Abuse Inquiry Focuses on New Head of Iraq Jails

He was on the other side of the globe at the U.S. detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, when the now-infamous abuses at Abu Ghraib took place last fall and winter.

At the time, he had no authority in Iraq and was in charge of a different group of prisoners -- suspected terrorists and Taliban militants detained by U.S. authorities after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

But Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, who only recently took command of U.S.-run detention facilities in Iraq, now finds himself deeply embroiled in the prison abuse scandal that has rocked the Pentagon and the Bush administration. Critics have suggested that Miller’s recommendations for overhauling detention and interrogation procedures in Iraq after an inspection tour here last summer created a climate for the abuses to occur. Others said he declared it was time to “Gitmo-ize” Abu Ghraib by introducing the kind of aggressive techniques used to grill suspects in Guantanamo.

But Miller, who denies making such a declaration, casts himself as a reformer who sought to impose discipline and order on a fledgling prison system.

The Senate Armed Services Committee today will question Miller; Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, head of U.S. forces in Iraq; and Gen. John Abizaid, head of the U.S. Central Command, in its quest to determine who was responsible for the abuse.

“I’m going to want to find out chain of command, who gave the orders -- the questions are obvious,” committee member Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday.

Committee Chairman John W. Warner (R-Va.) has asked for a “discussion and legal review” by the Pentagon of interrogation techniques lawful under the Geneva Convention. Warner has requested all documentation of such interrogation techniques in Iraq and at the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.

Warner said he would call other witnesses in coming weeks, including L. Paul Bremer III, head of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority; Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith; and Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast, director of intelligence for U.S. operations in Iraq.

On Tuesday, the House Armed Services Committee held a closed session with Army Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, author of a critical report on prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. Republicans said Taguba concluded that problems were confined to Abu Ghraib, but Democrats complained he would not testify beyond the scope of his investigation.

Miller, 54, a Texan who during 30 years in the military earned a reputation as a no-nonsense leader, said he welcomed scrutiny.

“The facts will support me,” Miller said in an interview this week at the sprawling detention complex here, as he took a break from escorting journalists through a facility that he says has been revamped.

Human rights advocates portray Miller as an enabler of what they say is the Bush administration’s determination to disregard international law to get information from suspected terrorists and insurgents.

“Miller seems to represent a rolling regime of lawless interrogation,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch in New York. “When he went to Iraq, he brought with him an entire system of interrogation that blatantly violated international conventions and treaties.”

Miller said that he voluntarily eschewed most “aggressive” interrogation techniques at Guantanamo and recommended that they be banned in Iraq -- a step taken last week by Sanchez.

“Interrogation works best, in my opinion, when you develop a rapport between the interrogator and he or she who is being interrogated,” Miller said this week. “Intelligence is like golden threads. You piece each one of them to be able to weave together an intelligence picture.”

Miller said he had always insisted on meeting the standards of the Geneva Convention -- “except where military necessity dictates” -- even in Guantanamo, where the Bush administration has declared the prisoners “enemy combatants” not subject to full Geneva safeguards.

“We followed all of the protections of the Geneva Convention for food, shelter, extraordinary medical care, access for the International Committee of the Red Cross,” Miller said of U.S. policy at Guantanamo. “We’re dealing with human beings. We have a ... responsibility to treat them with dignity and respect.”

The Bush administration has maintained that detainees in Iraq are entitled to Geneva Convention protections.

Congressional testimony and interviews suggest that the Army was unprepared for a large-scale detention and intelligence-gathering operation in Iraq -- just as the Pentagon was caught by surprise by postwar looting and the growing insurgency.

“We had just transitioned from a major combat operation,” Miller said. “We were starting out with an interim facility.”

Desperate for intelligence from thousands of prisoners pouring into makeshift camps, the brass turned last summer to Miller, a former artillery officer and paratrooper who earned high praise for his work in Guantanamo. He led a 30-member team commissioned to assess detention practices in Iraq.

Miller acknowledged that he was taken aback by the lack of “clarity” of rules in Iraq jails. At more than a dozen facilities, military intelligence interrogators followed an outdated Army manual. Interrogators had the opportunity to choose among dozens of techniques, a few of them questionable under the Geneva Convention -- including sleep deprivation and pain-producing stress positions. And commanders at the facilities had the authority to approve these techniques.

“My recommendation was that they take a more conservative look at the interrogation techniques being used,” Miller said.

During his inspection visit, Miller said he found it “odd” that no one appeared to be in charge at Abu Ghraib, where responsibilities were split among the military police and military intelligence units. His team recommended that “everyone should answer to one person,” Miller said, adding that he made no specific suggestion about whom that should be.

Taguba’s report suggested that Miller’s insistence that military police assist with the interrogation process may have contributed to an atmosphere in which interrogators encouraged guards to “loosen ... up” detainees before questioning.

Miller said his team recommended guards’ “passive” participation in the interrogation process -- such as reporting on prisoners’ habits and activities. He said he never suggested that guards become directly involved in interrogation.

Within weeks of receiving Miller’s report, Sanchez approved a comprehensive interrogation policy for the U.S. military in Iraq. By mid-October, some techniques -- including the use of stress positions and prolonged sleep deprivation -- required Sanchez’s approval.

On Nov. 19, Sanchez issued an order putting Abu Ghraib under the military intelligence unit. Critics have suggested that this may have contributed to an atmosphere in which intelligence gathering took priority over humane treatment of prisoners.

Miller said he has moved quickly to change the U.S. detention facilities in Iraq. The 3,600 detainees at Abu Ghraib are being moved into a new tent city dubbed “Camp Redemption.”

Miller said he doesn’t deny the need for U.S. military authorities to be redeemed in the wake of the scandal.

“We are all embarrassed and ashamed by the actions of a very small number of leaders and a very small number of soldiers,” Miller told reporters recently while standing in the cellblocks where the abuse took place. “We are men and women of honor.”

Miller cited “great improvements” at the prison. New training has been introduced for guards, interrogators and other staff members. Meals and amenities have been improved for prisoners. A new visitors center is allowing regular family contact -- after months in which many relatives could not determine if their loved ones were being held. Some Iraqis have said they had to pay bribes to middlemen to facilitate visits.

Miller has accelerated the review of prisoners’ cases and the release of those not considered threats. A Red Cross report found that as many as 90% of U.S. detainees were wrongly arrested.

“We’re doing the right thing,” Miller said.

Times staff writer Esther Schrader in Washington contributed to this report.