A Few Bad Apples?
"Its just a few bad apples," say the Republicans about the Abu Ghraib torture scandal. It comes as no surprise to me that this just is not the case. The New York Times reports that the torture is more widespread.
An Army summary of deaths and mistreatment involving prisoners in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan shows a widespread pattern of abuse involving more military units than previously known.The cases from Iraq date back to April 15, 2003, a few days after Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled in a Baghdad square, and they extend up to last month, when a prisoner detained by Navy commandos died in a suspected case of homicide blamed on "blunt force trauma to the torso and positional asphyxia."
Or maybe it is just a few bad apples...
Comments
It's funny to watch the neocons and their cheerleading section in the press and blogging world wallow in such abject denial these days.
It's obvious the invasion and occupation of Iraq was a huge mistake and has turned into an ugly mess, yet the neocons refuse to even admit culpability for their many blunders, let alone this horrible outcome. No, instead they hang a few lower enlisted troops, fire the generals who only reluctantly agreed to the insanely stupid and misguided policies the neocons set in the first place--and, of course, they deflect all blame away from George W. Bush, the commander-in-chief.
Once again, when the polls sink for the Prez, Ashcroft and Ridge cry wolf over another "major" terrorist threat in the hopes of frightening the masses to favor Bush.
It would be funny if it were not for the fact we're asking many young Americans to get killed or kill in a place they should not be. I bet we could mine the archives of many Liberal bloggers--especially Liberal military VETERAN bloggers--who accurately predicted this horrible outcome TWO YEARS AGO. It is not like I was blind-sided by the mess we've created in Iraq; I EXPECTED it to go exactly as it has, and in fact wrote several long essays from Aug 2002 to March 2003 about it.
We will look at this tragedy ten or twenty years from now and fully understand Lord Acton's aphorism about absolute power corrupting absolutely. These men (Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld) have abused their power in ways that I am sure make Jefferson weep in his grave. These men--and their minions, especially John Ashcroft, Scooter Libby, Paul Wolfowitz, and Douglas Feith--are the dregs of Jefferson's posterity. And shame on Colin Powell for not resigning in disgust in late 2002 when it was obvious the neocons were leading us down this disgraceful path.
I hope people vote this fall. Never before in the history of our Republic has it been more important to vote than now.