Barbara Fast
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| Barbara Fast | |
|---|---|
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| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Rank | Major General |
Major General Barbara Fast is an officer in the United States Army. In her recent posts her responsibilities have been in the field of military intelligence. She was previously assigned as the commanding general of the United States Army Intelligence Center at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and was the last commander of the 66th Military Intelligence Group in Augsburg, Germany.
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[edit] Controversy and Role in Abu Ghraib
Fast was the most senior military intelligence officer serving in Iraq during the period of time when the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse occurred. Critics believed she should have been held partly accountable for the abuse[1], but she was never charged or officially reprimanded.
[edit] Named in Criminal Complaint in Germany
On 14 November 2006 human rights advocate and attorney Wolfgang Kaleck filed a high profile criminal complaint at the German Federal Attorney General (Generalbundesanwalt) against Donald Rumsfeld and several senior US officials including Barbara Fast for their involvement in alleged human rights violations at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and at the prisoner detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. Kaleck filed the claim on behalf of eleven former prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo.[2] However, legal scholars speculated shortly thereafter that the case has little chance of successfully making it through the German court system.[3]
[edit] Abu Ghraib
In Part II, paragraph 24, the Taguba Report of May 2004 stated:
...Lastly, detainees accused of committing “Crimes Against the Coalition,” who are held throughout the separate facilities in the CJTF-7 AOR, can be released upon a determination that they are of no intelligence value and no longer pose a significant threat to Coalition Forces. The release process for this category of detainee is a screening by the local US Forces Magistrate Cell and a review by a Detainee Release Board consisting of BG Karpinski, COL Marc Warren, SJA, CJTF-7, and MG Barbara Fast, C-2, CJTF-7. MG Fast is the “Detainee Release Authority” for detainees being held for committing crimes against the coalition. According to BG Karpinski, this category of detainee makes up more than 60% of the total detainee population, and is the fastest growing category. However, MG Fast, according to BG Karpinski, routinely denied the board’s recommendations to release detainees in this category who were no longer deemed a threat and clearly met the requirements for release. According to BG Karpinski, the extremely slow and ineffective release process has significantly contributed to the overcrowding of the facilities.
The Fay/Jones Report of August 2004 affirmed this finding on page 72, paragraph 9. It stated in paragraph 10 that over time, the release board was unable to release prisoners "on timely manner, not because of a specific policy, but simply because the system that supported the release board and the release board itself could not keep up with the flow of detainees into Abu Ghraib."[4]
Additionally, paragraph 10 stated that "Combat commanders desired that no security detainee be released for fear that any and all detainees could be threats to coalition forces." On occasion, Division Commanders "overturned the recommendations of Division Staffs to release some detainees at the point of capture." At one point, MG Fast was informed by the senior intelligence officer of the 4th Infantry Division that the "Division Commander did not concur with the release of any detainees for fear that a bad one may be released along with the good ones."[4]
The Fay/Jones report concluded that a common US tactic was to round up all the males of military age in an entire neighborhood. Military intelligence analysts were to quickly interview the captives, and those who were innocent bystanders were to be quickly released. However, on page 71, paragraph 7, the report quotes SGT Garcia of the Abu Ghraib Detainee Assessment Board that it was estimated that 85-90% of the detainees were of no intelligence value based upon interviews and debriefings.[4]
[edit] See also
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Carol Ann Alaimo. "Despite critics, Huachuca's leader focuses on future", Arizona Daily Star, July 31, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-09-04.
- ^ Adam Zagorin. "Exclusive: Charges Sought Against Rumsfeld Over Prison Abuse", Time magazine, Friday, November 10, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-09-04.
- ^ Andrew Purvis. "Why Rumsfeld Can Rest Easy Over German Charges", Time magazine, Thursday, November 16, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-09-04.
- ^ a b c Investigation of Intelligence Activities At Abu Ghraib. United States Department of Defense (August 23, 2004). Retrieved on 2007-09-04.
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