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Prisoner Abuse: Investigation Aims Far Too Low
based on a report by Joseph L. Galloway. October 4, 2005
Capt. Ian Fishback, a West Point graduate, was a lieutenant in both Afghanistan and Iraq when he became troubled by what he was seeing: American soldiers beating Iraqi detainees until their arms and legs were broken. Death threats. Extreme forced physical exertion. Sleep deprivation. Exposure to the elements.
What did this honorable American officer ask that was so hard? "Give (our soldiers) a clear standard that is in accordance with the bedrock principles of our nation."
Capt. Fishback added: "Some argue that since our actions are not as horrifying as al Qaeda's we should not be concerned. When did al Qaeda become any type of standard by which we measure the morality of the United States?"
Nobody in his chain of command showed the slightest concern about what the captain reported and what he sought. Nobody showed any interest until Human Rights Watch revealed details of his case last week.
There have been 17 separate investigations of Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo and other prisoner-abuse scandals. All have consistently claimed that no one higher up the chain of command, including the civilian leadership in the Pentagon, bears any responsibility for any of this.
Hogwash. BS. Nonsense.
If the lowest private fails, then others have failed in training, leading and directing that private. The chain runs from sergeant to lieutenant to captain to lieutenant colonel to colonel to one, two, three and four stars, on to the longest serving, most arrogant secretary of defense in our history, Donald H. Rumsfeld, and beyond him to President Bush.
You have been reading excerpts from "Prisoner Abuse: Investigation Aims Far Too Low" by Joseph L. Galloway. You can read the entire piece here: tinyurl.com/8e4vl. Thanks to commondreams.org.
based on a report by Joseph L. Galloway. October 4, 2005
Capt. Ian Fishback, a West Point graduate, was a lieutenant in both Afghanistan and Iraq when he became troubled by what he was seeing: American soldiers beating Iraqi detainees until their arms and legs were broken. Death threats. Extreme forced physical exertion. Sleep deprivation. Exposure to the elements.
What did this honorable American officer ask that was so hard? "Give (our soldiers) a clear standard that is in accordance with the bedrock principles of our nation."
Capt. Fishback added: "Some argue that since our actions are not as horrifying as al Qaeda's we should not be concerned. When did al Qaeda become any type of standard by which we measure the morality of the United States?"
Nobody in his chain of command showed the slightest concern about what the captain reported and what he sought. Nobody showed any interest until Human Rights Watch revealed details of his case last week.
There have been 17 separate investigations of Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo and other prisoner-abuse scandals. All have consistently claimed that no one higher up the chain of command, including the civilian leadership in the Pentagon, bears any responsibility for any of this.
Hogwash. BS. Nonsense.
If the lowest private fails, then others have failed in training, leading and directing that private. The chain runs from sergeant to lieutenant to captain to lieutenant colonel to colonel to one, two, three and four stars, on to the longest serving, most arrogant secretary of defense in our history, Donald H. Rumsfeld, and beyond him to President Bush.
You have been reading excerpts from "Prisoner Abuse: Investigation Aims Far Too Low" by Joseph L. Galloway. You can read the entire piece here: tinyurl.com/8e4vl. Thanks to commondreams.org.
