Politics > Politics-USA > Ultimately the resonsibility for Abu Ghraib abuses lie at the White House doorstep.
| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"NotBush2004" |
| Date: |
28 Aug 2004 01:45:35 PM |
| Object: |
Ultimately the resonsibility for Abu Ghraib abuses lie at the White House doorstep. |
DON'T STOP AT RUMSFELD
Blame for Abu Ghraib goes higher
August 28, 2004
Independent assessments of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib should lay to rest
White House attempts to limit blame to a few bad apples on the night shift.
A panel headed by former Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger found the
Pentagon's civilian and military command responsible for conditions that led
to "egregious abuses" at the U.S.-run prison. That includes Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. A separate Army investigative report said the
involvement of intelligence operatives with wider latitude in interrogation
techniques also contributed to abuses at Abu Ghraib.
But responsibility goes farther up the line than that: All the way to
President George W. Bush.
"The abuses were not just the failure of some individuals to follow known
standards, and they are more than the failure of a few leaders to enforce
proper discipline," the Schlesinger panel said. "There is both institutional
and personal responsibility at higher levels." Actually, at the highest
level.
Bush set the stage for abuse in February 2002 when he declared that the
Geneva Conventions did not apply to al-Qaida prisoners and the Taliban were
unlawful combatants unqualified for prisoner of war status. When the man at
the top says the rules don't apply, abusive excesses are a predictable
result.
Rumsfeld approved stronger interrogation techniques in December 2002 that
migrated to Abu Ghraib, which was by then "seriously overcrowded and
under-resourced."
With 50,000 prisoners in all and 300 allegations of abuse, it's clear that
most were not mistreated. But Bush's insistence that his word is law in the
war on terrorists has cost the nation a big chunk of the moral high ground.
http://tinyurl.com/3ngsu
(http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vpqabu283945107aug28,0,3279297,print
..story?coll=ny-editorials-headlines)
*****
A pattern of deception
A hard truth appears to have escaped the notice of the public and received
scant attention from the media: Bush is the first president in American
history to use deceptive propaganda as his main means of communications in
selling his policies. His pattern of deception continues unabated and in
direct conflict with the notion of the public's informed consent that is
central to American democracy.
Walter Williams is professor emeritus at the University of Washington's
Evans School of Public Affairs.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/6378746.htm
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