"Egregious acts and grave breaches of international law" were committed at Abu Ghraib, according to Major General Taguba's report, which was concluded in early March.
"Approval and implementation of the recommendations of this AR 15-6 Investigation ... are essential to establish the condidtions with the resources and personnel required to prevent future occurrences of detainee abuse," Taguba wrote.
He named the four people he felt responsible for the abuse. While the Brigadier General Janis Karpinski was suspended in January and sent home to South Carolina, two civilian contractors, named as being the prime suspects in the abuse, remain on the job.
What does this say about who is in charge?
Apart from the failings of the senior officers who should have
done more to prevent the abuse, Taguba names four
individuals as key suspects. “Specifically,” Taguba
wrote, “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.”
Stephanowicz is a “civilian interrogator” employed by CACI
International of Chantilly, Va., and “John Israel” is
said to be a “civilian interpreter.” Both were working
with the 205th MI Brigade at the time of the abuse.
According to the report these private contractors were at
times supervising the interrogations.
“John Israel” is most likely the nom de guerre of an
Arabic-speaking intelligence agent who was placed in Iraq
through Titan. Both Titan and CACI have directors with
strong ties to the Israeli military establishment.
STILL ON THE JOB
Taguba’s report called for Stephanowicz to be terminated and
reprimanded, but on April 25 he was still on the job at Abu
Ghraib hitting golfballs from the roof onto the highway in
his free time, according to the “Iraq Diary” of one of
his co-workers. Until recently, Joe Ryan, one of the
interrogators, had his revealing journal about his work at
Abu Ghraib posted on the website of KSTP, a St. Paul,
Minnesota radio station. According to KSTP’s Ron
Rosenbaum, the journal was removed at Ryan’s request when
the photos of abuse surfaced.
As of May 5, however, two months after Taguba had called for
Stephanowicz to be fired, CACI, Stephanowicz’s employer,
said they had “received no information from the Dept. of
Defense” on the matter.
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