Prisoner abuse general retires

2006-08-01 13:15

Jim Mannion

Washington - Major General Geoffrey Miller, a key figure in prisoner abuse controversies at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and in Iraq, retired on Monday with accolades from army leaders.

Miller, whose retirement had been put on hold in January after he refused to testify in the trial of an Abu Ghraib prison dog handler, was seen off by the army's vice chief of staff at a retirement ceremony in the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes.

General Richard Cody, the army's number two, said Miller "has served wherever and whenever our army needed him".

"He is a role model, innovator and leader," Cody added.

About 200 people attended the ceremony.

Interrogations

Miller served as commander of the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for war on terror suspects and later as head of US military detention operations in Iraq.

He was sent to Iraq in August and September 2003 to help improve the intelligence yield from military interrogations of detainees in Iraq using his experience at Guantanamo as a model.

"The last five years have offered me the opportunity to help this nation win the Global War on Terror," Miller said.

He said the detention operation at Guantanamo, where hundreds of prisoners from the war in Afghanistan were held, was "one of the most difficult missions".

But, he said, "They made our country safe and helped safe American lives."

Encouraged use of dogs

Miller's role in advising the detention operations in Iraq came shortly before the worst abuses at the prison, involving the use of unmuzzled dogs to terrify prisoners, forced nudity and sexual humiliation.

An investigation by Major General Antonio Taguba found that Miller encouraged the use of guards to set conditions for interrogations. Harsh interrogation practices also appeared to have migrated from Guantanamo to Iraq.

Miller denied in sworn testimony before congress that he had encouraged the use of military working dogs in interrogations.

But he cited his right against self-incrimination in refusing to testify in the military trial of an Abu Ghraib dog handler, sergeant Michael Smith, who was charged and later convicted of using his dog to terrorise prisoners.

The army blocked Miller's retirement in January.

The general then testified in the trial in May of another dog handler, sergeant Santos Cardona, telling the court he had urged the use of military working dogs only for keeping order at the prison, not for interrogations.

- AFP