[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 54 (Thursday, April 28, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E808]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         RESPONSIBILITY EVADED

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BARNEY FRANK

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 28, 2005

  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, it is deeply discouraging 
that no high-ranking military or civilian defense officials are being 
held accountable for the terrible abuses of basic human rights that 
occurred at the prison in Abu Ghraib. The editorial from the Washington 
Post, which I hereby insert into the Record, makes the point very well. 
The failure of the Bush Administration to hold any high-ranking 
official in any way accountable for this grave lapse is in itself a 
deeply regrettable example of dereliction of duty.

              [From the washingtonpost.com, Apr. 23, 2005]

                Top Officers in Abu Ghraib Case Cleared

                           (By Robert Burns)

       Washington.--Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, faulted by some for 
     leadership failures in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, 
     has been cleared by the Army of all allegations of wrongdoing 
     and will not be punished, officials said.
       Three officers who were among Sanchez's top deputies during 
     the period of the prisoner abuse in the fall of 2003 also 
     have been cleared. An Army Reserve one-star general has been 
     reprimanded, and the outcome of seven other senior Army 
     officer cases could not be learned Friday.
       Sanchez, who became the senior U.S. commander in Iraq in 
     June 2003, two months after the fall of Baghdad, has not been 
     accused of criminal violations. It is unclear, however, 
     whether the controversy surrounding his role in Iraq will 
     stand in the way of his earning a fourth star. He is nearing 
     the end of his tenure as commander of the Army's 5th Corps, 
     based in Germany.
       After assessing the allegations against Sanchez and taking 
     sworn statements from 37 people, the Army's inspector 
     general, Lt. Gen. Stanley E. Green, concluded that the 
     allegations were unsubstantiated, according to officials 
     familiar with the details of Green's probe.
       Green reached the same conclusion in the cases of two 
     generals and a colonel who worked on Sanchez's staff.
       The 'officials who disclosed the findings spoke only on 
     condition of anonymity because the results on Sanchez and 11 
     other officers who were the subject of Green's scrutiny have 
     not yet been publicly released and Congress has not been 
     fully briefed.
       The question of accountability among senior Army and 
     Defense Department officials who were in positions of 
     responsibility on Iraq detention and interrogation policy has 
     been hotly debated in Congress. Some Democrats accuse the 
     Pentagon of foisting all the blame onto low-ranking soldiers.
       In a statement issued Friday that did not mention Sanchez 
     or other specific cases, Sen. John Warner, chairman of the 
     Senate Armed Services Committee, said that as soon as all 
     Pentagon assessments of accountability are complete he will 
     hold a committee hearing ``to examine the adequacy of those 
     reviews'' and to hear senior civilian and military officials 
     address the issue.
       Warner, R-Va., said he strongly agrees with one 
     investigation report that concluded last year that commanders 
     should be held accountable for their action or inaction and 
     that military as well as civilian leaders in the Pentagon 
     ``share this burden of responsibility.''
       The office of Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, the ranking 
     Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, declined to 
     comment on the matter.
       Asked about public expectations of punishment for senior 
     officers associated with Abu Ghraib, the Army's chief public 
     affairs officer, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, said the Army 
     went to great lengths to make its investigations thorough and 
     fair.
       In addition to clearing Sanchez, the Army inspector general 
     has determined that there should be no punishment given to 
     Sanchez's former top deputy, Maj. Gen. Walter Wojdakowski; to 
     Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast, who was Sanchez's intelligence chief 
     in Baghdad; or to Col. Mark Warren, Sanchez's top legal 
     adviser at the time.
       In an interview Friday, three senior defense officials 
     associated with the Green investigations cited mitigating 
     circumstances in the Sanchez case, including the fact that 
     his organization in Iraq, known as Combined Joint Task Force 
     7, initially was short of the senior officers it required. 
     They also cited the upsurge in insurgent violence shortly 
     after Sanchez took command and the intense pressure the 
     military faced in hunting down Saddam Hussein.
       The three officials spoke on condition of anonymity.
       A separate investigation by a panel headed for former 
     Defense Secretary James Schlesinger concluded that Sanchez 
     should have taken stronger action in November 2003 when he 
     realized the extent of problems among the military 
     intelligence and military police units running Abu Ghraib.
       A subsequent Army investigation, made public last summer in 
     what was called the Kern-Fay-Jones report, concluded that 
     although Sanchez and his most senior deputies were not 
     directly involved in the bases at Abu Ghraib, their ``action 
     and inaction did indirectly contribute'' to some abuses.
       Sanhez and Wojdakowski were cited in the Kern-Fay-Jones 
     report for failure to ``ensure proper staff oversight of 
     detention and interrogation operations'' in Iraq, 
     specifically at the Abu Ghraib prison where Iraqi detainees 
     were physically abused and sexually humiliated by military 
     police and intelligence soldiers in fall 2003.

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