Leadership Failures behind Iraqi Prisoner Abuse, says US Gen

Deborah Tate

The U.S. Army General investigating the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. troops blamed a failure of leadership for the scandal.

Army Major General Antonio Taguba, who wrote a report detailing the abuses against detainees at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, told the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday that the mistreatment stemmed from faulty leadership.

"Failure of leadership, sir, from the brigade commander on down, lack of discipline, no training whatsoever 1, and no supervision 2," he said. "Supervisory omission 3  was rampant 4."

However, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat 5 on the committee, said the acts of abuse were not the spontaneous actions of lower enlisted 6 personnel. In questioning General Taguba, Mr. Levin said it appeared that leadership condoned 8 and even suggested and planned such activities.

"That is more than a failure of leadership," he said. "That is an active decision on the part of leadership. It is not just oversight 9, negligence 10 or neglect or sloppingness, but purposeful, willful, determination to use these techniques as part of an interrogation process. Would you include that in your definition of failure of leadership?"

General Taguba responded with, "Yes, sir, they were."

General Taguba added that Brigadier General Janis Karpinski of the 800th Military Police Brigade was to blame for the failed leadership.

General Karpinski is in the Army Reserves and had command of military prisons in Iraq. She has been suspended in connection with the abuse, but not charged.

Still, General Taguba said he never found any orders to U.S. soldiers to abuse detainees. "We did not find any order whatsoever, sir, written or otherwise, that directed them to do what they did," he said.

Undersecretary of Defense 11 for Intelligence, Stephen Cambone, says U.S. troops in Iraq were under orders to abide 12 by the Geneva Conventions, which spell out the terms for humane 13 treatment of prisoners. "From the outset of the war in Iraq, the United States government has made clear that the Geneva Conventions applied 14 to activities in that country," he said.

It was the second public hearing by the Armed Services Committee into the prisoner abuse matter. Images of U.S. troops mistreating detainees have sparked international outrage 15 and calls from Democrats 16 for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign. Those calls have been dismissed by Congressional Republicans and the White House.
注释：
Army General  陆军上将
scandal [5skAndl] n. 丑闻
detainee [7di:tei5ni:] n. 被拘留者
Abu Ghraib prison  阿布格莱布监狱
faulty [5fC:lti] adj. 有过失的，有缺点的
whatsoever [wRtsEJ5evE(r)] pron. 无论什么
supervision [7sju:pE5viVEn] n. 监督
omission [Eu5miFEn] n. 失职
rampant [5rAmpEnt] adj. 蔓延的
spontaneous [spCn5teinjEs] adj. 自发的，自然产生的
enlisted personnel  士兵
condone 7 [kEn5dEun] vt. 宽恕
negligence [5ne^lidVEns] n. 疏忽
neglect [ni5^lekt] n. 忽视，疏忽
sloppingness [slCpiNnes] n. 草率，懒散
interrogation [in7terE5^eiFEn] n. 审问
Army Reserves  陆军预备队
suspend [sEs5pend] vt. 暂令……停职
charge [tFB:dV] v. 控告，指控
undersecretary [5QndE5sekritEri] n. 次官，副部长
Defense for Intelligence  国防情报局
Geneva Conventions  日内瓦公约
spell out  讲清楚，清楚地说明
outrage [5autreidV] n. 愤怒
dismiss [dis5mis] vt. 驳回
Congressional Republicans  共和党为主的国会