In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Odd Ends
A random sampling of quotes from today's New York Times -- you know, that liberal Communist elitist alternative paper that make real American patriots stick their fingers in their ears, blindfolded:
Rumsfeld Aide and a General Clash on Abuse
But the civilian official, Stephen A. Cambone, the under secretary of defense for intelligence, contradicted the general. ... [Cambone] said that General Taguba misinterpreted the November order, which he said only put the intelligence unit in charge of the prison facility, not of the military police guards. ... The unusual public sparring between a two-star Army general and one of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's most trusted aides cast a spotlight on the confusing conditions at the prison last fall when the worst abuses occurred, as well as the sensitive issue of whether the Pentagon's thirst for better intelligence to combat Iraqi insurgents contributed to the climate there.
"How do you expect the M.P.'s to get it straight if we have a difference between the two of you?" said Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts.
Later in the day, Lt. Gen. Keith B. Alexander, the Army's deputy chief of staff, said the issue of who controlled the military police officers accused of abusing the prisoners "has to be ironed out." The key question, he said, is whether the intelligence unit's commander told the M.P.'s "how to do their job."
The Army picked a swell time to ask the key question! I wonder if they'll ever get around to ironing it out? Meanwhile ...
the Bush administration loses no time in spinning torture:
The administration and its Republican allies appear to have settled on a way to deflect attention from the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib: accuse Democrats and the news media of overreacting, then pile all of the remaining responsibility onto officers in the battlefield, far away from President Bush and his political team. That cynical approach was on display yesterday morning in the second Abu Ghraib hearing in the Senate, a body that finally seemed to be assuming its responsibility for overseeing the executive branch after a year of silently watching the bungled Iraq occupation.
These [torture] practices go well beyond any gray area of American values, international law or the Geneva Conventions. Mr. Cambone tried to argue that Mr. Rumsfeld had made it clear to everyone that the prisoners in Iraq were covered by those conventions. But Mr. Rumsfeld's public statements have been ambiguous at best, and General Taguba said that, in any case, the Abu Ghraib guards had received no training. All the senators, government officials and generals assembled in that hearing room yesterday could not figure out who had been in charge at Abu Ghraib and which rules applied to the Iraqi prisoners. How were untrained reservists who had been plucked from their private lives to guard the prisoners supposed to have managed it?
The Times editorial ends with your typical left-wing treasonous rant: "But the deeply flawed mission in which he [General Sanchez] participates is the responsibility of the Bush administration." You can't honestly expect me to believe that the Commander in Chief should in any way be held accountable for what his army does. I mean really. Any traitor who subscribes to that belief should be hanged from the nearest tree. We all know that the American Army is accountable to no one. And that includes privately contracted mercenaries telling the soldiers what to do. After all, they're getting paid top dollar.
Here's what some of my fellow Americans think:
To the Editor:
Re "Rumsfeld Should Stay," by William Safire (column, May 10):
In what sense can Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's tenure be considered successful? We don't have enough boots on the ground. Is that a measure of success?
We have gone from being welcomed as liberators to being cursed as occupiers. Is that success?
After two wars and three years, we still haven't gotten our hands on Osama bin Laden. Stellar performance? Afghanistan and Iraq are increasingly unstable. This is good?
Even if you agree with the war, even if you are a hawk, how can this administration's execution of this "war on terror" be viewed as anything but a disaster? Mr. Rumsfeld accepted responsibility for prisoner abuse? And? What good does it do anybody for Mr. Rumsfeld to accept responsibility if the acceptance is only words?
TRACY BROOKING
Kennesaw, Ga., May 10, 2004
Tracy, hasn't anyone told you yet? Words mean however much you pay them, same as votes.
To the Editor:
It baffles me how "In Abuse, a Portrayal of Ill-Prepared, Overwhelmed G.I.'s" (front page, May 9) seems to suggest that the prisoner abuse stemmed from a lack of training and leadership. Do we really need to be taught not to commit such atrocities?
As an American, I'm offended at the suggestion and quite honestly find it preposterous that without some particular military training or supervision my fellow citizens lack the moral intuition not to strip prisoners and pile them on each other for a good laugh.
There is undoubtedly a need to find an explanation for these crimes, but to attribute them to overburdened and inexperienced G.I.'s is ludicrous and rich fodder for an ever-increasing hatred of America in the Arab world.
MOHAMMED SHAHEEN
Cambridge, Mass., May 9, 2004
It shouldn't baffle you, Mohammed, because it never happened that way. You should know by now that these green recruits from America's heartland didn't know how to commit these atrocities until they were shown how, by paid professionals hired by the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense. And if you do exactly what you're told -- your patriotic duty -- these same two people will court martial you and drag your name through the mud. Be an Army of One Bad Apple, and whatever you do, don't take pictures of the overturned cart, or we'll nail your ass.
Meanwhile, in my edition of today's paper these two paragraphs appear in the above posted Rumsfeld article (p. A16) but for some reason don't appear in the later (online) edition:
In one case, at Camp Bucca on Sept. 22, a prisoner throwing stones was shot in the chest by a guard in a watchtower. The military's investigation, according to the Red Cross, found that the guards acted correctly because nonlethal rounds were not effective and ruled it "a justifiable shooting."
But the Red Cross, which said its delegate and an interpreter witnessed "most of the events," said that the prisoners never posed a serious threat to the guards, who could have acted "with less brutal measures. The shooting showed a clear disregard for human life and security of the persons deprived of their liberty."
Deprived of their liberty, huh? So the liberators shot the liberated in the name of freedom. His crime? Being an Iraqi in what used to be his country.
I think we should shoot every single one of them, don't you? That way they can all be free.
- Michael 11:10 AM - [PermaLink] -
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