It's now my pleasure to introduce our distinguished speaker for this evening, Major General Tony Taguba. Recently retired from the United States army General Taguba served as the Principal US Military Investigator into the events at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2004. I am honored to be able to introduce General Taguba because I know him very well. Some 15 years ago I was looking for a person to serve as my executive assistant in a very sensitive position in the Republic of Korea. I needed someone who had impeccable operational credentials, who is known to be completely candid when asked to state his opinion, and whose integrity was of the highest order. I found the right man in Tony Taguba. He was then a Lieutenant Colonel who had just given up command after two very successful years as the Commanding Officer of an Armor Battalion in the 2nd Infantry Division. Tony and I served together for two years and we became very good friends. I followed Tony's career after that to watch him go to top level school, to command a brigade an armored brigade and then his selection for General Officer. He comes from an army family. His father served as a Filipino scout in World War II where he was captured by the Japanese on the Bataan peninsula and put on the Bataan Death March which he later escaped. General Taguba is married to a wonderful woman, Debbie Taguba and they have two marvelous children, both of whom are college graduates embarked on promising careers. His son Sean was recently commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army in Armor following in his father's foot steps. Please join me in welcoming Major General Tony Taguba. Let me get situated here for a second can everybody see me. All right I used to be 6.2' and 220 pounds but this past three years have been rather rough on me, so well kind of shave you and by people that are even though they were shaving me many time. Thank you very much General Myatt for that generous introduction. I want to add that I have great admiration for General Myatt, my former boss and a great friend. He is also a very wonderful mentor who made me read books and then we would give read about it and that's the telling sign of a great leader and trying to teach his subordinates about this thing called the military profession. Of course he once tried to make a marine out of me. And on one occasion, we have been working really hard; he told me that I needed some time off. Instead he sent me off to Okinawa to spend a week training with a marine outfit. That was his blend of humor, you might say. I did have a terrific time then but I preferred to stay in the army. But in any case, it's nice to have someone pronounce my last name correctly. While I was testifying for Congress in May of 2004, my sister in law counted the 17 different ways that my last name was mispronounced by some members of Congress and I watched one Congressman cover his mouth because he could not somehow pronounce my the six the six letters that made up my last name. I tried to maintain my composure because I would have really laughed my head off. But good evening everyone good to see you. I want to thank Dr. Gloria Duffy, madam where are you? You might be here out somewhere, to Mr. George Dobbins, to Mr. Gordon Feller for inviting me to the Commonwealth Club and speak on a topic that has generated a great amount of interest. It is truly an honor for me to be with you this evening. George Dobbins told me that this is another sold out event so I hope I am contributing to his financial stability of some sort. But next time when you make more money George you know, you may want to pass out the pop corn and some other drinks, may be a glass of wine for all of our guests. I brought along a few reinforcements with me, my cousins who are long time residents of the San Francisco area, Ms. Conchita Sibbaluca, who is sitting here in the front and her daughter Virginia and her husband Larry Scanlon and their daughter Michelle. Incidentally Conchita's husband, an army sergeant first class retired Victor Sibbaluca was captured in Bataan also on 9th April 1942 along with my father, but he didn't have the luxury of escaping and he spent over a year as a prisoner of war. He passed away in 1998. I also brought along a friend and I hope you are out there Mr. Eric Nijizawa would you raise your hand? I guess he hasn't made it out yet, where are you, hey Eric, esquire from Los Angeles just in case on a legal council during my presentation, especially after last week's article on The New Yorker magazine and speaking of the Hersh article I thought of calling Mr. Dobbins and canceling out the San Francisco I figured I just send him a copy of the magazine and passed it out to you. But then I would not have an excuse to get away from the Washington DC area for a couple of days, just to spend some time with my dear relatives here. Of course for those of you who have been inside the beltway life, inside that pit you might say, can be depressing and frustrating given the political debates on such such trivial topics like Iraq, immigration, stem cell research, the crisis in the justice department, the continuing saga there and the pronouncements from the candidates who aspire to be the next President of this country. Of course the fresh air and the wine here in San Francisco, in California is much more refreshing. And I know my dear wife Debbie is probably saying all kinds of not so good words about me being out here. But to be serious though I want a preface that my remarks and my perceptions and my thoughts that I want to share with you are my own personal views and not endorsed by anyone or by any organization. So before I cover how deeply Abu Ghraib has affected our nation, please permit me to set the stage just a bit for my presentation. The unconscionable acts committed by several of our soldiers were indeed preventable, given the discipline and training of our military, especially during in time of war. If only the soldiers were properly led and supervised. The ambiguous chain of command and questionable set of policies that we uncovered were of course were the contributing factors along with tremendous demands placed upon the limited number of military police and military intelligence forces to gather intelligence from the growing number of detainees. This of course these factors would eventually result in the environment revealed, Abu Ghraib. It took a junior enlisted soldier, Specialist Joseph Darby who possessed the moral courage to report the criminal acts at Abu Ghraib. He toiled with his moral conscious for two days before he decided to turn in the evidence that now that we know. Yet he too was ostracized and placed on witness protection that he is today I believe you saw some of you have seen on 60 minutes yesterday, last night. Of course Darby was just doing his duty. I am sure that most of you have watched with great interest the Congressional hearings in May and September of 2004, the CD containing the images of abuse, torture and psycho acts were shown to the members of Congress. A few members remarked that Abu Ghraib was just a consequence of war, or was it just that? You have to ask yourselves that question. I don't think these distinguished members of Congress fully understood what their dismissive comments really meant. I don't even think that they would remember the gruesome beheading of Nick Berg, video by Al-Zarqawi's group that followed the revelations of Abu Ghraib or the burning and decapitation of four American civilian contract security personnel or how the images of inhumane treatment of detainees by US Troops shown at Arab news networks fueled the regions animosity against us. And that their views today of America have increasingly been negative since then. We say that the wonders of information technology called the internet demonstrated how effective those networks in the region have utilized it to incite Arab sentiments against our country today. But the images of Abu Ghraib placed our troops in greater risk than we can ever have imagined. And that was our first and foremost concern when we conducted the investigation at least my team did. And that we were worried about how it was going to be received once it was exposed. We did not plan for the report to be leaked. Of course, I did not leak it and I still don't know who did. The results of the unintended consequences of what we call a war, we have gone from a war that toppled Saddam Hussein to an insurgency and now a civil war. Our troops have yet to come home for a ticker-tape parade today. Now the program said, I was going to cover some bits and pieces about the national the elements of our national power of diplomacy, information, military and economics; which we in the military are taught incessantly over the course of our years as a senior leader. These four elements of our national power have greatly affected our country after the aftermath of Abu Ghraib. Now the effects in itself are difficult to measure. The euphoria our military victory ended in May of 2004. The public support has declined or it continues to decline and yet we don't have a coherent exit strategy as of today. The US Foreign Policy in the region is dubious at best, the diplomatic efforts of our government have shown signs of desperation, the policy of advancing democracy in the region had resulted in a divided Palestinian Government. Currently, the situation in Palestine has shifted US support to Abbas and the Fatah group against Hamas, today. When I was when I had conducted completed my investigation, I was still assigned in the region with the headquarters in Kuwait. And one of my duties was to travel to different countries because we had troops in those countries. And every occasion before I could conduct any type of military visits or that sort of nature of my duties, I had to report to the Ambassador the U.S Ambassador, and needless to say, there were such a big clamor about the results of Abu Ghraib that he wanted to know how I could helped him, at least ameliorate their concerns and - needless to say, I must tell you that that was very tough. It was yet to be replicated and that I am sorry yet to be corrected today. Saudi Arabia has grown wary of its support of the U.S policy in the region. In fact when I landed at one of the military airports there, because we had 200 troops guarding an organization that U.S. the organization the American organization, they wanted to know the nature of my business. They were fearful that I was there to investigate their detention operations or their prisons. And it took time for them to clear my visa. Of course now the Iraq Study Group's recommendations are now being vested off, finally, especially the ISG's recommendations to open diplomatic dialogues with Iran and Syria. Now history all of you are students of history has reminded us that France, Great Britain, and even Germany and Russia have attempted to advance their own policies in their region but to no avail. Now we should try to learn for their own experiences and try not to repeat them. The State Department's efforts in Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs are getting some traction in promoting the positive vision of democracy, to enable U.S. Policy Foreign Policy. They had been successful though in on the education portion of their programs especially when we have Student Exchange Programs. However organizations such as the Human Rights Watch and the growing disenchantment of the Americans against the war seem to counter their efforts. On the economic side of the house, that portion of our national power appear to be in flux. And inside the Military Defense Spending is only about four percent four percent of the gross domestic product. We are now going to be reaching almost $400 billion in funding the war and army and marines are requesting approval from the President and Congress to add thousands more to grow its strengths for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. There will be more funds requested to build to rebuild and modernize the military services if and when the war ends. With the current uproar regarding the military's healthcare program, the Veterans Benefits, with a growing number of wounded that are coming back from the war. Our country must provide the resources to support our troops. Now these will cost billions of dollars more and I believe I sincerely believe that our troops and their families deserve it. As the military, I cannot underscore the monumental demands placed on them and their loved ones. The ground troops are going through their third or fourth tours in combat today. The army of course go there for twelve months; it used to be; now it's up to 15 months. Our marines are seven months, however would be going with predictive rotations, to encompass roughly about four months or longer 14 months or longer. Over 30 great Americans have been killed in action just this past two weeks. The loss of limbs, traumatic vein injuries and posttraumatic stress syndromes reside in those who are wounded, numbering over 30,000 today. The families of our troops are experiencing the highest stress of having their loved ones continually deployed in harms way and they are heroes in my book and I call them the 51 percent of the vote. And sometimes the 51 percent of the vote puts in that ticker and it says, we have to do something different. America's military represent less than 1 percent, roughly 2.3 million of America's population. But the President declared that our nation was at war against terrorism and you get the wonder where is the rest of them. I may now shape on the lessons learnt of Abu Ghraib in couple of three points. America prides itself in having the most powerful military force today, best led, best trained, best equipped but not perfect. Most of the abuses of Abu Ghraib were reported, the army wasted no time the army wasted no time. And were doing things in parallel while I was conducting investigation then and taking the immediate and deliberate corrective actions, new procedures on detainee operations that include the medical and psychological side, to include interrogation procedures were quickly implemented and closely supervise. Field training and detention handling were revised or improved that home station training and soldiers were certified in these training techniques prior to their deployment. Just recently a new human intelligence collection operations field manual was published to ensure military interrogators up here to legally authorize tactics and techniques governed by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The Law of Land Warfare and Geneva Convention were strictly emphasized. There were several high level military investigations that ensued to determine exactly what the levels of command responsibility rested. Thus far only a few soldiers that include a Brigadier General and a Colonel had been punished are in prison. However the army was not about to hide the fact that something terrible something despicable had happened at the major prison site in Iraq. It was their core duty to correct it. And we evolved on those corrections to ensure that we are improving the training that we are providing our troops today. The second point is that Abu Ghraib further exacerbated the heated debates in the administrations policy of cruel treatment of unlawful enemy combatants which originally began in 2002, regarding detention operations at Guantanamo. Mr. Alberto Mora, the former General Council of the Navy led the charge along with the Military Services Judge Advocate General at the height of Abu Ghraib, in disputing the opinions of the Justice Department in adopting a policy of cruel treatment which is in contravention of established laws and especially the Geneva Convention. The government made a policy made policy decisions that detainees as unlawful enemy combatants could be subjected to interrogation techniques constituting inhumane treatment. The premise of Mr. Mora's legal abuse and supported by the Military's Judge Advocates General on this policy was the clear violation of the Geneva Convention which could place our military troops in jeopardy under the uniform code of military justice while protecting other government agencies, mainly the CIA from prosecution. In the end the Detainee Act of 2005 and the Military Commission Act of 2006 resulted from theses debates. Now recently, the military court proceedings against the two detainees have demonstrated the inadequacies of the Military Commission Act and the presiding Military Justice challenge the government's case against these two detainees. The key point of contention here was whether the government had proven the two detainees in question as unlawful enemy combatants. The government is appealing that case. This recent turn of events demonstrated what appears to be flaws in the Military Tribunal System, to prosecute detainees under the Military Commission Act. In its haste to enact new laws against enemy combatants, the Justice Department through Congress failed to notice this key discrepancy. I am sure that there will be more legal contentions to follow. Although the President has publicly stated that we do not torture prisoners, there are still remaining questions about policy of cruel treatment that continued to linger. There seem to be a tacit acceptance in our country, most notably in the executive branch of our government, that cruel treatment of enemy prisoners is allowable. I comment that we cannot abdicate our responsibility to comply with the Geneva Convention only because those who are doing the fighting to preserve our freedom, Americas men and women in uniform, are expected to conform with the rule of law. There is little understanding from the highest level of civilian authorities of the disastrous consequences if we continue on this path. You must think of the four soldiers today that are being held this prisoners of war, or as missing in action. Think of the over 3500 men and women who have given their lives upholding the rule of law and to the thousands of casualties who are the faces of the loyal and dedicated service to this nation. Lastly, after three years of numerous Congressional hearings, about over a dozen high level investigations, countless books and articles written, two documentaries produced, several laws that had been passed and several soldiers punished or imprisoned, there is still the unanswered question of whether high level military and civilian authorities would be held accountable. In the Navy when the Captain of a ship that runs aground or collides with another ship, well a subordinate is in charge in the bridge, he is held accountable and can be relived of command or the Court Marshaled. Now this scenario, while true, may be an exaggeration when applied through our high level government officials. But Abu Ghraib was not an exaggeration. Nor was it just a bunch of rogue soldiers who acted independently in committing tedious criminal acts in time of war. I suspected that they were influenced or were instructed by senior officials, who are acting from higher authority, on written or verbal guidance, most likely classified. In my report, my team and I could not find evidence of any such policy. And subsequent investigations ruled out the culpability of senior officials in the Pentagon and also the White House. If you believe that no one else at those levels were responsible then you must discount that the CIA is not operating secret interrogations sites at overseas locations. What is about integrity and honesty that even senior leaders in the highest level of our government fear most when confronted with the devastating kind of circumstance like Abu Ghraib. But those, like Darby and most recently the interrogators, who came forward to talk about torture and abuse it is almost a contradiction to think that integrity and truth can become a crime. Darby and few others found there are more accomplice, I wonder if those in positions of power, past and present will find theirs and account for their actions or inactions. I believe the damage done to America by the revelations of Abu Ghraib is indeed repairable but not in the near distant future. In the mean time this does not prevent us us as citizens from making amends to the rest of the world. That is what morally and ethically decent people would expect from a country who tries to advance democracy in a troubled world amid the threat of global terrorism and their brutal followers. You cannot allow something like Abu Ghraib to be just a topic of polite conversation or file it away so it can be forgotten. A lot of people a lot of people paid for their lives as a consequence of this horrible event. As a consolation, the prison of Abu Ghraib was turned over to the Iraqi control to Iraqi control in September of 2006. We still maintain detention operations at Camp Cropper and Camp Bucca in Iraq. And not to mention the one in the place called Guantanamo. Our troops in combat, the faces in the war against a brutal enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan, whatever they do, whether conducting close combat operations or nation building or humanitarian assistance, all have strategic significance. Their conduct can be either can either be praised or condemned by the world as they have experienced and what we have seen. Today the level of training our troops are receiving extend from the tactical to the strategic levels. Sergeants, Lieutenants up to Generals are interacting with the local populous and civic leaders in provinces and towns as a medium to gain the people's trust and confidence in fighting the insurgency. They are not trained to be diplomats, nor schooled in politics but they are but they are certainly are the only ones available to be at the point of despair. It's also refreshing to know that Abu Ghraib has become a subject of intellectual discussions and education as a case as case studies at several of our military and civilians institutions of higher learning today and at leadership seminars. If nothing else America's future leaders can learn from the lessons learnt of this horrible event. I want to close by sharing with you a personal value of mine. I reminded myself that should I still be in a position of influence even while facing adversity, I would do my utmost to preserve the faith of our citizens and our military institutions, especially those in harms way. I will have to seek some form of redemption in restoring the trust and confidence of our citizens. I say that because I owe a great deal a lot of great deal to the wonderful soldiers and families whom I will never forget and who worked excuse me lost my sight here and who worked hard to place me in this position of trust. I rehearsed this by the way, its not coming out very well. I did I came without knowing that I shared some responsibility on Abu Ghraib only because the soldiers involved directly or indirectly belong to the magnificent army I served under. It is about living up the war core values. So I know you are getting anxious in asking questions to me, most likely about the article in The New Yorker magazine. I didn't bring any extra copies with me by the way. Mr. Hersh was rather chintzy about it. I hope he doesn't hear this. So I appreciate your very much for the invitation to join me this evening and excuse me for my if I could ask you for your indulgence for my pause a minute, God bless our troops in harms way. Please pray for them and their loved ones that they have left behind. God bless America, thank you.
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