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Rumsfeld makes surprise visit to Baghdad
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-05-13 17:14 U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld arrived
in the Iraqi capital Thursday on an unannounced visit aimed at calming the storm
over abuse at Abu Ghraib prison and lifting the spirits of U.S. troops.
He was accompanied by Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff and some of the Pentagon's most senior lawyers.
U.S. Secretary of
Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld listens to questions as he testified,
Wednesday, May 12, 2004, before the Senate Defense Appropriations
committee. [AP] | They planned to meet the top
U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, and other senior commanders.
Rumsfeld's visit came a day after the military announced it will
court-martial two more American soldiers, including a man accused of taking part
in standing a wired-up prisoner on a box and threatening him with electrocution
— a scene displayed in one of the photos surrounding the abuse scandal. A third
soldier was already scheduled for court-martial.
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, announced
Wednesday that Staff Sgt. Ivan L. "Chip" Frederick II of Buckingham, Va., and
Sgt. Javal Davis of Maryland, would face a general court-martial. He said no
trial date and venue had been set.
At a Senate hearing Wednesday in Washington, Rumsfeld said Pentagon lawyers
had approved methods such as sleep deprivation and dietary changes as well as
rules permitting prisoners to be made to assume stressful positions.
Myers told senators the military has taken steps to correct the problems that
led to abuses, including replacing the military police unit that took some of
the photos.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has been holding hearings to
determine whether prisoner abuses were limited to the Abu Ghraib facility. The
committee also wants to see whether responsibility went beyond a small group of
enlisted soldiers and their immediate supervisors, who the Army says provided
inadequate training and supervision.
Among the uncertainties is whether military intelligence officials directly
or indirectly encouraged the abuse in order to "soften up" detainees for
interrogations.
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