Did top General lie under oath about Abu Ghraib?

The Washington Post ran a strong editorial condemning the US Military's inability to place blame for abuses in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo where it belongs: in the higher ranks. In "The Truth About Abu Ghraib," the paper claims that General Geoffrey Miller's testimony before Congress last year contained lies, given recent conflicting statements made under oath during the court-martial hearing of the two Guantanamo/Abu Ghraib dog handlers.



General Miller was in charge of Guantanamo Bay prison during 2002, and was later dispatched to Abu Ghraib in August 2003 to review the handling and interrogation of prisoners. In his testimony before Congress, he claimed no methods contrary to the Geneva Conventions were presented by his assistance team at Abu Ghraib. This was directly challenged by testimony by former warden of Abu Ghraib Major David DiNenna, who said Gen. Miller recommended the use of dogs in interrogation.

These serious allegations made by one of the nation's top newspapers indicate that General Miller could be guilty of perjury, and they implicate the Secretary of Defense in the authorization of the abuse:

The court evidence strongly suggests that Gen. Miller lied about his actions, and it merits further investigation by prosecutors and Congress.

But the Guantanamo commander was not acting on his own: The interrogation of Mr. Qahtani, investigators found, was carried out under rules approved by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Dec. 2, 2002. After strong protests from military lawyers, the Rumsfeld standards -- which explicitly allowed nudity, the use of dogs and shackling -- were revised in April 2003. Yet the same practices were later adopted at Abu Ghraib, at least in part at the direct instigation of Gen. Miller. "We understood," Maj. DiNenna testified, "that [Gen. Miller] was sent over by the secretary of defense."

The White House and Pentagon have gotten away with their stonewalling largely because of Republican control of Congress. When the Abu Ghraib scandal erupted, GOP leaders such as Sen. John W. Warner (Va.) loudly vowed to get to the bottom of the matter -- but once the bottom started to come into view late last year, Mr. Warner's demands for accountability ceased. Mr. Rumsfeld and other senior officials have never been the subject of an independent investigation. A recommendation by the latest Army probe that Gen. Miller be reprimanded for his role in the Qahtani interrogation was rejected by Gen. Bantz Craddock of Southern Command.