Report on Iraq Abuse Will Widen the Blame

Though the LATimes reports that a "Report on Iraq Abuse Will Widen the Blame", the actual implications of the report are more limited in their scope than many would like to see. The Fay report, after its director Army Maj. Gen. George R. Fay, concludes that no one outside of the Abu Ghraib prison is directly responsible for the abuses. This is contrary to an ad produced by MoveOn.org which seeks to implicate Donald Rumsfeld for allowing the abuses to take place. MoveOn.org claims on their website that:

We now know Rumsfeld personally approved a policy that "encouraged physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners," violating their fundamental human rights under the Geneva convention.

Though Fay was given the authority to recommend action against senior military brass,

Some on Capitol Hill said they were dismayed that the investigation failed to implicate more senior military officers or Bush administration officials.

The Fay report expands the blame for the abuses beyond the seven MPs already charged to include

military intelligence officers and contract interrogators for the CIA and possibly other agencies.
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Fay's report also will recommend disciplinary action against Army Col. Thomas M. Pappas, commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade.
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The Fay report also is expected to recommend discipline for Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, commander of the 800th Military Police Brigade, a reserve unit in charge of U.S.-run prisons in Iraq, for her alleged lax oversight of the compound...