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Major General Barbara Fast: In Charge, but Little Said About Her

The Taguba report is curious in its failure to discuss Major General Barbara Fast who was the chief intelligence officer at Abu Ghraib prison.

...except for one brief mention, the 55-page report contains nothing about the role of the top military intelligence officer in Iraq, Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast. As head of intelligence for the U.S. command in Baghdad, Fast was in charge of interrogators at Abu Ghraib, where prisoners were beaten, sodomized and photographed in sexually degrading positions.

Experts contacted by the St. Petersburg Times say strict adherence to military protocol - and a possible reluctance to delve too far into intelligence operations - have kept Fast out of the spotlight....That the investigation into prisoner abuse was conducted by a major general may be one reason why Fast, an officer of equal rank, apparently has undergone little scrutiny, one expert says.

There's more in this long Sunday New York Times article, In Abuse, a Picture of G.I.'s Ill Prepared and Overwhelmed. The article also contains statements from the individual guards.

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