Gitmo commander fired for coddling detainees.

Guantanamo’s Forgotten Soldier
William Fisher, Arab News
Monday, 18, July, 2005

Many people will remember Janice Karpinsky, the US Army reserve brigadier general who was reprimanded and demoted for failing to stop the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

But few will remember Brig. Gen. Rick Baccus, who was sacked as commander of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (Gitmo), for coddling detainees.

Under Gen. Baccus’ watch, detainees were granted such privileges as distributing copies of the Qur’an, providing prisoners with “rights cards,” special meals, adjusting meal times for Ramadan and other Muslim holidays, and disciplining prison guards for screaming at inmates. Inmates were told they need only give their name, rank and number.

Many of these are the same practices the Pentagon now proudly hails as examples of its humane treatment of detainees.

Shortly after he was sacked, after only seven months in command, Gen. Baccus told the Guardian newspaper: “I was mislabeled as someone who coddled detainees. In fact, what we were doing was our mission professionally.”

After his dismissal, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld put all of Gitmo, including military police, under the control of military intelligence. Pentagon officials insist that, in contrast to the CIA, military intelligence officers continued to operate under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and the Geneva Conventions.

Gen. Baccus, who wears the Army Ranger and Special Forces tabs and the master parachutist and pathfinder badges, said he faced constant tension from military interrogators trying to extract information from inmates.

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