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Prison-abuse suspects deserve prison time
http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/opinion/ci_3127910
Lynndie England, the 22-year-old reservist who has come to symbolize the Abu Ghraib
prisoner-abuse scandal, deserved the jail sentence she received for her role.
Though she may have been under the thumb of Charles Graner, the evident ringleader in
the abuse, it is important that everyone who participated be held accountable.
England's three-year prison term was somewhat less than prosecutors at her
court-martial requested. But it apparently takes into account that she will be
separated from a baby fathered by Graner.
It was important for the United States to send a message that, while interrogation of
prisoners is necessary in war, abuse of them is not this country's policy.
Unfortunately, punishment of the nine low-level soldiers charged in this particular
scandal may not put the broader question of detainee abuse to rest. Last month, a
Human Rights Watch report aired complaints by members of the Army's highly regarded
82nd Airborne Division that mistreatment of prisoners had gone on for almost a year,
in 2003-04, at a camp near Fallujah.
Capt. Ian Fishback, a West Point graduate who said he had witnessed the incidents,
said he tried vainly for months to get clear direction on detainees' treatment from
higher-ups. The confusion, he said, in a letter to Sen. John McCain, "contributed to
a wide range of abuses, including death threats, beatings, broken bones, murder,
exposure to elements, extreme forced physical exertion, hostage-taking, stripping,
sleep deprivation and degrading treatment."
Since photographs of the Abu Ghraib scandal came to light, the Army has advanced
dozens of inquiries into prisoner abuse, in Afghanistan as well as Iraq. None has yet
extended very high up the chain of command (unless you count mild insinuation).
McCain (himself abused terribly as a prisoner of the North Vietnamese during the
Vietnam War) and others are pushing a measure to standardize the treatment of
prisoners, but it is encountering resistance. The United States must balance the
realities of war with maintaining its reputation as the world leader in respecting
human rights. It should refrain from abusing even of those prisoners who, by refusing
to heed the most elemental rules of war, have not earned the protections of the
Geneva Conventions.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld took responsibility for the Abu Ghraib abuses last
year, but that means little if other abuses went on routinely under the noses of
military supervisors. President Bush should hold Rumsfeld to his promise to control
this problem.
A lax policy could well prepare the way for more Lynndie Englands _ even if, the next
time, they are not so foolish as to pose for pictures.
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I intend to last long enough to put out of business all *****-suckers
and other beneficiaries of the institutionalized slavery and genocide.
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Humvees, or calls in air-strikes. It doesn't have a high command, or
high security, or a high budget. The army that can defeat terrorism
does battle quietly, clearing minefields and vaccinating children. It
undermines military dictatorships and military lobbyists. It subverts
sweatshops and special interests.Where people feel powerless, it
helps them organize for change, and where people are powerful, it
reminds them of their responsibility." ~~~~ Author Unknown ~~~~
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