War criminal Ministers Ruddock, Vanstone and Downer have to answer a very serious question.Is the U.S. citizen Steve Stefanowicz going to be allowed to resume his working entry visa to Australia, given the revelations in the Weekend Australian May 8-9?
Stefanowicz is apparently a principal contractor under the shadowy civilian torture/interrogation team being used at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Prior to his work in Iraq he was living in - surprise, surprise - close proximity to Vanstone and Downer in Adelaide! His cover appears to be that of an IT consultant. Does the AFP know about this?
There needs to be a full ministerial explanation as to how this undercover "psy-ops" specialist is allowed to practice his real career under the cover of Australian residential protection.
It seems Minister Ruddock and his colleagues are quick to lock up little children and the victims of torture, but very tardy in acting against those who do the torturing!
This report needs your active support to: catreport@ag.gov.au
NEWS.com.au Iraq 'torturer' calls Australia home (May 8, 2004)
STEVE Stefanowicz, the civilian at the centre of the Abu Ghraib torture scandal enveloping the White House, wrote to an Adelaide friend on Thursday, saying he wanted to leave Iraq.
"It's safe to say I've seen enough for a lifetime here in Iraq and it's definitely time to come home," the 35-year-old said in an email.
Friends contacted yesterday by The Weekend Australian say Mr Stefanowicz, a former US navy reservist, wants to return to his life in Adelaide, where he became engaged to an Australian and worked in IT sales for 18 months until October 2001.
"He's coming back to Australia shortly - he feels like Adelaide is his home," said one acquaintance from the IT industry.
But Mr Stefanowicz may find it difficult to explain his recent work experience. He has emerged as the principal, villain, in a US army investigation that has found evidence of "sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses," [torture], inside Abu Ghraib prison, west of Baghdad, dating back to October last year. The prison has held as many as 6000 Iraqi detainees, [prisoners.]
[Stefanowicz may have been involved in torture but he was definitely not the principal villain, that is just a media throw off, because the White House is the Principal villain in the torture scandal.]
US servicemen - allegedly directed by civilian interrogators contracted by the Pentagon such as Stefanowicz, who works for private US contractor CACI International - are said to have poured phosphoric liquid on detainees, [prisoners], poured cold water on naked detainees, [prisoners], beaten detainees, [prisoners], with a broom handle and a chair, and threatened male detainees, [prisoners], with rape. Revelations about the torture inflicted on prisoners inside Abu Ghraib were revealed in a report written by Major-General Antonio Taguba in February.
The document has been accompanied by graphic photographs emailed out of the prison, which include images of a naked Iraqi being dragged by a dog lead, naked Iraqis piled on the prison floor surrounded by US military police and a naked Iraqi prisoner handcuffed to prison bars. There are no pictures of Stefanowicz but, [allegedly], General Taguba's words clearly illustrate his role inside Abu Ghraib.
[What of General Taguba? He wasn't given orders by the Pentagon?]
[Taguba:] "Stefanowicz, of CACI International, be fired from his army job, reprimanded, and denied his security clearances for lying to the investigating team and allowing or ordering military policemen who were not trained in interrogation techniques to facilitate interrogations by 'setting conditions' which were neither authorised nor in accordance with army regulations," Taguba says in the report.
"He clearly knew his instructions equated to physical abuse." President George W. Bush has publicly apologised for the abuse and ticked off Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for not telling him about General Taguba's report sooner.
[Just plain rubbish and propaganda because it is obvious that Stefanowicz and Taguba are being used as scapegoats for war criminals George W Bush, Rumsfeld, the Pentagon and the White House.]
Though Mr Stefanowicz's current status is unclear, his family in Philadelphia confirmed on Thursday that he was still in Iraq, and a US Army spokesman has confirmed that he was still working at Abu Ghraib prison.
An April 25 entry in an online diary written by Joe Ryan, another CACI employee working inside Abu Ghraib, also refers to Stefanowicz: "Steve Stefanowicz and I took turns trying to hit (gold) balls over the back wall and onto the highway."
Stefanowicz's mother Jean Campbell, who lives in a small town outside Philadelphia, says on a "Blue Star Mothers of America" website that "Steve always wanted to go to the military" and was a member of the US Naval Reserve.
But friends in Adelaide say it was the shock of the, [US CIA reichstag, call to arms, false flag operation], September 11 attacks in New York that spurred him to volunteer for active duty in the Middle East.
"He'd been in touch with some of his reserve friends in the US, and they'd said to come back (because) there are a lot of things moving on this," the friend said. "He's a heck of a nice guy but when he saw (September 11) happen he felt he had to go forward and join on a more permanent basis." A week after the September 11 attacks, Mr Stefanowicz's reaction was reported in an Adelaide newspaper.
"It was one of the most incredible and most devastating things I have ever seen," he said. "I have been in constant contact with my family and friends in the US and the mood was very solemn and quiet. But this is progressing into anger."
Comment: Patrick T. Byrt
ADELAIDE silently breeds anti-human rights and anti-Aboriginal attitudes, and make Mike Rann's words about releasing child asylum seekers, a blatant supporter of "big lie" politics, a la Vanstone and Downer. Monday May 10, 11:28 AM.
Mr Hicks believes his son is a torture victim The father of detained Australian terrorist suspect, [scapegoat for the Coalition of the Killing's resource war's in the Middle East], David Hicks believes his son was a victim of torture techniques by the United States and the Australian government should share the blame.
The Washington Post newspaper reported the US Defence Department last year approved interrogation techniques for use at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba that included forcing inmates, [prisoners], to strip naked and subjecting them to loud music, bright lights and sleep deprivation.
Mr David Hicks, from Adelaide, and another Australian, Mr Mamdouh Habib of Sydney, have been detained without charge at Guantanamo Bay for more than two years.
David Hicks's father Terry said he was worried his son would be subjected to torture techniques from the moment he was arrested. "He wouldn't be let off these techniques because he's an Australian, the Northern Alliance (in Afghanistan) had him for quite a while before he was handed over to the Americans," he told ABC Radio. "I thought it might have been a bit easier for him once the Americans had him but after a while I started to have my doubts when it was filtering through about the stress and duress techniques and the lights left on.
"I should say he would have copped a few hidings as well, I mean, this would be part and parcel of it." Mr Hicks said by its silence, the Australian government was condoning the interrogation techniques.
"The Australian government have never said anything about the techniques that are being used for gaining intelligence information," he said. "Australia is part of the coalition so I should say they'd know something..
"I still believe the Australian government should be taken to task over this. "As part of the coalition, I think our government should be wearing some of this as well."
e-mail: Patrick_Byrt@fcl.fl.asn.au ; rmclc@ozemail.com.au
Related:
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Terry Hicks Odyssey for Justice for his Imprisoned Son
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Evidence that Howard was complicit in CIA, false flag, call to arms, Bali bombings War criminal John Howard was complicit in the call to arms - false flag operation - Bali bombings - instigated by the CIA - and the Coalition of the Killing - to bolster support - and quell dissent for their illegal and degrading resource wars in the Middle East.
State terror units caused the terror!
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Australia backs CIA Reichstag, Downer's propaganda
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