretary makes the secret trip to meet with commanders and military police at the site of the scandal.

BAGHDAD - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, entering the heart of the global furor over the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees, walked inside the faded yellow walls and razor wire of Abu Ghraib prison on Thursday to pledge that the world would see the United States mete out punishment openly and freely to any soldier guilty of abuse.

"In recent months we've seen abuses here, under our responsibility, and it's been a body blow for all of us," Rumsfeld said.

"The people who engaged in abuses will be brought to justice," he added. "The world will see how a free system, a democratic system, functions and operates transparently, with no coverup."

On a whirlwind visit that was kept secret until his arrival in Baghdad, Rumsfeld was then driven around Abu Ghraib prison, passing just outside the wall of the "hard tier" cellblock where the abuses occurred, and were photographed, late last year.

Hundreds of detainees rushed toward the wire barriers of one sector of the camp, aware that Rumsfeld was rolling past inside an armored bus.

Most of the detainees stood mutely in the dusty, windswept compound. Some waved clothes, some jeered. A few held up signs or T-shirts carrying hand-lettered messages in English.

"What are you going to do about scandl?" said one. "Why we are here?" said another. A third read, "Most of us are inocents."

Rumsfeld spoke with no detainees, but in meetings with prison commanders and a large gathering of military police who replaced those serving during the time of abuses, the defense secretary said any acts of violence or humiliation had been carried out by a tiny fraction of the United States military in Iraq.

"It doesn't represent America," Rumsfeld said. "It doesn't represent American values. It doesn't represent the values of each of you here in this room."

In a move that is as practical as it is symbolic, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, the new deputy commanding general for detention operations in Iraq, said Thursday that all prisoners under U.S. control will be moved out of the old Abu Ghraib structures and into new facilities by the end of this month.

The new Camp Redemption will be within the Abu Ghraib compound, but the old prison blocks will be solely for criminals incarcerated by the new Iraqi government.

Abu Ghraib prison was for decades the scene of murder and torture under Saddam Hussein, a place, Rumsfeld said, where "thousands and thousands and thousands of human beings were mistreated, tortured and killed."

But today the prison has become a symbol of abuse by U.S. military jailers as well. As the June 30 date for returning sovereignty to a new government in Baghdad approaches, Bush administration officials express concerns that the signature image of the war may no longer be cheering Iraqis toppling Hussein's statue in Baghdad, but may instead become U.S. soldiers laughing and giving a thumbs-up as Iraqi detainees are abused and humiliated.

"We care about the detainees being treated right," Rumsfeld said. "We care about soldiers behaving right. We care about command systems working."

Rumsfeld acknowledged that his one-day trip would be scrutinized by people throughout Iraq, including some who might claim jurisdiction to try the U.S. soldiers in their own courts once sovereignty is returned.

"The United States government is going to take care of the people who end up being convicted of some wrongdoing," Rumsfeld said. "The justice system of the United States is serious, professional, and it's under way."

Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, flew with Rumsfeld to Iraq. That was another sign of the unusual nature of the trip, as the Pentagon's most senior civilian leader and top military officer rarely travel aboard the same aircraft.

They took a 14-hour flight to Kuwait, a 90-minute flight to Baghdad and then a seven-minute helicopter ride from the U.S. military headquarters westward to Abu Ghraib.

Myers said that opinion around the world, and especially in the Arab nations, could best be satisfied by allowing the military justice system to run its course and punish those found guilty.

He warned that the cry for public release of all photographs and video images from Abu Ghraib confiscated as part of a criminal investigation could violate the rights of the accused, who then could argue for their charges to be dismissed.

"The worst possible outcome is that they get off, that somehow through all of the discussions that we've been having, and somehow through releasing evidence that we have, that the people who deserve to be punished are somehow released," the general said.

But rather than continue to suffer through a drip-drip of release of selected photographs broadcast by television or printed in newspapers and magazines, Rumsfeld said, "As far as I'm concerned, I'd be happy to release them all to the public and get it behind us."

He added, though, that a number of legal advisers throughout the executive branch were not recommending such an action.

The Army said Thursday that two soldiers, Staff Sgt. Ivan L. "Chip" Frederick II and Sgt. Javal S. Davis, will be arraigned May 20 on criminal charges in connection with the prisoner abuse scandal. The men will enter pleas at their appearances.

Another soldier, Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits, of Hyndman, Pa., will go on trial Wednesday before a special court-martial. That court cannot levy as severe a sentence as the general court-martial faced by Frederick and Davis, members of the 320th Military Police Battalion stationed at Abu Ghraib.

Military investigators have said that one cause of the breakdown in discipline at Abu Ghraib was a confusing command structure in which control of the prison was taken away from the military police and given to military intelligence last November.

The detainee population at Abu Ghraib has dropped to about 3,800 from a high of over 7,000. Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the senior U.S. commander in Iraq, said special panels to adjudicate cases of prisoner release are now working seven days a week. The goal is to reduce the prisoner population under U.S. control at Abu Ghraib to below 2,000 by mid June.

- Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

World and national headlines

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times 490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 Contact the Times | Privacy Policy Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright