You just know there are some very nervous folks inside the 495 Beltway these days. What a great time to be a criminal defense attorney in Washington, DC. Rates must be skyrocketing (it's a supply and demand thing). A lot of lawyers are being consulted, and I have the feeling we're about to reach the "self preservation instinct" point for some people with dirty hands who are situated in fairly high places. Apparently, it's gonna get really ugly very quickly. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys and gals.
From The Sunday Telegraph, UK (registration required):
New evidence that the physical abuse of detainees in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay was authorised at the top of the Bush administration will emerge in Washington this week, adding further to pressure on the White House.So, the Bush Administration has a MOAB heading its way.
The Telegraph understands that four confidential Red Cross documents implicating senior Pentagon civilians in the Abu Ghraib scandal have been passed to an American television network, which is preparing to make them public shortly.
According to lawyers familiar with the Red Cross reports, they will contradict previous testimony by senior Pentagon officials who have claimed that the abuse in the Abu Ghraib prison was an isolated incident.
"There are some extremely damaging documents around, which link senior figures to the abuses," said Scott Horton, the former chairman of the New York Bar Association, who has been advising Pentagon lawyers unhappy at the administration's approach. "The biggest bombs in this case have yet to be dropped."
You might want to take the time to actually register at The Telegraph's site and read the entire article. I keep lamenting the fact that we don't see this type of report in the U.S. media. Those of us that dig for this kind of reporting have to slog through the sites of respected media elsewhere in the world (The Telegraph fits the definition of "respected" quite well) to get the real juice.
After reading this article, I have to believe that Seymour Hersch is putting the final touches on his coup de grace, which will most certainly be published as soon at this story actually breaks. And, just wondering aloud, after trying to quash prior Abu Ghraib stories, what kind of pressure is the Pentagon / FBI / CIA putting on the unnamed network not to air this story?
