Rumsfeld Okayed "Sexual Humiliation" Of Iraqis

"The Pentagon’s operation, known inside the intelligence community by several code words, including Copper Green, encouraged physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners in an effort to generate more intelligence about the growing insurgency in Iraq," wrote veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh.

"A senior C.I.A. official, in confirming the details of this account last week, said that the operation stemmed from Rumsfeld’s long-standing desire to wrest control of America’s clandestine and paramilitary operations from the C.I.A," added the veteran investigative reporter, who exposed the 1968 My Lai massacre by U.S. troops in Vietnam.

Earlier last week, one senior Pentagon official told a Senate hearing investigating the Iraqi abuse scandal that Rumsfeld personally approved the use of "harsh" interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay and that severe interrogation techniques had been approved by military commanders in Iraq.

This included stripping detainees naked, making them hold "stress" positions and depriving them of sleep, and the use of dogs to intimidate prisoners, said Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone.

In a damning report presented to the administration in February, U.S. Major General Antonio Taguba found numerous "sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses" at a U.S.-run prison complex near Baghdad.

During his testimony under oath before Congress about Abu Ghraib Rumsfeld conveyed the message that he was telling the public all he knew about the story, but according to the New Yorker article, he was apparently not.