Neil Abercrombie: “There is no excuse for the leadership in the Department of Defense not informing the President of the United States as…”

“There is no excuse for the leadership in the Department of Defense not informing the President of the United States as to what he might be facing with respect to the outcome that was here. I pointed out last night that this situation did not just develop with CBS on 60 Minutes II within the last 7 days. A report by the Provost Marshal of the United States Army, Major General Donald Ryder, in November of 2003, was in the hands of General Sanchez and in the hands of the Department of Defense and the Secretary in the fall of last year. In the wake of that, I have here and am displaying to my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, Article 15-6, investigation of the 800th Military Police Brigade. This was the report that was requested on January 19, 2004, subsequent to the Provost Marshal's investigation and report, which indicated severe difficulties, tensions between military intelligence-gathering and proper prison conduct by those in charge of the prisons, indicating that there were training problems, operational problems that needed to be addressed.”