pkpatriotic
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Saturday, May 10, 2008
NEW YORK: The Pentagon has cancelled the assignment of Maj-Gen Jay Hood as defence representative in the US Embassy, Islamabad, a decision that has been taken after strong criticism by the Pakistani media and public resentment over the appointment of this controversial officer.
American military officials said they had reluctantly concluded that General Hood's effectiveness could be seriously hindered, and that his personal safety might even be at risk if he were to take up the post, said a New York Times report.
The formal announcement has not been made as yet. When the Pentagon announced in March that Maj-Gen Jay W Hood would become the senior American officer based in Pakistan, it reflected the military's aim to put a crisis-tested veteran in a critical job at a pivotal time in the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan's tribal areas.
But nearly two months later, the report said, the military has quietly canceled the assignment of General Hood, a 33-year army veteran, who was slammed in the Pakistani news media for one of his previous jobs: commander of the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Asked about the withdrawal of the appointment, an American military spokesman sought on Thursday to put the best face on an awkward situation. "General Hood is being considered for a different, equally important job in the Centcom headquarters," said Capt James Graybeal, chief spokesman for the United States Central Command, which oversees military affairs in Pakistan.
General Hood did not return e-mail messages or a telephone call to his office on Thursday. Two senior Defence Department officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the issue involves personnel decisions, expressed chagrin that General Hood's selection had not been evaluated more carefully.
Criticism of General Hood in the Pakistani news media was unrelenting after the Pentagon announced on March 13 that he would take over the post, the Times report said. During General Hood's command from 2004 to 2006, military authorities force-fed with tubes detainees who were engaging in hunger strikes at the Guant·namo prison, a step they justified as necessary to prevent the prisoners from committing suicide to protest their indefinite confinement.
Also during General Hood's tenure, reports that an American guard may have desecrated the holy Quran stirred wide protests in the Islamic world. The decision to withdraw Hood's assignment has not been announced, but it appears to reflect the widening shadow that the military prison at Guant·namo is casting over American foreign policy. While the United States considers Pakistan a close ally in its counter-terrorism efforts, the accounts by Pakistanis who have returned to Pakistan after being held at Guant·namo Bay have added to anti-American sentiment in the country.
Several leading Pakistani military and foreign affairs commentators denounced General Hood's selection in recent weeks, the report said, calling on their new government to block his appointment.
About 65 detainees at Guant·namo Bay have been repatriated to Pakistan, according to Cmdr Pauline Storum, a military spokeswoman. It is not clear whether Pakistan's new government requested that the appointment be cancelled. But on Thursday, a spokesman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, Mohammed Sadiq, told reporters that the government was "fully cognizant of the public sentiments and sensitivities regarding the reported transfer of General Hood to Islamabad," and he added, "We hope to address this matter of public interest in the best possible manner."
General Hood, who served in the 1991 Persian Gulf war and in Kosovo, had been expected to take over as chief of a division of the United States Embassy in Islamabad known as the Office of the Defence Representative to Pakistan. The office has about two dozen people, and it oversees military relations with Pakistan, including training and equipment.
Until a few years ago, a colonel typically directed the office. But in a sign of Pakistan's strategic importance in the Bush administration's campaign against terrorism after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks, the job was upgraded to that of a two-star general. The current head of the office, Maj Gen James R Helmly, had been scheduled to leave at the end of May. No replacement for General Hood has been named.
Under General Hood's command, and after consultations with senior Pentagon officials, American guards at Guant·namo Bay used forceful methods in dealing during 2006 with detainees who engaged in hunger strikes. They strapped them into "restraint chairs", sometimes for more than two hours at a time, to feed them through tubes and prevent them from deliberately vomiting afterward.
General Hood, who took command of the detention center at Guant·namo Bay in March 2004, shortly before the Abu Ghraib scandal in Iraq broke, sought to put a more human face on it. He was credited by lawyers for the prisoners and human rights groups with having improved the treatment of detainees, and it was soon after he took over that some of the most severe interrogation methods were curtailed.
But he also had to deal with the fallout of a report in Newsweek asserting that a military inquiry was expected to find that the holy Quran had been flushed down a toilet at the detention center. The magazine later retracted the article, but the military inquiry concluded that a soldier had inadvertently splashed urine on the Quraan. The magazine's original assertion led to riots in Pakistan and Afghanistan that left at least 17 people dead.
NEW YORK: The Pentagon has cancelled the assignment of Maj-Gen Jay Hood as defence representative in the US Embassy, Islamabad, a decision that has been taken after strong criticism by the Pakistani media and public resentment over the appointment of this controversial officer.
American military officials said they had reluctantly concluded that General Hood's effectiveness could be seriously hindered, and that his personal safety might even be at risk if he were to take up the post, said a New York Times report.
The formal announcement has not been made as yet. When the Pentagon announced in March that Maj-Gen Jay W Hood would become the senior American officer based in Pakistan, it reflected the military's aim to put a crisis-tested veteran in a critical job at a pivotal time in the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan's tribal areas.
But nearly two months later, the report said, the military has quietly canceled the assignment of General Hood, a 33-year army veteran, who was slammed in the Pakistani news media for one of his previous jobs: commander of the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Asked about the withdrawal of the appointment, an American military spokesman sought on Thursday to put the best face on an awkward situation. "General Hood is being considered for a different, equally important job in the Centcom headquarters," said Capt James Graybeal, chief spokesman for the United States Central Command, which oversees military affairs in Pakistan.
General Hood did not return e-mail messages or a telephone call to his office on Thursday. Two senior Defence Department officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the issue involves personnel decisions, expressed chagrin that General Hood's selection had not been evaluated more carefully.
Criticism of General Hood in the Pakistani news media was unrelenting after the Pentagon announced on March 13 that he would take over the post, the Times report said. During General Hood's command from 2004 to 2006, military authorities force-fed with tubes detainees who were engaging in hunger strikes at the Guant·namo prison, a step they justified as necessary to prevent the prisoners from committing suicide to protest their indefinite confinement.
Also during General Hood's tenure, reports that an American guard may have desecrated the holy Quran stirred wide protests in the Islamic world. The decision to withdraw Hood's assignment has not been announced, but it appears to reflect the widening shadow that the military prison at Guant·namo is casting over American foreign policy. While the United States considers Pakistan a close ally in its counter-terrorism efforts, the accounts by Pakistanis who have returned to Pakistan after being held at Guant·namo Bay have added to anti-American sentiment in the country.
Several leading Pakistani military and foreign affairs commentators denounced General Hood's selection in recent weeks, the report said, calling on their new government to block his appointment.
About 65 detainees at Guant·namo Bay have been repatriated to Pakistan, according to Cmdr Pauline Storum, a military spokeswoman. It is not clear whether Pakistan's new government requested that the appointment be cancelled. But on Thursday, a spokesman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, Mohammed Sadiq, told reporters that the government was "fully cognizant of the public sentiments and sensitivities regarding the reported transfer of General Hood to Islamabad," and he added, "We hope to address this matter of public interest in the best possible manner."
General Hood, who served in the 1991 Persian Gulf war and in Kosovo, had been expected to take over as chief of a division of the United States Embassy in Islamabad known as the Office of the Defence Representative to Pakistan. The office has about two dozen people, and it oversees military relations with Pakistan, including training and equipment.
Until a few years ago, a colonel typically directed the office. But in a sign of Pakistan's strategic importance in the Bush administration's campaign against terrorism after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks, the job was upgraded to that of a two-star general. The current head of the office, Maj Gen James R Helmly, had been scheduled to leave at the end of May. No replacement for General Hood has been named.
Under General Hood's command, and after consultations with senior Pentagon officials, American guards at Guant·namo Bay used forceful methods in dealing during 2006 with detainees who engaged in hunger strikes. They strapped them into "restraint chairs", sometimes for more than two hours at a time, to feed them through tubes and prevent them from deliberately vomiting afterward.
General Hood, who took command of the detention center at Guant·namo Bay in March 2004, shortly before the Abu Ghraib scandal in Iraq broke, sought to put a more human face on it. He was credited by lawyers for the prisoners and human rights groups with having improved the treatment of detainees, and it was soon after he took over that some of the most severe interrogation methods were curtailed.
But he also had to deal with the fallout of a report in Newsweek asserting that a military inquiry was expected to find that the holy Quran had been flushed down a toilet at the detention center. The magazine later retracted the article, but the military inquiry concluded that a soldier had inadvertently splashed urine on the Quraan. The magazine's original assertion led to riots in Pakistan and Afghanistan that left at least 17 people dead.
