Geoffrey Miller (MG)
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Geoffrey D. Miller (born c. 1949) is a United States Army Major General who commanded the US detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and is currently in command of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Miller was born in Mennard, Texas. He attended Ohio State University where he got an undergraduate degree in History, following up with a Master of Science in Education Administration at the University of Southern California.
Miller joined the US Army in 1972 and was trained in field artillery and army command. He spent time in Germany before being moved to Korea in 1980. There, he rose to become assistant chief of staff for operations in Korea. Miller later returned to the United States to become the deputy chief of staff for personnel and installation management for the US Army.
On November 2002, Miller was given command of Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay, which runs the US detention facility known as Camp X-Ray in Cuba. During his tenure, Miller was credited with bringing order and discipline to the facility and improving interrogation procedures. Miller later said that two-thirds of the 600 prisoners had confessed to being involved in terrorism and were giving "actionable intelligence." However, it is believed that Miller's increased leadership led to allegations of beatings, sleep deprivation, solitary confinement, using attack dogs to intimidate prisoners, and other abuses at Guantanamo Bay.
On September 22 2003, Miller ordered the arrest of James Yee, an Army captain who served as a chaplain for the Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo. Miller accused Yee of stealing classified documents and smuggling them out of the prison, but those charges were later dropped. It is believed that no evidence of espionage was found, but records on the case have been sealed.
Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal
In August 2003, Miller was sent to Iraq by the Department of Defense to help get more information out of Iraqi prisoners. In September, Miller submitted a report that recommended combining the detention and interrogation units at Abu Ghraib into the Theater Joint Interrogation and Detention Center. Specifically, Miller suggested that prison guards be used to "soften up" prisoners for interrogations.
In his final report on the prison abuse, General Antonio Taguba blamed Miller's recommendations for the abuse at Abu Ghraib, and noted that using military police for interrogation was a breach of official policy. Miller denies that he was specifically ordering guards to humiliate and torture prisoners to get confessions out of them.
After the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse story broke in March 2004, Brigadier General Janis Karpinski was suspended and Miller was appointed the deputy commanding general for detainee operations for Multinational Forces in Iraq. In this role, Miller reports directly to Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez. Since his appointment, Miller has vowed to reduce the number of prisoners in Abu Ghraib, adhere to military laws as well as the Geneva Convention, investigate allegations of abuse, and reform the Iraqi prison system. He has already banned the use of hoods on prisoners during transport and set up a new system to allow prisoners to have visitors.
Since the investigation of abuses at Abu Ghraib, some have suggested that Miller encouraged abusive tactics. In an interview with BBC Radio, former prison commander Janis Karpinski claimed that Miller told her to treat prisoners "like dogs" in the sense that "if you allow them to believe at any point that they are more than a dog then you've lost control of them" [1] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3806713.stm). Major General Miller denies that he ever made the comparison.
Colonel Thomas Pappas, head of the military intelligence brigade at Abu Ghraib, has claimed that it was Miller's idea to use attack dogs to intimidate prisoners [2] (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55703-2004May25.html). He said the same tactics were being used at Camp X-Ray. Several of the photos taken at Abu Ghraib show dogs surrounding (and in at least one case biting) screaming, naked detainees.
Sources
- General 'Guarantees' Protection Under Geneva Conventions (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2004/n05082004_200405082.html)
- Bio of New Iraq Prison Commander (http://news.findlaw.com/ap_stories/i/1107/5-5-2004/20040505000006_17.html)
- DOD News Briefing: Army's Residential Communities Initiative In Fort Hood, Texas (http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2000/t06302000_t629army.html)
- chief of prisons in Iraq wants most aggressive interrogation methods to be banned (http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=22148New)
- GIs remember key 1950 Korean War battle (http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=8861&archive=true)
- U.S. military to help S. Korea with World Cup security (http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=7535&archive=true)
- Elmendorf F-15 squadron finishes deployment in South Korea (http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=1704&archive=true)
- Army Signs Housing Plan (http://www.army.mil/soldiers/sep2000/news/news4.html)
- New Abu Ghraib Commander Explains Detention and Interrogation Procedures (http://www.cpa-iraq.org/pressreleases/20040504_Miller_new.html)
- U.S. general recommended military police 'soften up' prisoners in Iraq (http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2004/05/07/451028-ap.html)
- Commander at Iraqi prison brought discipline to Guantanamo Bay (http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/8641819.htm)
- Briefing on Detainee Operations at Guantanamo Bay (http://east.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2004/tr20040213-0443.html)
- Iraq abuse: US policy or anomaly? (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3698965.stm) Analysis of Miller's policy
- Top brass 'picked man who ordered torture' (http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9519057%255E401,00.html)
- General Is Said To Have Urged Use of Dogs (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55703-2004May25.html) Washington Post. (May 26, 2004)
- Congressman: Prison advisory plan was rejected (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/08/iraq.abuse.main/index.html)
- Who is Geoffrey Miller (http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=78956) Center For American Progress
- Rumsfeld’s soulmate at the heart of culture of brutality (http://www.sundayherald.com/42067) Sunday Herald. (16 May 2004)
| Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse |
| Top officials |
| President George W. Bush | Vice President Dick Cheney | Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld | Alberto Gonzales |
| Civilian contractors |
| Steven Stephanowicz | Joe Ryan |
| Defense Department officials and military officers |
| Deputy Undersecretary of Intelligence Stephen Cambone | Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez | Major General Barbara Fast Major General Geoffrey Miller | Colonel Janis Karpinski | Colonel Thomas Pappas | Lieutenant General William Boykin |
| Enlisted soldiers |
| Sergeant Joseph Darby | Sergeant Javal Davis | Private First Class Lynndie England Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick | Specialist Charles Graner | Specialist Sabrina Harman | Jeremy Sivits |