The most interesting thing that came out of Rumsfeld's testimony before the Senate last week was the promise that there are more disturbing images to come. For an administration that never admits to making a mistake, much less apologizing, the fact that they have Rumsfeld out there doing premature spin control means that it's going to be really, really bad.
The second, less mentioned item, was this statement he made in his opening remarks (italics ours):
Second, we need to review our habits and procedures. One of the things we’ve tried to do since September 11th is to get the Department to adjust its habits and procedures at a time of war, and in the information age. For the past three years, we have looked for areas where adjustments were needed, and regrettably, we have now found another one.
What does adjusting to "the information age" have to do with anything? Torturing prisoners is a pretty old thing; the only thing that is new to the information age is the speed and efficiency with which images and videos can be reproduced and transmitted across the world. Which implies that the biggest problem that they've encountered was a lack of preparation for how hard it is to destroy incriminating images. Or to prevent them from leaking.
Our legal team here at ginandtacos.com is now advising R. Kelly to address his courtroom about the fact that he has to update his behavior and procedures to be in sync with the information age.
*update* From this week's upcoming New Yorker:
NBC News later quoted U.S. military officials as saying that the unreleased photographs showed American soldiers “severely beating an Iraqi prisoner nearly to death, having sex with a female Iraqi prisoner, and ‘acting inappropriately with a dead body.’ The officials said there also was a videotape, apparently shot by U.S. personnel, showing Iraqi guards raping young boys.”
The credibilty of the argument (if there even was any) that this was just frat pranks is suddenly going to take a nosedive.
And just when you thought that it was not going to get any worse…yeah right:
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday (unfortunately not available online unless you subscribe) that the Red Cross toured Iraqi prisons in November of last year and approached the commanded officer about inappropriate treatment of prisoners. The response given was that this was standard proceedure.
**In case you have read one of the several articles entitled things like: "Red Cross Releases Report." You should probably know that, although the report was true, the Red Cross had nothing to do with it. The Red Cross is apparently infuriated about the leak of this information due to the fact that they rely on an agreement of confidentiality with detaining powers to gain access to prisons.
Red CrossDespite the fact the fact that the United States has moved very quickly to court martial to low ranking soldiers, the evidence that the leadership should be held accountable is mounting. Further, in the midst of testimony to this end by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, senator James Inhofe (R. Oklahoma) rebuked all of those people out exaggerating or missplacing their criticism.
Read about it hereAnd finally, I am sure most of our readers are aware of the retaliation for prisoner abuse which was released today.
"So we tell you that the dignity of the Muslim men and women in Abu Ghraib and others is not redeemed except by blood and souls. You will not receive anything from us but coffins after coffins … slaughtered in this way."
erik says:
It continues to amaze me that people are falling back on the justification that these soldiers were "just following orders" or that "they were unfamiliar with the Geneva Conventions."
Through it all, conservative pundits continue to tell us all that we should not fault the whole army for a few bad soldiers. I don't think anyone had any intention of faulting the whole army. The general consensus is not that the average soldier on the ground is responsible, but rather that this is just another example of how haphazardly this whole thing is put together.
The fact that I have honestly heard someone say that it was no worse that the average fraternity initiation is honestly frightening. Basically it means to me that we have 18-25 year old frat boys engaging in the same sort of behavior they would do in college with no adult supervision.
kat says:
welcome to the honor/shame system, america.
Ambrosini says:
I'm sure you've seen or at least heard about what happened to Nick Berg. Looks like they are treating US men over there a little worse than what we were doing.
http://www.homelandsecurityus.com/
kat says:
in the spirit of giving links and quotes, the following is from the recent article on islamonline.com. besides, none of y'all know who the hell i am anyhow.
******
Mohammad Bashar Al-Faidi, professor of Islamic studies in Al-Imam Al-Azam University, said the tit-for-tat reprisals have slipped out of control.
He said the days to come will witness more violence as repercussions for the maltreatment of Iraqi prisoners "which tattered the Iraqi dignity and honor".
But Faidi feared the beheading of the American citizen would overshadow the Iraqi prisoner scandal.
"It will surely drift the attention of public opinion from the torture and abuse of Iraqi prisoners," he said.
mike says:
Kat – we know a bit. Tell us more! What does being a military champlin involve? And does it give you an unique perspective (or more unique anyway) on these events.
Tim I agree, a fundmentialist terrorist group is treating their prisoners worse than we are. But before you imply some sort of "we give what they give" relation, the majority of prisoners in that facility (some estimates 80-90%) were not convicted of a crime. Many were civilians picked up in sweeps.
kat says:
{sheepishly aware that she now has people's attention and really didn't mean to}
during my internship next year i'll be an acting chaplain at a va hospital which means, pretty much, that i'll be going around and visiting random patients in the hospital. where i
kat says:
{sheepishly aware that she now has people's attention and really didn't mean to}
during my internship next year i'll be an acting chaplain at a va hospital which means, pretty much, that i'll be going around and visiting random patients in the hospital. where i
kat says:
stupid vague internet connection. sorry.
Alex says:
B and I were tnkliag about this in the context of the Iranian captives a couple of days ago. We similarly concluded that actually, as a country we have NO moral high ground to stand on and shout unfair' since Guantanamo and the like. We've made our bed, and our service people have to lie in it. Wrong wrong wrong.