Clarion Content

Just in case one had any doubts about whether or not the United States Army and the Bush II adminstration were going to make sure the people responsible for the reprehensible violations of the Geneva Convention that occured at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were going to be appropropriately punished, they aren’t.

Don’t doubt for a minute that these folks, Bush II, et al., are going to do the wrong thing. This is the adminstration that pioneered the use of the signing statement to suborn the will of Congress. This is the adminstration that came into office under the dark cloud of one of the most partisian Supreme Court decisions ever made. This the adminstration that tried to appoint the President’s personal legal counsel to the Supreme Court. This is the adminstration that still has in place the Attorney General who wrote the memo condoning the use of torture. The Attorney General who tried to coerce his predecessor (an evil fascist himself, who must have felt a pang of conscience on his deathbed) to sign off on said torture memo against his will while sedated and dying.

A man with personal experience of war, unlike the current Air National Guardsmen-in-chief, Senator John McCain said torture was wrong in any and all cases, plain and simple. McCain said that the Army already had proper guidelines in place, all they had to do was follow the U.S. Army Field Manual and the Geneva Convention. The Senate voted 90-9 to support that position. Bush II simply added a signing statement indicating he and his adminstration would only follow the letter of the law only when they found it appropriate and convenient, otherwise they would continue to do as they pleased. Then they attempted to add a top secret classified ten page section to the United States Army Field Manual, to circumvent the Senate’s position and cover their asses.

The Bush adminstration’s former Secretary of Defense refused to apply the Geneva Convention to prisoners captured in America's wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. The President and his administration bang on and on about how "This is nation is at war." Then when America captures somebody in this open-ended, endless war the President wanted, they are classified an unlawful combatant, not a prisoner of war. The truth?

United States Army interrogators have admitted under oath to practices including beating of detainees, including broken bones (common) and severe injuries that (occasionally) resulted in death. United States Army interrogators have admitted to subjecting prisoners to near drowning, the brutal practice softened with phony verbiage, waterboarding. United States Army interrogators have admitted soaking inmates with icy water from huge hoses and leaving them outside in freezing cold weather for hours on end with no clothes. They have admitted to using sleep deprivation for periods of greater than forty hours with blaring air horns placed immediately next to prisoners’ heads to keep them awake. They have admitted to keeping detainees in completely black rooms, with no light or windows with extremely loud music blaring for days on end. It is self evident that such practices are torture. They are in violation of the Geneva Convention. Some honorable West Point graduates, despite the repeated assurances of the Army JAG Corps and their own superiors, found these practices so repugnant they reported them. The Bush Adminstration and the military chain of command attempted to supress and ignore those reports. The only reason we know about these tragedies today is some very brave and honorable military personnel tired of being disregarded and attacked by official channels, eventually went to first Human Rights Watch, the NGO, and then the press.

Today, today, the military reiterated for those still paying attention, and much of the country is not, that it’s policy and position hasn’t changed one bit. It is deny, obfuscate and refuse to accept any responsibilty to the bitter end. The highest ranking officer (a Lieutenant Colonel) to have charges brought against them in the military courts of justice following the Abu Ghraib scandal suddenly found out today that military prosecutors decided two of the most serious charges had to be dropped. The Army “discovered” that the Major General leading the investigation had failed to inform the defendant of his rights before interviewing him. Coincidentally, or NOT this reduced the maximum sentence the Lt. Colonel might face by half. Even more hard to fathom, how this could possibly be the second incident where incriminating statements made by this same Lt. Colonel on two different occasions to higher authority(two different generals) both had to be tossed for the Army’s failure to read him his rights!!?

So let’s repeat how the process went down for clarity and emphasis, “Give us a statement,” says Major General One. In May, those statements are tossed out because defendant was not read his rights. “Give us another statement” says Major General Two. On the opening day of defendant’s trial the Army says, “Ooops, we forgot to read him his rights the second time, too. Guess we’ll have to toss those statements as well. Sorry.”

No high ranking officer has been punished over the disgrace at Abu Ghraib. America’s standing and reputation are at stake. The senior officer in charge was let off with a reprimand and a fine. Only personnel obeying what they were repeatedly told were lawful orders have been scapegoated. Somehow this adminstration cannot understand why America’s reputation has never been worse, more tarnished. Once America was touted as the good guys. Once America was the driving force behind the establishment of the Geneva Convention. When the Clarion was a young lad, people genuinely worried about and prayed for the return of POW-MIA’s in Vietnam, of which John McCain was one. Now America condones torture, fights efforts to limit it, redirects prisoners beyond the reach of the Constitution and the Courts and when called to account subverts the very processes designed to deal with this abberrant, horrible behavior.

Labels: Politics