Last week Operation Truth, an organization founded by and for Iraq War veterans, called for Senate hearings on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's tenure in office. Paul Reickhoff writes in his letter:
Secretary Rumsfeld must answer the tough questions about his leadership, particularly considering the substantial criticism he has faced in recent days from prominent Republican Senators. Specialist Thomas Wilson asked an important question last week when he confronted Secretary Rumsfeld about Humvee armor, but there are a lot more questions on even bigger issues that need answering. Only in front of a formal Senate panel will he have to go on record and do that, and he should get that chance.
Most importantly though, we are asking for the Senate to hold a formal vote on confidence in Secretary Rumsfeld following those hearings. All of the Senators should go on record as to whether they have continued confidence in him.
Veterans for Common Sense endorses Operation Truth's call for hearings on Secretary Rumsfeld, and we encourage you to send your own letters to the Senate on this issue. Visit Operation Truth at (http://www.optruth.org/main.cfm?actionId=blogShowExcerpts&blogId=14&entryID=256) to read the letter to the Senate and to send your own.
Did the President Order Abuse of Prisoners
The American Civil Liberties Union, Veterans for Common Sense, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Physicians for Human Rights and Veterans for Peace uncovered a critical document last week: an internal FBI memo which references a Presidential Executive Order authorizing interrogation methods not previously allowed under U.S. and international law. The documents which are now becoming public paint a far worse picture than we previously imagined from the photos at abu Ghraib: documented accounts of prisoner bearings, killings, sexual assault and other serious crimes. VCS has maintained from the beginning that these types of abuses could not occur without the approval of senior Pentagon or White House officials, and the new documents received under the lawsuit vindicates that position.
Read the ACLU press release, as well as the FBI memo, on the VCS web site: http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/index.cfm?Page=Article&ID=2592
The Washingon Post lead editorial last Thursday, titled "War Crimes," references those documents, and goes on to say that "the record of the past few months suggests that the administration will neither hold any senior official accountable nor change the policies that have produced this shameful record. Congress, too, has abdicated its responsibility under its Republican leadership: It has been nearly four months since the last hearing on prisoner abuse. Perhaps intervention by the courts will eventually stem the violations of human rights that appear to be ongoing in Guantanamo, Iraq and Afghanistan. For now the appalling truth is that there has been no remedy for the documented torture and killing of foreign prisoners by this American government."
Read the editorial online here: http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/index.cfm?Page=Article&ID=2598
Mosul Attack
A grim account of last week's attack on a mess hall in Mosul was published by a Chaplain on the scene. Much more detailed and disturbing than the accounts published in the news media, this is a must read for those closely following events in the Iraq War.
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/index.cfm?Page=Article&ID=2597
Veterans for Common Sense
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Washington, DC 20003
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