Pentagon says policy not cause of detainee abuse

The declassified summary of a Pentagon investigation of detainee abuses released on Thursday said there was no link between the authorized interrogation techniques of detainees and the abuses occurred, a finding rebutted by Democrats.

According to the 21-page summary, the investigation led by Naval Inspector General Vice Admiral Albert T. Church found that "no approved interrogation techniques caused these criminal abuses" after an analysis of 70 substantiated detainee abuse cases.

"The vast majority of detainees held by the United States ... have been treated humanely," and "there is no single, overarching explanation" for the abuses, the report said.

Appearing at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday, Church said his key findings was that "there was no policy, written or otherwise, at any level that directed or condoned torture or abuse. There was no link between the authorized interrogation techniques, and the abuses that, in fact, occurred."

Of the 70 closed cases, which included six deaths, about one-third occurred at the point of capture, he said. "The majority of these cases ... consisted of simple assaults, punching, kicking, and slapping detainees," he said.

While Church said his investigation was "thorough and exhaustive," which was ordered by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in May 2004 and included over 800 interviews, Senator Carl Levin, the ranking Democratic member of the committee, said the report "is not and does not purport to be a comprehensive report."

The report "doesn't fill many of the significant gaps left by earlier investigations regarding the nature and causes of detainee abuse in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo and elsewhere," he said.

One major gap in the investigation was what was the role of "other government agencies," primarily the CIA, in detainee abuse, and a second major gap was the issue of senior leadership responsible for creating an environment that contributed to, condoned or tolerated abusive behavior, he said.

He cited earlier reports that found policies and guidance at least indirectly contributed to abuses. A investigation by Major General Antonio Taguba found "systemic and illegal" abuse of detainees by military police at Abu Ghraib, and another probe found "systemic problems and abuses also contributed to the volatile environment in which abuses occurred," he said.

Human rights organizations have criticized Pentagon's investigations as falling short of assessing the appropriate criminal responsibility for abuse that in some cases led to deaths, calling the investigations whitewashes that specifically decline to place blame on commanders, a Washington Post report said Thursday.