War Without End

Alpha

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/story.jsp?story=524859

The things Bush didn't mention in his speech

The re-writing of Iraqi history is now going on at supersonic speed

By Robert Fisk

26 May 2004

I can't wait to see Abu Ghraib prison reduced to rubble by the Americans -
at the request of the new Iraqi government, of course. It will be turned to
dust in order to destroy a symbol of Saddam's brutality. That's what
President Bush tells us. So the re-writing of history still goes on.

Last August, I was invited to Abu Ghraib - by my favourite US General Janis
Karpinski, no less - to see the million-dollar US refurbishment of this
vile place. Squeaky clean cells and toothpaste tubes and fresh pairs of
pants for the "terrorist" inmates. But now, suddenly, the whole kit and
caboodle is no longer an American torture centre. It's still an Iraqi
torture centre, and thus worthy of demolition.

The re-writing of Iraqi history is now going on at supersonic speed.
Weapons of mass destruction? Forget it. Links between Saddam and al-Qa'ida?
Forget it. Liberating the Iraqis from Saddam's Abu Ghraib life of torture?
Forget it. Wedding party slaughtered? Forget it. Clear the decks for both
"full (sic) sovereignty" and "chaotic events". This is, at any rate,
according to Mr Bush. When I heard his hesitant pronunciation of Abu Ghraib
as "Abu Grub" on Monday night, I could only profoundly agree.

But we're in danger again of missing the detail. Just as the unsupervised
armed mercenaries being killed in Iraq are being described by the
occupation authorities as "contractors" or, more mendaciously, "civilians"
- so the responsibility for the porno interrogations at Abu Ghraib is being
allowed to slide into the summer mists over the Tigris river. So let's go
back, for a moment, to the long weeks in which the Department of Bad Apples
allowed its jerks to put leashes around Iraqi necks, forced prisoners to
have sex with each other and raped some Iraqi lasses in the jail.

And let's cast our eyes upon that little, all-important matter of
responsibility. The actual interrogators accused of encouraging US troops
to abuse Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib jail were working for at least one
company with extensive military and commercial contacts with Israel. The
head of an American company whose personnel are implicated in the Iraqi
tortures, it now turns out, attended an "anti-terror" training camp in
Israel and, earlier this year, was presented with an award by Shaul Mofaz,
the right-wing Israeli defence minister.

According to Dr J P London's company, CACI International, the visit of Dr
London - sponsored by an Israeli lobby group and including US congressmen
and other defence contractors - was "to promote opportunities for strategic
partnerships and joint ventures between US and Israeli defence and homeland
security agencies".

The Pentagon and the occupation powers in Iraq insist that only US citizens
have been allowed to question prisoners in Abu Ghraib - but this takes no
account of Americans who may also hold double citizenship. The once secret
torture report by US General Antonio Taguba refers to "third country
nationals" involved in the mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq.

General Taguba mentions Steven Staphanovic and John Israel as involved in
the abuses at Abu Ghraib. Staphanovic, who worked for CACI - known to the
US military as "Khaki" - was said by Taguba to have "allowed and/or
instructed MPs (military police), who were not trained in interrogation
techniques, to facilitate interrogations by 'setting conditions' ... he
clearly knew his instructions equated to physical abuse". One of
Staphanovic's co-workers, Joe Ryan - who was not named in the Taguba report
- now says that he underwent an "Israeli interrogation course" before going
to Iraq.

We know the Pentagon asked Israel for its "rules of engagement" in the
occupied West Bank and Gaza. Israeli officers have briefed their US
opposite numbers and, according to the Associated Press, "in January and
February of 2003, Israeli and American troops trained together in southern
Israel's Negev desert ... Israel has also hosted senior law enforcement
officials from the United States for a seminar on counter-terrorism".

Staphanovic of CACI, who may also be Australian, was accused by Taguba's
army report of making "a false statement to the investigation team
regarding ... his knowledge of abuses". Another outside interrogator, Adel
Nakhla,who may be of Egyptian origin, was a witness to the "stacking" of
naked prisoners in Abu Ghraib. John Israel "misled" investigators by
denying he had witnessed misconduct and did not have "security clearance".
Israel, according to Titan - two of whose employees were mentioned in
Taguba's report - works for one of the company's "sub-contractors". Titan
refused to name the "sub-contractor".

Why? Among the company's former directors is ex-CIA director James Woolsey,
one of the architects of the US invasion of Iraq, a friend of Ahmed Chalabi
and a prominent pro-Israeli lobbyist in Washington. Dr London says CACI
"does not condone or tolerate or endorse in any fashion (sic) any illegal,
inappropriate behaviour on the part of its employees in any circumstances
at any time anywhere".

But it is clear the torture trail at Abu Ghraib has to run much further
than a group of brutal US military cops, all of whom claim "intelligence
officers" told them to "soften up" their prisoners for questioning. Were
they Israeli? Or South African? Or British? Are we going to let the story
go?

Check out this Must read article about Abu Ghraib:

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=2591

Another example of Fisk's excellent writing is included at the following URL:

http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles114.htm

Alpha

Some U.S. prison contractors may avoid charges
Interior Department hired Abu Ghraib interrogators; Loophole tangles prosecution; Army chain of command blurred in civilian abuses

By Scott Shane
Sun National Staff
Originally published May 24, 2004
The U.S. civilian interrogators questioning prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq work not under a military contract but on one from the Department of the Interior, a bureaucratic twist that could complicate any effort to hold them criminally responsible for abuse of detainees or other offenses.

The unexpected role of the Department of the Interior, usually associated not with wartime intelligence-gathering but with national parks, grew out of a government plan to cut costs. But in practice, it may have increased costs and reduced scrutiny, said Peter W. Singer of the Brookings Institution.

"You're placing a military interrogation task under Smokey the Bear," Singer said. "You can't have good oversight."

What's more, legal experts say, contractors for nonmilitary agencies such as the Department of the Interior may be able to escape prosecution for crimes they commit overseas because of an apparent loophole in the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act. The law, passed in 2000, applies only to contractors with the Department of Defense - a flaw some members of Congress want to remedy.

Michael J. Nardotti Jr., a Washington lawyer who served as judge advocate general of the Army from 1993 to 1997, said the law is untested and that it is uncertain whether a court would stretch the law to cover an Interior Department contractor working on Army assignments.

What is certain, Nardotti said, is that a contractor charged with a crime would use the issue to challenge the prosecution.

The Iraq war and its aftermath have focused attention on the extraordinary expansion of the work performed by federal contractors, often in sensitive security and intelligence roles. U.S. security contractors in Iraq, who do everything from guarding U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer III to advising Iraqi police, number more than 20,000, making them the second-largest security force after the U.S. military.

Many military officers and outside experts say that using contractors as interrogators is a bad idea no matter what agency hires them, because they are not subject to military discipline and control.

Questions of command

"I would never have tolerated civilian contractors working as interrogators," says Army Col. Charles Brule, a Rhode Island reservist who worked at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2002. "Who do they answer to? What's the chain of command?"

Congress has also expressed concern about contract interrogators. A defense spending bill passed Thursday by the House would require the Pentagon to disclose in greater detail the work of contractors in Iraq, and Senate Democrats have said they might propose legislation banning contractors from interrogating prisoners.

Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, a Hawaii Democrat, pressed top Army officials on the issue at a hearing last week. "The contractors seem to be outside of the line of command," he said. "And as a result, some things they do are not known by us."

Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller replied that "no civilian contractors had a supervisory position. It's the military ... who sets the priorities and ensures that we meet our standards."

But in the case of the contract interrogators at Abu Ghraib, the chain of command is especially blurry, because it ends with an obscure Department of the Interior office 70 miles southeast of Tucson, Ariz.

The interrogators work for CACI International, a global government contractor based in Arlington, Va., with more than $1 billion a year in revenue. And CACI's contract is with the Interior Department's National Business Center, which for the past four years has run the contracting office at Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista, Ariz., said Interior Department spokesman Frank Quimby.

Quimby said the arrangement was a result of federal efforts in the 1990s to "streamline and reduce duplication," by having agencies with particular skill at administrative functions such as payroll or contracting handle those jobs for other agencies.

Thus, with efficiency in mind, the Fort Huachuca Contract Administration Office was gradually transferred from the Army to the Department of the Interior between 1998 and 2001.

"Now the Army comes to that office when it needs services," Quimby said.

In 2001, the Interior Department contracting office awarded a "blanket purchase agreement" to a company called Premier Technology Group for services to be provided to the Army. Last year, CACI International acquired Premier Technology.

The blanket purchase agreement allows the Department of the Interior to purchase services from CACI International without going through a new round of competitive bidding for each new job. Since 2001, the department has approved 81 "delivery orders" under the Premier Technology-CACI contract, including 11 for services in Iraq.

Most of the services relate to information technology, but at least two involve the provision of interrogators, Quimby said - one for $19.9 million covering "interrogation support" and another for $21.8 million labeled "human intelligence support."

Under those contracts, Army officials have said that CACI has provided 27 interrogators to work in detention centers in Iraq. Several work at Abu Ghraib, and one - a 34-year-old Navy veteran named Steven Stefanowicz - is sharply criticized in an Army investigative report on the prisoner abuse.

Stefanowicz instructed military police officers to "facilitate interrogations" in such a way that "he clearly knew his instructions equated to physical abuse," says the report by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba. It also declares that Stefanowicz "made a false statement to the investigation team regarding the locations of his interrogations, the activities during his interrogations, and his knowledge of abuses."

Henry E. Hockeimer Jr., an attorney representing Stefanowicz, said his client denies doing anything wrong at Abu Ghraib. "Anything he did there was both appropriate and authorized, and he did not do anything wrong, nor is he aware of any wrongdoing by any other CACI employee," Hockeimer said.

CACI International did not respond to a request for comment, but company officials say they have seen no evidence of wrongdoing by employees.

Taguba's report recommends that Stefanowicz be fired, reprimanded and stripped of his security clearance. The report does not suggest criminal charges.

Apparent loophole

Technically, Stefanowicz and other CACI workers are not Defense Department contractors - and thus do not appear to be covered by the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act. Two congressmen submitted legislation last week designed to plug such loopholes in the law.

"Pentagon contractors working in Iraq are operating in a legal fog, where they are not accountable to Iraqi laws, U.S. laws or military laws governing our troops," Rep. David E. Price, a North Carolina Democrat, said in a statement about the amendment he proposed along with Rep. Christopher Shays, a Connecticut Republican.

Their bill would extend the law to contractors with any federal agency, as long as they are "supporting the mission of the Department of Defense." But even if it passes, the amendment would not apply to crimes committed before it takes effect.

Singer, of the Brookings Institution, said the Interior Department's role began with an attempt to be frugal. But by involving two Cabinet departments and having a contractor provide services for years without new bidding, the government has almost certainly increased costs, he said.

"There is no competition and no oversight," Singer said. "The free market can be a wonderful mechanism. But not if you do everything possible to ensure that it won't work."

Quimby, the Interior Department spokesman, sounded frustrated that his agency has been dragged into the prison scandal.

"The Army set the requirements for the contract," he said. "The Army pays for the contract. The Army benefits from the contract.

"But when there's a media inquiry," Quimby said, "it's an Interior Department contract."

Alpha

May 26, 2004
CONTRACTORS

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/26/politics/26CONT.html?pagewanted=print&position=
U.S. Civilian Working at Abu Ghraib Disputes Army's Version of His Role in Abuses
By JOEL BRINKLEY

WASHINGTON, May 25 - John B. Israel, an Iraqi-American Christian and one of two civilian contractors implicated in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, returned home to California a few weeks ago and, until Monday, was living quietly with his wife, Rosa.
In an interview on Monday at their home in Santa Clarita, Calif., Ms. Israel said that her husband had not even hired a lawyer.
Mr. Israel, who was born in Baghdad in 1955, was one of three Iraqi-Americans working as translators at Abu Ghraib. The Army report on the abuses described him as "either directly or indirectly responsible for the abuses at Abu Ghraib."
On Monday, his employer, SOS Interpreting, with offices in New York and suburban Washington, called Mr. Israel here for talks. That same evening, SOS issued its first statement about Mr. Israel, saying simply that the company, a subcontractor for the Titan Corporation for the work in Iraq, "fully intends to cooperate with the Army and with Titan" in the investigations. SOS said it would have nothing more to say.
Almost nothing was known about Mr. Israel before now. Among a raft of documents from the Army investigation, obtained by The New York Times, is a brief statement by Mr. Israel in which he denies any knowledge of the abuses. In it he says he arrived in Iraq on Oct. 14 and served as a translator for military intelligence. Asked if he had "witnessed any acts of abuse," he wrote: "No I have not."
Ms. Israel said her husband was "just a translator" and knew nothing of the Abu Ghraib abuses. She said a fellow employee had given his name to investigators. She would not say when he expected to return home, and he could not be reached for comment.
The Army report said that Mr. Israel's statement of ignorance ran contrary to the testimony of several witnesses. It also said he did not have a security clearance, and recommended that he be disciplined.
But if the failure to hold a secret or top-secret security clearance is a prosecutable offense, almost every translator working in Abu Ghraib would be found guilty. The Army records show that, of 15 Titan or SOS translators working at Abu Ghraib prison last fall, only one held a security clearance. Nearly all of them are foreign-born American citizens, and most come from backgrounds that have nothing to do with the sort of government work that would require a security clearance.
Khalid Oman, for example, was a hotel manager in Kalamazoo, Mich., before leaving for Iraq last fall to work as a translator for Titan, said his roommate, Sam Alsaud, in an interview, adding that Mr. Oman had never worked as a translator before answering a Titan advertisement. Mr. Oman is still in Iraq. "I guess he was looking for adventure," Mr. Alsaud added. "But he's upset. Things haven't turned out like he expected."
Mr. Oman, 29, was born in the United States while his father, a Saudi, was here attending college. Now he is working at Abu Ghraib. He was not implicated in the scandal.
The one translator who reported on his Army form that he held a "secret" clearance, Bakeer Naseef, a Jordanian-American, worked as a security guard for a private company before taking the job in Iraq, said his daughter, Siham. That job - at the reception desk of a technology company in Austin, Tex. - did not appear to require a clearance, and she did not know where he might have obtained one. She said he had not worked as a translator before. He, too, is still in Iraq.
The CACI Corporation employed all of the contract interrogators at Abu Ghraib, including Stephen Stefanowicz, who is the other contractor implicated in the scandal. The Army records show that each CACI employee held a secret or top-secret clearance (though two of them did not answer that question). Eleven of the 29 employees served in the military previously; others held a range of jobs with contractors, and other private companies - even police forces - that would have required a clearance.
Kenneth Powell, whose job is to screen prisoners at Abu Ghraib, according to the documents, recently retired after 24 years with the Mobile, Ala., police force, where presumably he picked up the skills, and the security clearance, to screen Iraqi prisoners. Like all the relatives interviewed, his wife, Jackie, said she had not known where in Iraq he was serving.
Education among all the contract employees varied. Most had some college education; 18 of the 44 had a four-year degree, or more; seven had only a high school diploma. Six of those were CACI employees.
The forms asked the workers if they used aliases, and several offered fearsome ones. Kevin Bloodworth, an Air Force veteran from Great Fall, Mont., who is serving as an interrogator, said he was known as Blood. And Timothy Duggan, an interrogator from Pataskala, Ohio, who said he was 6 feet tall and weighed 225 pounds, offered his alias, Big Dog.
John M. Broder reported from Canyon Country, Calif., for this article.

Alpha

Forwarded:

Subj: Re: Robert Fisk: Israeli Mossad/Shin Bet Association to Iraq Prison Torture S...
Date: 5/26/04 5:34:04 PM Pacific Daylight Time

He ('John Israel') may be an Iraqi, but if he is, he's probably an Iraqi Jew who has Israeli citizenship... or very close ties to Israel. The fact that he called himself John Israel is very suspicious. And I absolutely agree with you that something is going to happen this summer, and it will be insigated by the Mossad, either directly or indirectly.

Until this John Israel shows up, I'd believe what Fisk is saying. If you've ever read "Ben-Gurion's Scandals... How the Haganah and the Mossad Eliminated Jews" by Naeim Giladi, and Iraqi-born Jewish journalist, you'll realize how complicit they have been since Israel was founded. Here's what he says, "I write this book to tell the American people, and especially the American Jews, that Jews from Islamic lands did not emigrate willingly to Israel; that, to force them to leave, Jews killed Jews' and that, to buy time to confiscate ever more Arab lands, Jews on numerous occasions rejected genuine peace intitiatives from their Arab neighbors. I write about what the first prime minister of israel called 'cruel zionism.' I write abou it because I was part of it."

When the book first appeared in l992, it was banned in the US and Israel.

Alpha

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Subj: Re: Wayne, Have You Seen the New York Times Article Mentioned Below
Date: 5/26/04 1:14:39 PM Pacific Daylight Time

Yes, I saw it (the New York Times article included below) -- and I send you the memo I sent to a few journalists in DC about this:

Possible connection between SOS Interpreting, John Israel, and Israeli art students.

http://www.wifcon.com/cgen/2874772.htm

In April 2001, SOS Interpreting, Ltd. protested the DEA awarding a translation contract to Comprehensive Technologies, Inc. just after the DEA compiled its report on Israeli art student activity. The fact that the so-called art students would have been speaking Hebrew during their espionage activities and tracking of the hijackers would have required DEA to get competent Hebrew translators. So, why did the DEA avoid SOS Interpreting? SOS's reported ties to Israeli intelligence perhaps? SOS Interpreting also has contracts with NSA for Arabic linguists.

SOS had two contracts with DEA in Houston and Dallas, major hot beds for Israeli art student activity in Fiscal Year 2001, which ended Sept. 30, 2001. Contracts re-awarded to Comprehensive Technologies, which is a veteran owned small business. SOS appears to be a shady UK-based company.

The Drug Enforcement Administration's Contract with SOS Interpreting, Ltd. for Linguistic Services for the Dallas, Texas Field Division
The Drug Enforcement Administration's Contract with SOS Interpreting, Ltd. for the Houston, Texas Field Division
Now look at this!!!

Jewish Electronic Calendar Issue #74
Serving the Jewish Community of Columbia University in New York, NY
Fri Oct 27 12:45:24 EDT 1995 - 3 Cheshvan 5756
JSU SHABBAT ANNOUNCEMENTS
SOS Interpreting Ltd. is looking for Hebrew Interpreters ASAP. Good pay and flexible hours. Contact the Jewish Office for more information.

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/jsu/jec/95-96/jec74.html

Message 1: Translation: Translator, SOS Interpreting LTD, VA, USA
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 14:14:55 +0000
From: rkasselian <rkasselian@sosltd.com>

Subject: Translation: Translator, SOS Interpreting LTD, VA, USA
University or Organization: SOS Interpreting LTD
Rank of Job: Translator
Specialty Areas: Applied Linguistics, General Linguistics, Translation
Required Language(s): Arabic, Algerian Saharan Spoken (Code = AAO);
Arabic, Standard (Code = ABV); Arabic,
Mesopotamian Spoken (Code = ACM); Arabic, Gulf
Spoken (Code = AFB); Pashto, Southern (Code =
PBT); Pashto, Northern (Code = PBU); Pashto,
Central (Code = PST)

Description:

SOS Interpreting LTD is looking to hire native arabic linguists that
are fluent in reading, writing, and speaking Arabic, and English, for
overseas positions. Candidates must be U.S. Citizens. We offer
excellent salaries, and benefits.

Address for Applications:

Attn: Mr Raphy Kasselian
3877 Fairfax Ridge Road
Fairfax, VA 22030
United States of America

Position is open until filled

Contact Information:
Mr. Raphy Kasselian
Email: rkasselian@sosltd.com
Tel: 703-383-4260

Also, there is no record of a John B. Israel living in Santa Clarita, California.
This was reported by the NYT. John B. Israel and his wife, Rosa, were
said to live in Santa Clarita. He is said to be an Iraqi-American Christian,
very dubious considering the last name. A search yielded this,
there are 50 "J. Israels" listed in California. Most appear to have
typically Jewish first names -- Jacob, Judy, Jared, and most are in the LA area.
There is a John Israel listed in Simi Valley, but that is in Ventura County and
Santa Clarita is in LA County.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Subj: Re: Wayne, Have You Seen the New York Times Article Mentioned Below
Date: 5/26/04 1:33:33 PM Pacific Daylight Time

Please give me a synopsis of what you think is going on here so I can fax it to Fisk.. I think I have a good idea. But please summarize

I believe SOS Interpreting Ltd. may be an Israeli carve out contractor -- at the time that DEA chose CTI over SOS, the Justice Dept. was concerned about Israeli firms being involved in sensitive DOJ cases, incl. wiretapping, etc. Its also interesting that SOS was looking for Hebrew linguists as early as 1995. A DOJ memo in March 2002 stated foreign owned firms could no longer be involved in such activities. Whoever this Iraqi is who claims to be John Israel may be a cover. I doubt an Iraqi would torture his own people -- the word would get out and he would be a marked man either in Iraq or California.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subj: Re: Wayne, Have You Seen the New York Times Article Mentioned Below
Date: 5/26/04 2:17:39 PM Pacific Daylight Time

In a message dated 5/26/2004 4:49:31 PM Eastern Daylight Time:

Do you have an address for this John Israel in Canyon Country as I could videotape his residence and maybe even him as well.. Could use as an ID... But would be dangerous potentially.. Do you think he is with Mossad...

I can't find any John Israel in Santa Clarita -- only 2 who could be him come up in the area:

Israel, John
5545 Sugar Pine Dr,
Yorba Linda, CA 92886-5178

and the J. Israel in Simi Valley -- no address listed -- no longer comes up on People Search as it did earlier today (?)

I don't think active Mossad, perhaps former though. But likely part of Sharon's own Office of Special Plans working with US through this carve-out contractor SOS, "Israel" could be ex-IDF, Shin Bet.

If so though as we suspect (Mossad or Shin Bet), why would he use the name 'John Israel'? Would that just be too damn obvious.. We know that it is a pseudonym too though. What is your take here.. I keep getting this question which is a valid one.. Ray McGovern mentioned the same recently..
My experience in the intelligence world was that sometimes people become too clever or cute for their own good. His name may have been John or maybe he had no name, and our West Virginia Wal Mart reservists may have just started calling him John Israel as a joke, one that Gen Taguba may have failed to catch on to. We used to call people who we suspected of being intel, names like Joe Spook and stuff like that. This may be what happened here.

Alpha · Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 1:38 am Post subject: SCV Man Linked to Iraq Abuse

http://www.the-signal.com

SCV Man Linked to Iraq Abuse

5/27/2004
Leon Worden City Editor

A Canyon Country man is one of four people accused of being responsible for
abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad.
An Army report implicates John B. Israel, a 48-year-old civilian
contractor hired by the Army as a translator, as “either directly or
indirectly responsible for the abuses at Abu Ghraib.”
Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba’s report on the abuse of prisoners — the
so-called “Taguba Report” — also accuses Israel of lying to Army
investigators about witnessing improper interrogations.
The report shows there was a breakdown in command authority and a
blurring of the lines between interpreting and interrogating at the prison.
It quotes military prison guards as saying both military intelligence
officers and civilian contractors encouraged abuses, including stripping
prisoners naked and handcuffing them in painful positions.
In his report, Taguba calls for a formal inquiry to determine the guilt
of intelligence personnel at the prison. He writes:
“Specifically, I suspect that Col. Thomas M. Pappas, LTC Steve L.
Jordan, Mr. Steven Stephanowicz, and Mr. John Israel were either directly or
indirectly responsible for the abuses at Abu Ghraib, and strongly recommend
immediate disciplinary action ... as well as the initiation of (an) inquiry
to determine the full extent of their culpability.”
Pappas was the commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade.
Jordan is the former director of the Joint Interrogation and Debriefing
Center. Stephanowicz is a civilian interrogator working under contract.
Taguba recommended that a formal reprimand go into Israel’s personnel
file because he lacked the required security clearance and he wrongfully
denied having seen interrogation processes that violated the Interrogation
Rules of Engagement.
According to The New York Times, Israel told Army investigators in a
brief written statement that he arrived in Iraq on Oct. 14 and served as a
translator for military intelligence. Asked if he had “witnessed any acts of
abuse,” he wrote, “No I have not.”
According to the Taguba report, several witnesses said he did.
Israel is believed to have returned to the Santa Clarita Valley from
Iraq about a month ago.
Contacted by The Signal at their home in a newer Canyon Country
neighborhood, Israel’s wife, Roza, acknowledged hearing about the
allegations but refused to comment on them.
“I’m instructed not to say anything until we get an attorney,” she said
Wednesday. “I haven’t even had an opportunity to discuss it with (John).”
Her husband is out of town until next week and has not yet hired an
attorney, she said.
Born in Baghdad in 1955, Israel is described as an Iraqi-American
Christian. His home was still decorated for Christmas on Wednesday. The
Israels have lived in Santa Clarita with their three daughters for about 10
years and in their current house for a portion of that time.
A neighbor described them as loners who live modestly.
“They keep to themselves,” said the neighbor, who asked not to be
identified. “They’re flat-out unfriendly.”
“It’s pretty scary living next door to somebody accused of that, with
the state that the world is in,” she said. “It’s disturbing.”
The New York Times said Israel traveled Monday to the Washington, D.C.,
offices of his employer, SOS Interpreting Ltd. His continued employment
could not be verified Wednesday.
Based in New York, SOS is a 15-year-old company that, according to its
online job posting for an Arabic linguist, specializes in translation,
interpretation and foreign language training as well as “intelligence,
counterintelligence, psychological operations, counterterrorism,
counter-narcotics, peacekeeping and civil affairs, force protection, private
security” and related information services. Its job listings call for
applications from U.S. citizens.
SOS performed translating services for the Army Intelligence and
Security Command at Abu Ghraib. On Monday the company issued a statement
saying it “fully intends to cooperate with the Army and with Titan.”
Titan Corp. is a San Diego-based defense firm that subcontracted the
translation work to SOS. Titan President Gene Ray expressed his company’s
“distress and dismay over the horrific events at the Abu Ghraib prison in
Iraq” in a May 7 statement.
“To clarify inaccuracies in a number of news media reports,” his
statement said, “Titan’s role in Iraq is to serve as translators and
interpreters for the U.S. Army. The company’s contract is for linguists, not
interrogators.”
Only one of the 15 Titan and SOS translators working at Abu Ghraib last
fall possessed the necessary security clearance, the Taguba reported
indicated.
Titan has fired one interpreter, Adel L. Nakhla, of Gaithersburg, Md.,
whom Taguba named as a suspect.
Shareholders of Titan, a public company listed on the New York Stock
Exchange, will vote June 7 on a planned takeover by Lockheed Martin Corp.
The merger was delayed pending the outcome of an internal investigation into
alleged payments by Titan or its subsidiaries to foreign officials.
On May 17, Titan announced it has won a four-year contract potentially
worth $15 million to provide intelligence services to the Navy's Space and
Naval Warfare Systems Command Systems Center in San Diego.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Alpha

The following really irks me as Peter Hounam wrote the 'Operation Cyanide' book with the BBC (USS Liberty) 'Dead in the Water' documentary was based on. This is absolutely unacceptable if it is accurate....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/dead_in_the_water.shtml

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2983404

Vanunu Journalist 'Barred from Seeing Lawyer'

The British journalist who helped reveal Israel’s nuclear secrets, arrested by Israel this week, is being barred from meeting with his lawyer, the lawyer said today.

Peter Hounam, who interviewed Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu in 1986, has been in Israel since Vanunu’s release from prison last month.

Hounam was arrested yesterday by the Shin Bet internal security service.

Hounam’s lawyer, Avigdor Feldman, said in Jerusalem he has not been able to see his client since the arrest. Hounam was expected to appear in court later today as police request permission to continue holding him.

Israeli authorities have not said why he was arrested due to a gag order.

In 1986, Vanunu gave the Sunday Times information and photographs from Israel’s top secret Dimona nuclear reactor.

The newspaper published an extensive article under Hounan’s byline that led experts to determine that Israel had the world’s sixth-large nuclear arsenal.

Vanunu was released on April 21 after serving an 18-year prison sentence for espionage and treason. Hounam, now a freelance journalist based in Perthshire, was in Israel to greet Vanunu and prepare a documentary about his case for the BBC.

A BBC spokeswoman in London said they were “very concerned” about Hounam’s arrest.

Under conditions imposed on Vanunu with his release, he is not allowed to give interviews or meet with foreigners. Feldman, who also represents Vanunu, said Hounam had not violated any of the restrictions and called the arrest a farce.

“The man was arrested for no reason. He was arrested as part of the security establishment’s never ending obsession with Vanunu,” Feldman told Israel Army Radio.

Danny Seaman, director of the Israeli Government Press Office, said that if Hounam was arrested it was for serious offences. He said his office had issued Hounam press credentials two weeks ago without any problems.

“This is irregular and so I assume they did not arrest him as a journalist but because they have real reasons,” Seaman told the radio. “The Shin Bet is a serious organisation that deals with serious issues.”

Witnesses said Hounan was concerned as Shin Bet agents took him away from his Jerusalem hotel.

“I was sitting in the garden when he was brought in by five plainclothes security men,” said Donatella Rovera, a researcher with the human rights group Amnesty International, who was staying at the same hotel.

“As they were bringing him through the garden he broke away from them and came running to my table. He said ‘I’m being arrested, tell the Sunday Times,”’ she said, adding that he was immediately pulled away.

Sunday Times foreign editor Sean Ryan said Hounam, 60, had been in Israel since April 16 to cover Vanunu’s release for the newspaper.

“We are trying to establish exactly what the situation is, where he is now and why he has been detained,” Ryan said.

The Foreign Office said it had heard about the arrest of a British journalist, but still did not have any official confirmation.

Alpha

Taguba: Guards Heeded SCV (Santa Clarita Valley) Translator
http://www.the-signal.com/News/ViewStory.asp?storyID=4733

5/28/2004
Leon Worden City Editor

When Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba told the Senate Armed Services Committee that two professional civilian contractors gave direction ? if not exactly orders ? to the guards at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, one of the civilians he referred to was a 48-year-old Santa Clarita resident.
John Benjamin Israel, an Iraqi-born American interpreter from Canyon Country, was ?either directly or indirectly responsible? for the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees, according to Taguba?s classified report on the improper interrogation tactics at the prison outside Baghdad.
Taguba completed the report in early March, and it was mistakenly released in late April.
Israel could not be reached Thursday. On Wednesday, his wife, Roza Israel, refused to discuss the allegations.
?I?m instructed not to say anything until we get an attorney,? she said.
Israel came to Santa Clarita from San Fernando around 1995 with Roza and their three daughters. They purchased their current home shortly after it was built seven years ago.
While one neighbor described Israel on Wednesday as a loner, others said Thursday that he is friendly and mild-mannered.
?He seems to be a very nice man. It seems so out of character that he would be accused of that,? said Blanche Muscia, who lives next door and frequently chats with Roza.
?He usually doesn?t speak until he?s spoken to,? Muscia said. ?I don?t think he has it in him to hit a man.?
John Israel reportedly told Army investigators he arrived in Iraq on Oct. 14 to work as an interpreter at Abu Ghraib under contract for Army intelligence. Muscia said Israel was back home in Santa Clarita the first week of April.
?He was an interpreter,? the neighbor said. ?I assumed he (served as) a go-between between the Americans and the Iraqis.?
Muscia said that prior to October, she knew Israel as ?a computer guy,? but he seemed to like his new job.
?I saw him a few weeks ago and he said he was going back to Iraq,? she said. ?I asked him why. It?s so dangerous. He said he needed the money.?
?He was really bent on going back. He said, ?I want to help my people. It?s my duty to try to help them.??
?He?s a Christian,? she added.
But Israel didn?t return to Iraq. By late April the so-called Taguba report had gone public and the Senate was gearing up for hearings.
Taguba?s report names only one interpreter ? John Israel ? and one interrogator, Steve Stephanowicz, a 34-year-old Philadelphia native recently living in Australia.
In his May 11 Senate testimony, Taguba said he ?personally interviewed a translator and I also personally interviewed an interrogator, both civilian contractors? ? referring to Stephanowicz, who did the interrogating, and Israel, who did the translating.
Taguba said the prison guards considered the two men their superiors, although the pair didn?t command any U.S. troops.
?They were not in any way supervising any soldiers, (military police) or otherwise,? Taguba told the Senate Armed Services Committee. ?However, the guards, those who were involved, looked at them as competent authority as in the manner by which they described them ? as ?the MI? (military intelligence officer), or by name, or by function.?
Taguba testified that the civilian interrogator and interpreter answered to the Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center, which answered to a lieutenant colonel, Steve L. Jordan, who answered to the brigade commander, Col. Thomas M. Pappas.
?That was the chain (of command), sir,? Taguba told Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawaii.
In his classified report, Taguba said the responsibility for the ?sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses? of prisoners, including stripping them naked and handcuffing them in painful positions, fell on the four men. He said Pappas, Jordan, Stephanowicz and Israel ?were either directly or indirectly responsible for the abuses at Abu Ghraib,? and he recommended ?immediate disciplinary action ... as well as the initiation of (an) inquiry to determine the full extent of their culpability.?
?At the end of the day,? Taguba told the Senate panel, ?a few soldiers and civilians conspired to abuse and conduct egregious acts of violence against detainees and other civilians outside the bounds of international law and the Geneva Convention.?
The Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 1999 allows for the prosecution of civilian contractors who commit crimes while working overseas for the military. Attorney General John Ashcroft has said civilian contractors involved in the mistreatment or murder of Iraqi prisoners could be prosecuted for civil rights violations and for breaking anti-torture laws.
A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Howard ?Buck? McKeon, a member of the House Armed Services Committee and John Israel?s congressional representative, referred questions to the Army?s public affairs office.
?We believe that we are a democratic country and we will let the DOD (Department of Defense) investigation follow its proper course to get to the bottom of it,? McKeon spokesman Vartan Djihanian said.
An Army public affairs official wasn?t sure who is investigating civilian contractors implicated in the prison scandal.
?My best guess, and it?s only a guess, is that it would be the Army?s Criminal Investigation Command or the Department of Justice,? Army spokeswoman Deborah Parker said.
Justice officials did not return calls.
Reporting from inside Abu Ghraib prison earlier this month, a correspondent for the London Telegraph confirmed that Israel had left Iraq and reported that Stephanowicz was on leave from CACI International Inc., a private intelligence firm based in Richmond, Va., ?pending inquiries that could lead to criminal charges being brought against them.?
Israel worked through SOS Interpreting Ltd., a New York-based translation service whose stated specialties include intelligence, counterintelligence, force protection and ?psychological operations? for government agencies. SOS is under contract with Titan Corp. of San Diego to provide linguistic services at Abu Ghraib.
An SOS executive told The Signal on Thursday that Israel still works for the company and could not be contacted.
?We are not providing access to John Israel at this point,? Chief Financial Officer Bruce Crowell said in a phone message.
Another SOS official said Israel is on temporary assignment.
?It is true that John Israel works here,? Crowell said in a subsequent telephone interview. ?We are not at liberty to make any further comments, other than what we have said in a prepared statement.?
The statement said, ?SOS Interpreting Ltd. is a subcontractor to Titan (Corp.), responsible for employing, and then secunding (sic) to Titan and ultimately the Army, interpreters. SOS understands that the government is conducting reviews that may relate to issues regarding this subcontract. SOS intends to cooperate with the Army and Titan. It would be premature to comment further at this time.?
Crowell declined to answer questions about his company?s employment requirements. In its online job postings, SOS tends to advertise for U.S. citizens or longtime U.S. residents, and it pays about $75,000 for translation work overseas.
Public records show Israel owns his home. His 1993 bankruptcy was discharged in 2002.
Although prison translators require a U.S. security clearance, an Army spokeswoman couldn't corroborate Israel's citizenship and referred questions about his nationality to Titan.
A Titan executive said Israel is a U.S. citizen and he dismissed the current chatroom ?buzz? that he might be a foreign agent.
?I do know he?s an American,? Titan spokesman Will Williams said. ?Because of his last name, I have never in my life seen so much speculation. ... He?s just an American interpreter working for a subcontractor.?
One inconsistency in Taguba?s report is the listing of Israel as an employee of both Titan and CACI. He was not directly employed by Titan, and a personnel executive with CACI said Thursday she was unfamiliar with him.
The London Telegraph said three CACI contractors are still working with 30 military intelligence interrogators at Abu Ghraib and another six are employed as screeners to process detainees and determine whether they have any intelligence value. About 20 contract employees from SOS and Titan are still working at the prison as linguists.
Col. Foster Payne, newly in charge of interrogations at Abu Ghraib, defended the use of civilian contractors.
?They?re professionals in their own right,? Payne told The Telegraph. ?They have wide experience in the field and contribute to the team.?
?We?ve taken the actions of two people (Israel and Stephanowicz) and now we?re questioning whether we need to use contractors,? Payne lamented.
The scandal prompted a complete troop overhaul in February. The Telegraph reported that the ?abuse appears to have been stamped out? although a tour of the facility revealed that living conditions were still ?miserable and highly dangerous.?

Signal staff writers Lila Campuzano, Burt Stillar, Judy Ann Mook, Brandon Lowrey and Diana Sevanian contributed to this story.

Alpha

Subj: Re: Robert Fisk: Israeli Mossad/Shin Bet Association to Iraq Prison Torture S...
Date: 5/28/04 12:07:57 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: jblankfort@earthlink.net

I mentioned to Fisk that the Times had reported that he was an Iraqi national and noted that Israel is an unusual name for an Iraqi but I realize later that he might be an Iraqi Jew who would speak Arabic and that would explain everything.

Jeff

Alpha · Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 8:45 am Post subject: The Israeli Torture Template

Senator Akaka (of Hawaii) asked General Miller during the recent Senate hearing who the third country nationals (referring to 'John Israel' and others mentioned in the Taguba Report) were, and General Miller refused to answer... One answer is so obviously Israel:

http://www.counterpunch.org/madsen05102004.html

May 10, 2004

The Israeli Torture Template
Rape, Feces and Urine-Dipped Cloth Sacks
By WAYNE MADSEN

With mounting evidence that a shadowy group of former Israeli Defense Force and General Security Service (Shin Bet) Arabic-speaking interrogators were hired by the Pentagon under a classified "carve out" sub-contract to brutally interrogate Iraqi prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, one only needs to examine the record of abuse of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners in Israel to understand what Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld meant, when referring to new, yet to be released photos and videos, he said, "if these images are released to the public, obviously its going to make matters worse."

According to a political appointee within the Bush administration and U.S. intelligence sources, the interrogators at Abu Ghraib included a number of Arabic-speaking Israelis who also helped U.S. interrogators develop the "R2I" (Resistance to Interrogation) techniques. Many of the torture methods were developed by the Israelis over many years of interrogating Arab prisoners on the occupied West Bank and in Israel itself.

Clues about worse photos and videos of abuse may be found in Israeli files about similar abuse of Palestinian and other Arab prisoners. In March 2000, a lawyer for a Lebanese prisoner kidnapped in 1994 by the Israelis in Lebanon claimed that his client had been subjected to torture, including rape. The type of compensation offered by Rumsfeld in his testimony has its roots in cases of Israeli torture of Arabs. In the case of the Lebanese man, said to have been raped by his Israeli captors, his lawyer demanded compensation of $1.47 million. The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel documented the types of torture meted out on Arab prisoners. Many of the tactics coincide with those contained in the Taguba report: beatings and prolonged periods handcuffed to furniture. In an article in the December 1998 issue of The Progressive, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb reported on the treatment given to a 23-year old Palestinian held on "administrative detention." The prisoner was "cuffed behind a chair 17 hours a day for 120 days . . . [he] had his head covered with a sack, which was often dipped in urine or feces. Guards played loud music right next to his ears and frequently taunted him with threats of physical and sexual violence." If additional photos and videos document such practices, the Bush administration and the American people have, indeed, "seen nothing yet."

Although it is still largely undocumented if any of the contractor named in the report of General Antonio Taguba were associated with the Israeli military or intelligence services, it is noteworthy that one, John Israel, who was identified in the report as being employed by both CACI International of Arlington, Virginia, and Titan, Inc., of San Diego, may not have even been a U.S. citizen. The Taguba report states that Israel did not have a security clearance, a requirement for employment as an interrogator for CACI. According to CACI's web site, "a Top Secret Clearance (TS) that is current and US citizenship" are required for CACI interrogators working in Iraq. In addition, CACI requires that its interrogators "have at least two years experience as a military policeman or similar type of law enforcement/intelligence agency whereby the individual utilized interviewing techniques."

Speculation that "John Israel" may be an intelligence cover name has fueled speculation whether this individual could have been one of a number of Israeli interrogators hired under a classified contract. Because U.S. citizenship and documentation thereof are requirements for a U.S. security clearance, Israeli citizens would not be permitted to hold a Top Secret clearance. However, dual U.S.-Israeli citizens could have satisfied Pentagon requirements that interrogators hold U.S. citizenship and a Top Secret clearance. Although the Taguba report refers twice to Israel as an employee of Titan, the company claims he is one of their sub-contractors. CACI stated that one of the men listed in the report "is not and never has been a CACI employee" without providing more detail. A U.S. intelligence source revealed that in the world of intelligence "carve out" subcontracts such confusion is often the case with "plausible deniability" being a foremost concern.

In fact, the Taguba report does reference the presence of non-U.S. and non-Iraqi interrogators at Abu Ghraib. The report states, "In general, US civilian contract personnel (Titan Corporation, CACI, etc), third country nationals, and local contractors do not appear to be properly supervised within the detention facility at Abu Ghraib."

The Pentagon is clearly concerned about the outing of the Taguba report and its references to CACI, Titan, and third country nationals, which could permanently damage U.S. relations with Arab and Islamic nations. The Pentagon's angst may explain why the Taguba report is classified Secret No Foreign Dissemination.

The leak of the Taguba report was so radioactive, Daniel R. Dunn, the Information Assurance Officer for Douglas Feith's Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Policy (Policy Automation Services Security Team), sent a May 6, 2004, For Official Use Only Urgent E-mail to Pentagon staffers stating, "THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS REPORT IS CLASSIFIED; DO NOT GO TO FOX NEWS TO READ OR OBTAIN A COPY." Considering Feith's close ties to the Israelis, such a reaction by his top computer security officer, a Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP), is understandable, although considering the fact that CISSPs are to act on behalf of the public good, it is also regrettable..

The reference to "third country nationals" in a report that restricts its dissemination to U.S. coalition partners (Great Britain, Poland, Italy, etc.) is another indication of the possible involvement of Israelis in the interrogation of Iraqi prisoners. Knowledge that the U.S. may have been using Israeli interrogators could have severely fractured the Bush administration's tenuous "coalition of the willing' in Iraq. General Taguba's findings were transmitted to the Coalition Forces Land Component Command on March 9, 2004, just six days before the Spanish general election, one that the opposition anti-Iraq war Socialists won. The Spanish ultimately withdrew their forces from Iraq.

During his testimony before the Senate Armed Service Committee, Rumsfeld was pressed upon by Senator John McCain about the role of the private contractors in the interrogations and abuse. McCain asked Rumsfeld four pertinent questions, ". . . who was in charge? What agency or private contractor was in charge of the interrogations? Did they have authority over the guards? And what were the instructions that they gave to the guards?"

When Rumsfeld had problems answering McCain's question, Lt. Gen. Lance Smith, the Deputy Commander of the U.S. Central Command, said there were 37 contract interrogators used in Abu Ghraib. The two named contractors, CACI and Titan, have close ties to the Israeli military and technology communities. Last January 14, after Provost Marshal General of the Army, Major General Donald Ryder, had already uncovered abuse at Abu Ghraib, CACI's President and CEO, Dr. J.P. (Jack) London was receiving the Jerusalem Fund of Aish HaTorah's Albert Einstein Technology award at the Jerusalem City Hall, with right-wing Likud politician Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski in attendance. Oddly, CACI waited until February 2 to publicly announce the award in a press release. CACI has also received grants from U.S.-Israeli bi-national foundations.

Titan also has had close connections to Israeli interests. After his stint as CIA Director, James Woolsey served as a Titan director. Woolsey is an architect of America's Iraq policy and the chief proponent of and lobbyist for Ahmad Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress. An adviser to the neo-conservative Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Jewish Institute of National Security Affairs, Project for the New American Century, Center for Security Policy, Freedom House, and Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, Woolsey is close to Stephen Cambone, the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, a key person in the chain of command who would have not only known about the torture tactics used by U.S. and Israeli interrogators in Iraq but who would have also approved them. Cambone was associated with the Project for the New American Century and is viewed as a member of Rumsfeld's neo-conservative "cabal" within the Pentagon.

Another person considered by Pentagon insiders to have been knowledgeable about the treatment of Iraqi prisoners is U.S. Army Col. Steven Bucci, a Green Beret and Rumsfeld's military assistant and chief traffic cop for the information flow to the Defense Secretary. According to Pentagon insiders, Bucci was involved in the direction of a special covert operations unit composed of former U.S. special operations personnel who answered to the Pentagon rather than the CIA's Special Activities Division, the agency's own paramilitary group. The Pentagon group included Arabic linguists and former members of the Green Berets and Delta Force who operated covertly in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan. Titan also uses linguists trained in the languages (Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Pashto, Urdu, and Tajik) of those same countries. It is not known if a link exists between Rumsfeld's covert operations unit and Titan's covert operations linguists.

Another Titan employee named in the Taguba report is Adel L. Nakhla. Nakhla is a name common among Egypt's Coptic Christian community, however, it is not known if Adel Nakhla is either an Egyptian-American or a national of Egypt. A CACI employee identified in the report, Steven Stephanowicz, is referred to as "Stefanowicz" in a number of articles on the prison abuse. Stefanowicz is the spelling used by Joe Ryan, another CACI employee assigned with Stefanowicz to Abu Ghraib. Ryan is a radio personality on KSTP, a conservative radio station in Minneapolis, who maintained a daily log of his activities in Iraq on the radio's web site before it was taken down. Ryan indicated that Stefanowicz (or Stephanowicz) continued to hold his interrogation job in Iraq even though General Taguba recommended he lose his security clearance and be terminated for the abuses at Abu Ghraib.

In an even more bizarre twist, the Philadelphia Daily News identified a former expatriate public relations specialist for the government of South Australia in Adelaide named Steve Stefanowicz as possibly being the same person identified in the Taguba report. In 2000, Stefanowicz, who grew up in the Philadelphia and Allentown areas, left for Australia. On September 16, 2001, he was quoted by the Sunday Mail of Adelaide on the 911 attacks. He said of the attacks, "It was one of the most incredible and most devastating things I have ever seen. I have been in constant contact with my family and friends in the US and the mood was very solemn and quiet. But this is progressing into anger." Stefanowicz returned to the United States and volunteered for the Navy in a reserve status. His mother told the Allentown Morning Call in April 2002 that Stefanowicz was stationed somewhere in the Middle East but did not know where because of what Stefanowicz said was "security concerns." His mother told the Philadelphia Daily News that her son was in Iraq but she knew nothing about his current status.

Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and columnist. He served in the National Security Agency (NSA) during the Reagan administration and wrote the introduction to Forbidden Truth. He is the co-author, with John Stanton, of "America's Nightmare: The Presidency of George Bush II." His forthcoming book is titled: "Jaded Tasks: Big Oil, Black Ops, and Brass Plates."

Madsen can be reached at: WMadsen777@aol.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=2558

Who is John Israel?
He could be one of the secret masterminds behind the Abu Ghraib outrage

The blithering, the blathering, the pontification, and the grandstanding – that about describes the Senate Armed Services Committee hearings on the Abu Ghraib filth-fest. The Democrats were so hot to link Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld directly to the scandal, and the Republicans were so busy defending their man (and the war) that neither bothered much to mention the key culprits, as identified in the Taguba report:
"I find that there is sufficient credible information to warrant an Inquiry UP Procedure 15, AR 381-10, U.S. Army Intelligence Activities, be conducted to determine the extent of culpability of M[ilitary] I[intelligence] personnel, assigned to the 205th MI Brigade and the Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center (JIDC) at Abu Ghraib (BCCF). Specifically, I suspect that COL Thomas M. Pappas, LTC Steve L. Jordan, Mr. Steven Stephanowicz [sic], and Mr. John Israel were either directly or indirectly responsible for the abuses at Abu Ghraib (BCCF) and strongly recommend immediate disciplinary action as described in the preceding paragraphs as well as the initiation of a Procedure 15 Inquiry to determine the full extent of their culpability."
Even when General Taguba went up to Capitol Hill and testified, along with the shifty-eyed undersecretary of defense for intelligence, Stephen A. Cambone, the senators spent so much time listening to the sound of their own voices, and scoring brownie points off one another, that the subject of the "private" contractors and the intelligence community's involvement in all this only came up briefly, like lightning illuminating a cloud-clogged sky.
It came up at the start of the hearing, but Senator John Warner, who even looks like a hawk – the beakish nose, the hooded eyes, the predatory glint in his eye – approached the subject gingerly:
SEN. WARNER: "I ask the same question to you. In simple laymen's language, so it can be understood, what do you think went wrong, in terms of the failure of discipline and the failure of this interrogation process to be consistent with known regulations, national and international? And also, to what extent do you have knowledge of any participation by other than U.S. military, namely Central Intelligence Agency and/or contractors, in the performance of the interrogations?"
GEN. TAGUBA: "Sir, as far as your last question, I'll answer that first. The comments about participation of other government agencies or contractors were related to us through interviews that we conducted. It was related to our examination of written statements and, of course, some other records. With regards to your first question, sir, there was a failure of leadership..."
The media has focused on this last phrase, probably because it not only seems to indict Rumsfeld but also because it's a made-to-order headline. But the first part of Taguba's answer is the most pertinent. Warner, obviously not eager to have the general go into detail in public, then answered his own question, referring to the over 1,000 pages of documentation submitted to the committee. In short, the answer to the senator's question was clearly yes, and the details were to be found in the classified documents that only members of the committee and other privileged characters would read.
So they blithered, and they blathered, and struck poses, and not until it came Senator Daniel K. Akaka's turn was any further light shed on the dark corners of this investigation. The Hawaii Democrat looked affable enough, and he was smiling, but his questions, when they came, cut straight to the heart of the matter:
SENATOR AKAKA: "General Taguba, in your report you reference the lack of supervision over U.S. civilian contractor personnel, third country nationals and local contractors within the detention facility at Abu Ghraib. During your investigation, did you determine how many civilian contract personnel were working there? Who supervised these individuals? And can you describe what you observed in terms of type of access these individuals had to the detainee areas?"
GEN. TAGUBA: "Sir, we did not make a determination of how many civilian contractors were assigned to the 205th MI Brigade and operating at Abu Ghraib. I personally interviewed a translator and I also personally interviewed an interrogator, both civilians, contractors. There was also a statement, and substantiated by the witnesses that we interviewed, of another translator, a third-country national in fact, that was involved. And there was another third- country national who was acting as a translator for the interrogators that was involved in one of the interrogation incidents where dogs were used. Their supervision, sir, from the best that we could determine or discern from the information that we gathered, was they were under the supervision of the Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center, the JIDC, who is then under the supervision of one, a lieutenant colonel, who was also supervised by the brigade commander, the MI brigade commander. That was the chain, sir."
Third country nationals, eh? So what third country are we talking about? Britain? Canada, perhaps? I guess we can probably rule out Monaco.
The only translator identified in the Taguba report is John Israel, supposedly a "contract translator" employed by the Titan Corp. Mr. Israel is furthermore described as not having a security clearance, an unusual condition for someone in his position – unless, of course, he's not an American, in which case it would be perfectly understandable.
So far, very interesting. But then it got even more interesting:
SEN. AKAKA: "General Taguba, your report finds that two contractors were either directly or indirectly responsible for the abuses at Abu Ghraib. Were either of these contracted personnel supervising soldiers or in a position to direct soldiers to take specific actions?"
GEN. TAGUBA: "Sir, they were not in any way supervising any soldiers, MP or otherwise. However, the guards, those who were involved, looked at them as competent authority as in the manner by which they described them, as the MI or by name or by function."
A reasonable interpretation of Taguba's somewhat garbled answer is that, yes, the MPs and soldiers who committed sadistic outrages against detainees acted under the influence and at the instigation of those they believed to be intelligence officers, some of whom were "third country nationals."
Senator Akaka follows up with a question for Secretary Cambone: "What kind of training," he wanted to know, "did the U.S. civilian contractors have prior to going to Iraq?"
The look on Cambone's face made the whole dreary procedure worth it, I thought his eyebrows were going to fly right off.
It is no secret that the Israelis have been "advising" the Americans on how to run the occupation: after all, they have so much experience in the matter, and are more than eager to impart their hard-won expertise. The methods employed by Israeli security forces are quite different from those utilized by the U.S. military: the use of "limited" torture is okay by them, and the Palestinians are no strangers to the sort of treatment meted out to the inmates at Abu Ghraib. So when Senator Akaka asked Cambone what kind of training the contractors had received, my first thought was: The very best!
The Mossad is rightly feared throughout the Middle East, and the world, as the most ruthless (and daring) intelligence agency of them all. Only the KGB ever rivaled its reputation. That they would not hesitate to employ the sort of interrogation methods used to "soften up" the prisoners of Abu Ghraib is beyond dispute: just ask the Palestinians – and Human Rights Watch. That we have imported them, along with their methods, into Iraq seems altogether likely.
But, hey, wait a minute, how is it that American soldiers were taking orders from civilian contractors, never mind "third country nationals"? Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) cleared that up when he put the question to Taguba pointblank:
SEN. GRAHAM: "Part of the defense that we're going to be hearing about in these court martials is that the people that we're charging are going to say this system that we see photographic evidence of, was at least encouraged if not directed by others. Do you think that's an accurate statement?"
GEN. TAGUBA: "Sir, I would say that they were probably influenced by others –"
SEN. GRAHAM: "Okay –"
GEN. TAGUBA: " – if not necessarily directed specifically by others."
As U.S. and, in all likelihood, Israeli intelligence officers looked on approvingly, Trailer-Park Lynndie and her ex-prison guard boyfriend, with the active collaboration of the other MPs, systematically abused and degraded the inmates. So much of this nightmare scenario – the hooded prisoners forced to engage in behavior looked on with utter horror in Muslim society – seems like such a gift to Osama bin Laden that the revelation of Israeli involvement gives the whole affair a surreal quality.
For the role of CIA overseer, I nominate Steven Stefanowicz, the 34-year-old ex-Navy reservist, now a civilian interrogator supposedly employed by CACI International, who emigrated to Australia, before 9/11, and worked in "information technology" in the city of Adelaide, where – he says – he became engaged to be married. As detailed in my last column, Stefanowicz alleges he underwent a transformation after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and returned to the U.S. determined to get in on the fight, though in what capacity was never quite clear. Now it turns out he had bragged to his friends that he had joined the CIA, according to a piece in the Philadelphia Daily News:
"The Philadelphia-area native at the center of the Iraq torture scandal has reportedly told friends he wants to get out of there right away and return to Australia, where he claimed three years ago he was joining the CIA. 'It's safe to say I've seen enough for a lifetime here in Iraq, and it's definitely time to come home,' Steve Stefanowicz reportedly said in an e-mail to a friend in the southern Australian city of Adelaide. He apparently meant Adelaide and not Telford, the Montgomery County, Pa., suburb where he was reared.
"Meanwhile, another Australian friend told the Daily News in an e-mail that in fall 2001 'Steve announced to all of his friends that he was leaving Adelaide to return to America to work for the Central Intelligence Agency.'"
Alas, the Australians don't seem all that eager to have him. Justice Minister Chris Ellison said Stefanowicz "would not be welcome in Australia," according to the Herald Sun newspaper:
"'We do not hold Australia out as a haven for anyone who has broken the law and is trying to evade it,' Senator Ellison said. He said he was not aware of the details of the case but Australia would be prepared to help the U.S. in any investigation into Mr. Stefanowicz. 'We would receive any request for assistance sympathetically,' he said."
Yeah, well if I were Senator Ellison I wouldn't hold my breath. This is one refugee from the law that many in Washington would just as soon see the back of. The same goes for the mysterious John Israel, about whom next to nothing is known – except that, according to the London Telegraph,
"Mr. Israel has left Iraq while Mr. Stefanowicz is 'on leave' pending inquiries that could lead to criminal charges being brought against them."
Mr. Israel has skipped town for parts unknown, and Stefanowicz is trying to get to Australia, where he supposedly is going to marry a woman he describes as his fiancée. Except that she isn't. This news story describes Joanna Buttfield as an "former girlfriend" coming to Stefanowicz's defense. Another Australian account also refers to their relationship in the past tense, and cites this very interesting tidbit from Ms. Buttfield:
"Mr. Stefanowicz had refused to discuss details of his life as a U.S. Army reservist, she said. 'We both made a conscious decision not to talk about it because there was so much he couldn't talk about,' she said. 'It was the source of some frustration. He'd say, 'I can't talk about that'."
For a CIA guy, however, he sure sounds like a bit of a loser, and not exactly low-profile. His Australian friends are coming out of the woodwork, and talking to the newspapers:
"'The events of 9/11 had nothing to do with his motivation to return to the U.S. ,' South Philadelphia native Sam Krupsky, now an executive with the Australian Rail Track Corp., wrote [to the Philadelphia Daily News]. "He was out of work and out of luck, and left because he had no prospects here.'
"…Krupsky, the Australian rail-track worker who was born in Philadelphia and who moved to Adelaide in the mid-1970s to play semi-pro basketball, cast doubt on Stefanowicz's skills. 'Steve tried hard for a couple of months to find a job here, but was always unsuccessful because he kept freaking out all of his potential employers,' Krupsky wrote. He said Stefanowicz had boasted to friends on his arrival in Australia that he'd turned down a job offer from the CIA."
After 9/11, did he take them up on their offer – and proceed to "freak out" his new employers to a degree that not even the catty Krupsky could have imagined?
If Stefanowicz is employed by the CIA, then he certainly didn't try to keep it very secret. He was very visible, even prior to his notoriety, due to the efforts of his mother who founded a chapter of the Blue Star Mothers in their home town, and was featured on the DoD's "Defend America" website, invoking her son as a kind of patriotic model. In the wake of the scandal, a number of accounts have been published of his early history and the course of his career, both here and in Australia. We know he graduated from Souderton Area High School in 1988, and that, in 1998, he joined a Naval Reserve program. We also know that, for whatever reason, after 9/11 he quit his job in Australia as an "information technology recruiter" and went back to the U.S., where he volunteered for active duty. The Washington Post reports that "he served in Muscat, Oman, for most of 2002, and his rank is listed as intelligence specialist 3rd class. Stefanowicz, who received a number of military awards, including a medal for meritorious service, left his last post, at Willow Grove, Pa., last September." Friends of the family say he became a civilian to take a job with CACI. Of the key role Stefanowicz played in the torture chambers of Abu Ghraib, the Taguba report is unequivocal. According to General Taguba, Stefanowicz:
"Allowed and/or instructed MPs, who were not trained in interrogation techniques, to facilitate interrogations by 'setting conditions' which were neither authorized and in accordance with applicable regulations/policy. He clearly knew his instructions equated to physical abuse."
However, the General gets a bit murky when it comes to detailing the specifics against John Israel, who, in addition to not having a security clearance, is found to have
"Denied ever having seen interrogation processes in violation of the IROE, which is contrary to several witness statements."
And that is it.
While we know plenty about Stefanowicz, what's extremely odd is that nothing comparable has come out about the other civilian contractor named by General Taguba as having "direct or indirect" responsibility for the Abu Ghraib house of horrors. We don't know how old "John Israel" is, where he lives, where he was born, or what he looks like – nothing.
We don't even know where he is. All we know is that, according to the Telegraph, he's flown the coop. Gee, I'll bet Army Specialist Jeremy Sivits, who faces court martial, a stiff jail sentence, and worldwide calumny as the "torturer of Abu Ghraib," wishes he could do the same.
If the Israelis are involved in this maelstrom of evil to some extent, then the U.S. is taking the fall for them. Just as Sivits and the others are taking the fall for the intelligence officers who directed the Abu Ghraib horror show – and are so far getting away with reprimands, and relative anonymity.
– Justin Raimondo

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The following URL (link) will take you right to Seymour Hersh's latest article for the New Yorker magazine which is a must read at your earliest convenience:

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040524fa_fact

Amy Goodman did an excellent interview with Seymour Hersh this morning on the 'Democracy Now' radio program that she hosts (as you can listen to the interview via clicking on the link for it after accessing the following URL as Hersh discusses his article - the one which is linked above):

Rumsfeld Knew: Iraq Prison Abuse Part of Pentagon-Approved Black Ops Program:

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/17/1431219

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Looks like the Israeli association to the intelligence/torture is completely being white- washed for Israel (read former Republican Congressman Paul Findley's 'They Dare to Speak Out' book to see why) as the following article (URL) also conveys how closely tied the US is to Israeli 'anti-terror' tactics:

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=
3446

Israeli link possible in US torture techniques
By Ali Abunimah
Special to The Daily Star
Tuesday, May 11, 2004

In exchange for interrogation training, did Washington award security
contracts?

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Israeli lessons for the US in Iraq:

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C182D988-28E3-4D48-ADFC-F15D6509B0EC.htm

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NEOCON PENTAGON OFFICIAL CLASHES WITH GENERAL TAGUBA:

http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/middle-east-and-asia/2004/05/12/officials-clash-on-roles-at-iraq-prison.php

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Is Israel behind the orders for the tortures in Iraq?:

http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/middle-east-and-asia/2004/05/09/is-israel-behind-the-orders-for-the-tortures-in-iraq.php

Jason Vest had earlier written the 'Men from JINSA and CSP' article
( http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020902&s=vest ) for 'The Nation' about the JINSA/PNAC Neocon cabal at the Pentagon as he just came out with the following article for 'The Nation' as well which connects the neocons to the torture in the Iraqi prison (s). You can also listen his excellent interview about such on the 'To the Point' national radio program from earlier today on your computer via the following URL:

http://www.moretothepoint.com/cgi-bin/db/kcrw.pl?show_code=tp&air_date=5/18/04&tmplt_type=Show

Jason Vest's latest article can be found on the web at:

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040531&s=vest2

PENTAGON NEOCON CABAL ORDERED IRAQ PRISON TORTURE:

http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/middle-east-and-asia/2004/05/17/pentagon-neocon-cabal-ordered-iraq-prison-torture.php

War Without End

The global war against terror, news about the illegal invasion of Iraq, the corporate puppet presidents, the war criminal Tony Blair, September 11th 2001, the USS Liberty and New World Order crimes against humanity.

Fisk: Israeli Mossad/Shin Bet Associated with Prison Torture