Some lawmakers in Washington have received information about possible retaliation against one of the soldiers who reported the abuse at Abu Ghraib.Congressional requests for Department of Defense documents on the matter have fallen on deaf ears so far. A congressional panel is now taking the next logical step.
The House Committee on Government Reform has issued a subpoena to the Department of Defense and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld requiring the production of several documents related to the investigations of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib prison by the end of next week.
Republican leaders of the committee said they are frustrated that defense officials have not turned over documents related to the whistle-blower case of Sgt. Samuel Provance, a military intelligence soldier who was at Abu Ghraib and who spoke publicly about allegations of abuse with the news media, including The Washington Post. The committee is investigating allegations that Provance later faced retaliation.
The committee first requested documents relating to Provance and Abu Ghraib abuse March 7, and in a news release Friday said members never received a response. A senior defense official said the department has turned over a significant amount of material to the committee and will continue to cooperate with Congress on the issue.
"The bottom line is it's critical that our oversight inquiries be taken seriously by the executive branch departments and that we get timely access to the information we need to do our job," Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), the committee's vice chairman, said in a written statement. Along with Shays, Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), who chairs the committee, and Rep. Henry A. Waxman (Calif.), the committee's ranking Democrat, set a July deadline for Rumsfeld.
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