In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Command Errors Aided Iraq Abuse, Army Has Found
Rumsfeld wanted the defense department run more like a major corporation. Unfortunately he got what he wanted: A huge bureaucracy that moves on its own inertia with top management (Rummy included) being completely unconnected to the day to day realities.
An internal Army investigation has found a virtual collapse of the command structure in a prison outside Baghdad where American enlisted personnel are accused of committing acts of abuse and humiliation against Iraqi detainees.
A report on the investigation said midlevel military intelligence officers were allowed to skirt the normal chain of command to issue questionable orders to enlisted personnel from the reserve military police unit handling guard duty there.
...
Appearing on three Sunday talk shows, Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave conflicting answers when asked if the problems at Abu Ghraib were systemic throughout detention centers in Iraq.
At first, General Myers insisted that the instances of mistreatment were not widespread and were the actions of "just a handful" of soldiers who had unfairly tainted all American forces in Iraq. But when pressed, he acknowledged that he had not yet read a classified, 53-page Army report completed in February by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, first reported in the May 10 issue of The New Yorker, that chronicled the worst of the abuses at Abu Ghraib. General Myers left open the possibility the abuses could be broader, saying, "We don't know that yet."
A spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said that the secretary had not been briefed on General Taguba's report either, but had been kept abreast of the investigative process. Emphasis Mine.
Meanwhile Rumsfeld and Bush's move to "privatizing" the military has encountered yet another ugly truth: Private security can't violate military law with impunity.
Bush has lead us to the following situation: a private "contractor" (they used to use the term "mercenary" back in 20th century) was involved in some of the abuses (including a rape of a young Iraqi man), but he can not be arrested by the military because he is a civilian. He also cannot be arrested by the Iraqi authority because Bush has given all American civilian contractors (such as all the Halliburton and Bechtel employees) complete immunity inside Iraq.
Bush once said he wanted to show the world American Justice, I hope this is not what he meant.
I say the World Court should try the "contractor" under the concept of "crimes against humanity."
- rob 1:39 PM - [PermaLink] -
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