TAGUBA ANNEXES LEAKED

The Center for Public Integrity now says that thanks to a Rolling Stone reporter they have obtained all of the Annexes to the Taguba Report. Key among these was the Miller report, written in October 2003 and now released for the first time. It’s release proves what was denied under oath by Rumsfeld, Sanchez, and Miller in Senate hearings in May:

THE MP GUARDS AT ABU GHRAIB WERE UNDER THE COMMAND AND CONTROL OF THE INTERROGATORS

Previously, thanks to Taguba and Hersh, we had this one quote from Miller’s still-classified report:

“It is essential that the guard force be actively engaged in setting the conditions for successful exploitation of the internees.”

It was specifically denied under oath by Sanchez and Miller that this recommendation was ever carried out. However, with the full report we also now have this:

The MP detention staff should be an integrated element supporting the interrogation functions and received orientation training to support interrogation operations.

The pending establishment of the theater joint interrogation detention center at Abu Gharib (sic) will consolidate both detention and strategic interrogation operations and result in synergy between MP and MI resources and an integrated, synchronized and focused strategic interrogation effort.

This is the final proof that MPs were under day to day command of Military Intelligence at Abu Ghraib, demolishing the “few bad eggs” explanation forever. Also contained within the report is a request to Sanchez by MI (not the MPs) to put a sandbag over an internee’s head and then expose him to barking, aggressive military dogs, followed by a 72 hour nonstop sleep deprivation interrogation. This is even worse than what was shown in the famous photographs, and it was requested by the commanding Military Intelligence officers, not the MPs. The MPs court martialed and blamed for this were under the direct command of the MILITARY INTELLIGENCE officers that requested approval for the torture described above. These annexes, now published on a web site by the Center for Public Integrity, were explicitly promised to the Armed Services Committee during the first week of May 2004 and have never been delivered to the Committee. Now we know why.