Monday
Jun052006
Pentagon Update
Monday, June 5, 2006 at 3:00AM
By Wendy Wang
Army Field Manual
Army Field Manual on interrogation is currently being completed after being worked on internally for more than a year. Deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs Bryan Whitman would not comment on the specifics of the completion process. He does indicate that the completed manual may be ready sometime this week.
On reports that The Pentagon decided to omit a key tenet of the Geneva Convention that explicitly bans "humiliating and degrading treatment," for detainees, Whitman he cautions everyone that in the overall eagerness to report, he is seeing a lot of inaccuracies and outdated information. However he would not point out the inconsistencies nor would he point out specifics. He would not comment on where the process is in completing the field manual either as it would involve discussing internal discussions.
Haditha, Iraq
After reports of US Marines gunning down unarmed Iraqi civilians, Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld once again faced critics who called for his resignation. Asked to comment on calls Rumsfeld to step down, Whitman pondered the question over a minute and a half before cautiously stating: "It would be unfortunate if politics entered into this discussion. That's all I have to say." He sticks to his previous comments that he would not discuss Haditha in any context.
Asked to comment on a Washington Post article claiming that US service men offered the family of a man killed in Hamdaniyah to support the Marines' version of the man's killing implied further cover-up of civilian killings in Iraq, Whitman says he has no knowledge of this allegation.
Border Security
National Guards are being moved to the southern border starting this week. An estimated 2,500 Guards will be deployed by the end of June, and a total of 6,000 will be fully deployed there as of August 1. It's unclear what states the Guards are being deployed from.
Army Field Manual
Army Field Manual on interrogation is currently being completed after being worked on internally for more than a year. Deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs Bryan Whitman would not comment on the specifics of the completion process. He does indicate that the completed manual may be ready sometime this week.
On reports that The Pentagon decided to omit a key tenet of the Geneva Convention that explicitly bans "humiliating and degrading treatment," for detainees, Whitman he cautions everyone that in the overall eagerness to report, he is seeing a lot of inaccuracies and outdated information. However he would not point out the inconsistencies nor would he point out specifics. He would not comment on where the process is in completing the field manual either as it would involve discussing internal discussions.
Haditha, Iraq
After reports of US Marines gunning down unarmed Iraqi civilians, Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld once again faced critics who called for his resignation. Asked to comment on calls Rumsfeld to step down, Whitman pondered the question over a minute and a half before cautiously stating: "It would be unfortunate if politics entered into this discussion. That's all I have to say." He sticks to his previous comments that he would not discuss Haditha in any context.
Asked to comment on a Washington Post article claiming that US service men offered the family of a man killed in Hamdaniyah to support the Marines' version of the man's killing implied further cover-up of civilian killings in Iraq, Whitman says he has no knowledge of this allegation.
Border Security
National Guards are being moved to the southern border starting this week. An estimated 2,500 Guards will be deployed by the end of June, and a total of 6,000 will be fully deployed there as of August 1. It's unclear what states the Guards are being deployed from.
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