Bush must be Impeached

Higher-ups condoned Abu Ghraib Atrocities: Witness:
[World News]: Washington, Jan 11 : US Army officers and CIA operatives at Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison condoned the beatings and humiliation of prisoners there while repeatedly praising enlisted soldiers who indulged in these activities, a former guard testified as the first military trial stemming from the prison scandal got underway.

Private Ivan L Frederick was testifying as a prosecution witness in the Army's criminal case against Spec Charles A Graner Jr, the alleged ringleader of the abusive guards at Abu Ghraib. But his testimony, which prosecution had not expected, tended to support a key element of Graner's defence -- that he was following orders from higher-ranking officers when he indulged in the abuse.

Frederick, a staff sergeant who was demoted to the rank of a private after pleading guilty to abuse at Abu Ghraib, said yesterday he had consulted with six senior officers, ranging from captains to lieutenant colonels, about the guards' actions but was never told to stop the abuse.

He also said that a CIA official, whom he identified as "Agent Romero," told him to "soften up" a suspected insurgent for questioning. The agent told him he did not care what the soldiers did, "just don't kill him,: Frederick testified.

Frederick's testimony contradicts the repeated statements of US President George W Bush and senior Pentagon officials that the Abu Ghraib abuse was strictly the work of rogue enlisted soldiers with no involvement of senior officers. The Army has charged several enlisted soldiers with criminal offences but none of the officers at the prison or further up the chain of command. PTI