Rape Rooms: A Chronology
What Bush said as the Iraq prison scandal unfolded.
http://slate.msn.com/id/2100014/
By William Saletan Wednesday, May 5, 2004, at 7:54 PM PT

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"The Iraqi people are now free. And they do not have to worry about the
secret police coming after them in the middle of the night, and they don't
have to worry about their husbands and brothers being taken off and shot,
or their wives being taken to rape rooms. Those days are over."?Paul
Bremer, Administrator, [Iraq] Coalition Provisional Authority, Sept. 2,
2003

"Iraq is free of rape rooms and torture chambers."?President Bush,
remarks to 2003 Republican National Committee Presidential Gala, Oct. 8,
2003

"There was an announcement by the Iraqi Governing Council earlier this week
about the tribunal that they have set up to hold accountable members of the
former regime who were responsible for three decades of brutality and
atrocities. ? We know about the mass graves and the rape rooms and the
torture chambers of Saddam Hussein's regime. ? We welcome their decision
to move forward on a tribunal to hold people accountable for those
atrocities."?Bush Press Secretary Scott McClellan, White House press
briefing, Dec. 10, 2003

"One thing is for certain: There won't be any more mass graves and torture
rooms and rape rooms."?Bush, press availability in Monterrey, Mexico,
Jan. 12, 2004

"On 19 January 2004, Lieutenant General (LTG) Ricardo S. Sanchez,
Commander, Combined Joint Task Force Seven (CJTF-7) requested that the
Commander, US Central Command, appoint an Investigating Officer (IO) in the
grade of Major General (MG) or above to investigate the conduct of
operations within the 800th Military Police (MP) Brigade. LTG Sanchez
requested an investigation of detention and internment operations by the
Brigade from 1 November 2003 to present. LTG Sanchez cited recent reports
of detainee abuse."?Report by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba to Lt. Gen.
Ricardo Sanchez, senior U.S. military official in Iraq, describing a formal
inquiry launched on Jan. 19, 2004

"Sources have revealed new details from the Army's criminal investigation
into reports of abuse of Iraqi detainees, including the location of the
suspected crimes and evidence that is being sought. U.S. soldiers
reportedly posed for photographs with partially unclothed Iraqi prisoners,
a Pentagon official told CNN on Tuesday."?Barbara Starr, CNN, Jan. 21,
2004

"Saddam Hussein now sits in a prison cell, and Iraqi men and women are no
longer carried to torture chambers and rape rooms ?"?Bush, remarks on
"Winston Churchill and the War on Terror," Feb. 4, 2004

"Seventeen U.S. soldiers have been suspended of duties pending the outcome
of the investigation into alleged allegations of abuse of Iraqi prisoners,
a U.S. officer said Monday."?Associated Press, Feb. 23, 2004

"[B]etween October and December 2003, at the Abu Ghraib Confinement
Facility (BCCF), numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton
criminal abuses were inflicted on several detainees. This systemic and
illegal abuse of detainees was intentionally perpetrated by several members
of the military police guard force. ? The allegations of abuse were
substantiated by detailed witness statements (ANNEX 26) and the discovery
of extremely graphic photographic evidence. ? I find that the intentional
abuse of detainees by military police personnel included the following
acts:

a. Punching, slapping, and kicking detainees; jumping on their naked feet;

b. Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees;

c. Forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions for
photographing;

d. Forcing detainees to remove their clothing and keeping them naked for
several days at a time;

e. Forcing naked male detainees to wear women's underwear;

f. Forcing groups of male detainees to masturbate themselves while being
photographed and videotaped;

g. Arranging naked male detainees in a pile and then jumping on them;

h. Positioning a naked detainee on a MRE Box, with a sandbag on his head,
and attaching wires to his fingers, toes, and penis to simulate electric
torture; ?

j. Placing a dog chain or strap around a naked detainee's neck and having a
female soldier pose for a picture;

k. A male MP guard having sex with a female detainee;

l. Using military working dogs (without muzzles) to intimidate and frighten
detainees, and in at least one case biting and severely injuring a detainee
?

These findings are amply supported by written confessions provided by
several of the suspects, written statements provided by detainees, and
witness statements. ?

In addition, several detainees also described the following acts of abuse,
which under the circumstances, I find credible based on the clarity of
their statements and supporting evidence provided by other witnesses (ANNEX
26):

a. Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees;

b. Threatening detainees with a charged 9mm pistol;

c. Pouring cold water on naked detainees;

d. Beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair;

e. Threatening male detainees with rape; ?

g. Sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick."

?Executive summary of Taguba report, finalized Feb. 29, 2004, briefed to
superiors on March 3, 2004, and submitted in final form on March 9, 2004

"Every woman in Iraq is better off because the rape rooms and torture
chambers of Saddam Hussein are forever closed."?Bush, remarks on "Efforts
to Globally Promote Women's Human Rights," March 12, 2004

"There's still remnants of that regime that would like to take it back. ?
They could torture people and have rape rooms, and the world would turn
their head from that and let it happen. But they can't do that
anymore."?Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, BBC interview, March 16,
2004

"There are no more rape rooms and torture chambers in Iraq."?National
Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, CBS Early Show, March 19, 2004

"As you know, on 14 January 2004, a criminal investigation was initiated to
examine allegations of detainee abuse at the Baghdad confinement facility
at Abu Ghraib. Shortly thereafter, the commanding general of Combined Joint
Task Force Seven requested a separate administrative investigation into
systemic issues such as command policies and internal procedures related to
detention operations. That administrative investigation is complete;
however, the findings and recommendations have not been approved. As a
result of the criminal investigation, six military personnel have been
charged with criminal offenses to include conspiracy, dereliction of duty,
cruelty and maltreatment, assault, and indecent acts with
another."--Brigadier Gen. Mark Kimmitt, Deputy Director for Coalition
Operations, Coalition Provisional Authority Briefing, March 20, 2004

"Correspondent Brooke Hart: But in a 53-page secret report, Army Major
General Antonio Taguba says an investigation found a disturbing pattern of
sadistic, blatant, wanton criminal abuses. The report was completed in
February, but the Pentagon said Defense Secretary Rumsfeld hadn't read it.
Democratic lawmakers are frustrated. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.: This is an
unacceptable response. That's not the level of concern the American people
would expect of their military commanders for this type of
conduct."?"Pentagon officials to answer tough questions from the Senate
Armed Services Committee regarding Iraqi prisoner abuse," CNBC, April 4,
2004

"SFC Snider grabbed my prisoner and threw him into a pile. ?. I saw SSG
Frederic, SGT Davis and CPL Graner walking around the pile hitting the
prisoners. I remember SSG Frederick hitting one prisoner in the side of its
[sic] ribcage. The prisoner was no danger to SSG Frederick. ? I saw two
naked detainees, one masturbating to another kneeling with its mouth
open."?Testimony of Military Police Specialist Matthew Wisdom, hearing on
charges of prisoner abuse, April 9, 2004; according to The New Yorker,
"After the hearing, the presiding investigative officer ruled that there
was sufficient evidence to convene a court-martial."

"The investigation started after SPC Darby ? got a CD from CPL Graner.
? He came across pictures of naked detainees."?Testimony of Special
Agent Scott Bobeck, Army Criminal Investigation Division, same hearing,
April 9, 2004

"Two weeks ago, 60 Minutes II received an appeal from the Defense
Department, and eventually from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
Gen. Richard Myers, to delay this broadcast?given the danger and tension
on the ground in Iraq."?CBS News statement on its broadcast of
photographs of Iraqi prisoner abuse, April 29, 2004, referring to a DOD
appeal received on or near April 15, 2004

"Our military is ? performing brilliantly. See, the transition from
torture chambers and rape rooms and mass graves and fear of authority is a
tough transition. And they're doing the good work of keeping this country
stabilized as a political process unfolds."?Bush, remarks on "Tax Relief
and the Economy," Iowa, April 15, 2004

"We're facing supporters of the outlaw cleric, remnants of Saddam's regime
that are still bitter that they don't have the position to run the torture
chambers and rape rooms. ? They will fail because they do not speak for
the vast majority of Iraqis who do not want to replace one tyrant with
another. They will fail because the will of our coalition is strong. They
will fail because America leads a coalition full of the finest military men
and women in the world."?Bush, remarks on the USA Patriot Act,
Pennsylvania, April 19, 2004

"We acted, and there are no longer mass graves and torture rooms and rape
rooms in Iraq."?Bush, remarks at Victory 2004 Reception, Florida, April
23, 2004

"The pictures show Americans, men and women, in military uniforms, posing
with naked Iraqi prisoners. There are shots of the prisoners stacked in a
pyramid, one with a slur written on his skin in English. In some, the male
prisoners are positioned to simulate sex with each other. And in most of
the pictures, the Americans are laughing, posing, pointing, or giving the
camera a thumbs-up."?Dan Rather, 60 Minutes II, April 28, 2004

"A year ago, I did give the speech from the carrier, saying that we had
achieved an important objective, that we'd accomplished a mission, which
was the removal of Saddam Hussein. And as a result, there are no longer
torture chambers or rape rooms or mass graves in Iraq."?Bush, remarks in
the Rose Garden, April 30, 2004

"There are those who seek to derail the transition to democracy because
they want to return to the days of mass graves and torture chambers and
rape rooms. But that's not going to happen."?McClellan, White House press
briefing, April 30, 2004

"A fifty-three-page report, obtained by The New Yorker, written by Major
General Antonio M. Taguba ? listed some of the wrongdoing: 'Breaking
chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees; pouring
cold water on naked detainees; beating detainees with a broom handle and a
chair; threatening male detainees with rape; allowing a military police
guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed
against the wall in his cell; sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light
and perhaps a broom stick, and using military working dogs to frighten and
intimidate detainees with threats of attack, and in one instance actually
biting a detainee.' "?Seymour M. Hersh, "Torture at Abu Ghraib," The New
Yorker, posted April 30, 2004

"Because we acted, torture rooms are closed, rape rooms no longer exist,
mass graves are no longer a possibility in Iraq."?Bush, remarks at "Ask
President Bush" event, Michigan, May 3, 2004

"I'm not a lawyer. My impression is that what has been charged thus far is
abuse, which I believe technically is different from torture. ? I don't
know if it is correct to say what you just said, that torture has taken
place, or that there's been a conviction for torture. And therefore I'm not
going to address the torture word."?Rumsfeld, Defense Department
Operational Update Briefing, May 4, 2004

"It's very important for people, your listeners, to understand in our
country that when an issue is brought to our attention on this magnitude,
we act?and we act in a way where leaders are willing to discuss it with
the media. And we act in a way where, you know, our Congress asks pointed
questions to the leadership. ? Iraq was a unique situation because Saddam
Hussein had constantly defied the world and had threatened his neighbors,
had used weapons of mass destruction, had terrorist ties, had torture
chambers ?"?Bush, interview with Al Arabiya Television, May 5, 2004

William Saletan is Slate's chief political correspondent and author of
Bearing Right: How Conservatives Won the Abortion War.