I Cogitate
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The rapists, the torturers and their proxies
We've recently done some blog entries on the culpability of the military generals who knew better but chose to turn aside their gazes and stay silent. Because of this, some individuals were sent to slaughter as sacrifical lambs and then spit-roasted. In other instances, the culpable were rightfully charged just not all of the guilty -- the lines in the sands of responsibility were perceptibly drawn very low in the ranks.
Joseph Galloway wants to re-visit Abu Ghraib because he, and countless others, know that all the rats were caught. And unless or until this situation is rectified, too many of those in the military's higher ranks will continue to play duck and cover for the sake of self preservation.
Please do note that besides destroying so much of the military hardware through overusage in the continuous quagmire in Iraq, with decimating many of the lives of the soldiers and that of their families with unlimited re-ups, the Bush Administration has also desecrated the military's core creeds of honor, integrity and service with its unspoken but 800-pound gorilla descent into the bowels of torture, treachery and payback for those who dare to stand up for what is our military tradition.
Commentary: Re-open investigation of Abu GhraibGo here for the remainder.
Joseph L. Galloway
McClatchy Newspapers
June 20, 2007
We were reminded again this week that in this administration, no good deed goes unpunished, and that no scandal is so great that it can't be hidden until it's forgotten.
The sad spectacle that transpired inside the crumbling walls of Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq came roaring back to life with Seymour Hersh's on-target article in The New Yorker magazine telling the story of an honest general who investigated and reported on events that shocked the world.
Maj. Gen. Anthony Taguba, U.S. Army retired, was an accidental choice to conduct one of 17 Pentagon investigations of the prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib. He was grabbed because he wore two stars, and they needed someone of that rank to probe a case that involved a one-star general.
The trouble was that Tony Taguba was honest and thorough and reported in detail, early and often, to his superiors on the evidence he was uncovering - film and photos of abuses far worse than those the public saw. There was sexual abuse of female prisoners by their American military guards and forced sex acts between a father and his young son.
He wasn't authorized to investigate any higher up the chain of command than the hapless Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, and so he didn't.
But when his report was completed, Taguba had a hard time getting anyone in the Pentagon - where the powers that be were determined to push responsibility down to a staff sergeant and even lower ranking guards - to read it.
Both President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld went on record declaring that the first they knew of the Abu Ghraib scandal was when they saw the less-offensive photographs in the media.
If you believe that, I've got some oceanfront property in Arizona that I'd like to sell you.
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