Generals in a Labyrinth of Blame

Saturday, May 15, 2004

The Age

"If a small group of guards on their own initiative decided to abuse their prisoners, I am very sceptical that they would have chosen bizarre sexual humiliations that were specifically designed to be particularly offensive to Muslim men. It seems to me that it is far more likely that a group of out-of-control, undisciplined guards would beat up prisoners, not strip them naked and put them in a human pyramid."

-- Republican senator Susan Collins

The Age
The abuse by US soldiers might have resulted from a new set of rules established by political and military authorities, reports Marian Wilkinson.

'Let me begin by stating the obvious," said Senator Jack Reed, as he stared down at Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld sitting at the witness table. "For the next 50 years, in the Islamic world and many other parts of the world, the image of the United States will be that of an American dragging a prostrate, naked Iraqi across the floor on a leash."

Senator Reed, a West Point graduate and former paratrooper, captured in one exchange what may be the "tipping point" in America's support in the war in Iraq. This week, for the first time, the majority of Americans said in polls that they do not believe the war is worth it.

The images from Abu Ghraib prison, like the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, are profoundly testing the faith of Americans, both Democrat and Republican, in the prosecution of the war.

Despite President Bush's ringing endorsement of Rumsfeld, the powerful conservative Republican movement has split, and some of its leading commentators are demanding Rumsfeld's resignation as a way to stem the growing tide of opposition to the war.

The beheading of the American Nick Berg by Islamist terrorists, allegedly in retaliation for the abuses, has done little to rally the country back behind the war.

Neither did Rumsfeld's hastily arranged seven-hour visit to Abu Ghraib jail and Baghdad to boost the troops' morale. "You folks have helped liberate 25 million human beings," Rumsfeld told them. "You're showing the people of Iraq and, indeed, the people of the world who will look, the character of the country that we're from and the character of the men and women in the armed services."

But as Rumsfeld spoke, some at home were asking what indeed has become of the character of the country and its military since the war on terror began.

(More: TheAge.com)

2004 © The Age Company, Ltd.

The images from Abu Ghraib prison, like the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, are profoundly testing the faith of Americans, both Democrat and Republican, in the prosecution of the war.

Utterly “wild” that an incomprehensibly wide comparison between a “village massacre” and certain “interrogation practices” was even thought, let alone made for public consumption. Is it at all possible that these small-time media hacks, like the people of The Age Company, really have no concept of just what it is they are attempting to report?

Dan