[DeltAlum]

Following up on the Media vs. Military aspects. ( ) in the quote are mine.

"In February, (Maj. Gen.) Taguba (a military expert on prisons who had objected to the transfer of authority for the prisons from the MPs to Military Intelligence) submitted a scathing report on widespread and shocking abuses in the prisons that some officials believe stemmed in part from that change of policy. The report said certain military-intelligence officers and civilian contractors were directly or indirectly responsible for the mistreatment.

Extensive details of inmate abuse in U.S.-run military prisons in Iraq were first reported by The Associated Press as early as last October, but the U.S. military command in Baghdad would not then answer questions on the subject.

Similarly, says The New Yorker, the International Committee of the Red Cross and human rights groups had "little success" with repeated complaints to U.S. commanders about the treatment of Iraqi prisoners.

Photos of physical abuse and sexual humiliation of Iraqi detainees by military police were obtained by U.S. officials in February, leading to Taguba's report. The photos were made public only last week, by the magazine and CBS's "60 Minutes II."

(On the CBS Evening News one day last week, Dan Rather, explained the reason for CBS delaying the story on 60 Minutes. The story was ready two weeks before but Gen. Meyers (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, I think) called and asked that the story be delayed because of the climate in Iraq -- you will recall that was during the bloodiest month since the war itself. CBS agreed for that reason. The following week, Meyers called again (very respectfully, according to Rather) and asked again for a delay. CBS again granted the military request for the same reason. Finally, after some pictures were released in the print media, CBS went to the Pentagon who finally agreed to set up interviews and logistics for the network to talk to officers in Iraq involved with the story.)