Taguba and Cambone Clash on Prison Torture Responsibility

No one is a better friend to historians than a military or civilian official who doesn’t know he is supposed to lie about some things. The WP reports,

“Taguba said that when control of the prison was turned over to military intelligence officials, they had authority over the military police who were guarding prisoners. But Stephen Cambone, the Pentagon’s undersecretary for intelligence, said that was incorrect, that authority for the handling of detainees had remained with the MPs. ”

What is going on here is that Taguba is giving an honest and faithful account of what happened. He says that the militiary intelligence guys got command control of the MPs. Cambone knows that this is against army regulations and should be denied, not openly admitted. Either way, Taguba is right that this is what happened.

Taguba and Cambone Clash on Prison Torture Responsibility

No one is a better friend to historians than a military or civilian official who doesn’t know he is supposed to lie about some things. The WP reports,

“Taguba said that when control of the prison was turned over to military intelligence officials, they had authority over the military police who were guarding prisoners. But Stephen Cambone, the Pentagon’s undersecretary for intelligence, said that was incorrect, that authority for the handling of detainees had remained with the MPs. “

What is going on here is that Taguba is giving an honest and faithful account of what happened. He says that the militiary intelligence guys got command control of the MPs. Cambone knows that this is against army regulations and should be denied, not openly admitted. Either way, Taguba is right that this is what happened.