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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (573314)	5/10/2004 6:33:24 AM
From: Land Shark	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Mr. ZERO An article for you... There's little difference between the likes of the US leadership and the terrorists, dictators etc.. For months Rummy "Mengele" Rumsfeld, suppressed the problem, read on... Fire Rumsfeld, tear down his jail National Post Monday, May 10, 2004 Photographs of Iraqis being tortured in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison provide shocking proof that dictators and terrorists possess no monopoly on barbarism. U.S. soldiers came to Iraq to bring democracy and human rights. Yet there they are, binding naked men with ropes and dog collars. For al-Qaeda's recruiters, such images are manna from heaven. The scandal may also prove a death blow in the battle for Iraqi hearts and minds. If America is forced to withdraw its troops prematurely and Iraq lapses into civil war or authoritarian rule, much of the blame will lie with the sadists who appear grinning in these photos. Obviously, those directly responsible for the depicted abuses must be brought to justice. And Abu Ghraib prison itself must be torn down. For decades, this was the place where Saddam Hussein would inflict medieval torture on his subjects, and so became a symbol of hellish brutality. The fact Americans would use the facility for a similar -- if not quite similarly brutal -- purpose, means it has become a symbol of Western betrayal as well. But that must be just the beginning. Evidence collected by U.S. military investigators and human-rights groups suggests what we have seen on our TV screens is the tip of the iceberg. And according to U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, even more disturbing photos and videos are in existence. It is not only the lowly prison guards who must be held to account, but the commanding officers who let them believe they could get away with it. Mr. Rumsfeld apologized to Iraqis on Friday, telling them that the abuse meted out in Abu Ghraib was "inconsistent with the values of our nation." But regrettably, it is too late for Mr. Rumsfeld to salvage his position with fine words. Earlier this year, as soldiers in Iraq passed around CD-ROMs of tortured Iraqis, Mr. Rumsfeld generally ignored the growing scandal. Yes, he informed himself of some of the details. But he did not read the full, scathing report prepared for him last March. Nor did he publicly and pro-actively pledge to root out the torturers. Had it not been for a whistle-blower within the military, journalists at the CBS program 60 Minutes II and The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh, the world might still be unaware of what went on at Abu Ghraib. This fact, taken alone, would justify Mr. Rumsfeld's resignation. But the case against him goes deeper: It is only because of the Defence Secretary's flawed planning that America was forced to jail more than 40,000 Iraqi prisoners in the first place. Mr. Rumsfeld's war plan -- which featured a relatively small number of highly mobile troops, backed by massive air support -- worked perfectly for destroying Iraq's conventional army. But once Saddam Hussein had fallen, America lacked the manpower necessary to police and pacify a country of Iraq's size. This encouraged bloody uprisings in Najaf, Falluja and other cities, which even now have not been fully quelled. Many military experts predicted events would unfold in this manner. They include General Eric Shinseki, the U.S. Army's former chief of staff, who stated publicly that the occupation of Iraq would require several hundred thousand troops. Rather than listen to this good advice, Mr. Rumsfeld was angry that his subordinate had gone off-script, and Gen. Shinseki was fired. Moreover, having rejected much of the detailed post-war planning conducted by the U.S. State Department, even those peacemaking units Mr. Rumsfeld did deploy were badly unprepared for their postwar mission. Many of the soldiers at Abu Ghraib in particular had little training in the handling of prisoners. Some intelligence-collecting units had no choice but to outsource their sensitive tasks to private contractors. Mr. Rumsfeld's departure will not mend the damage caused by the Abu Ghraib scandal and the mismanagement of postwar Iraq. But by removing from office the politician most responsible for both problems, it would at least send the signal that the Bush administration has learned from its mistakes and is intent on reforming its military. This newspaper continues to believe that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was justified in principle, and we applaud President George W. Bush for his courage in attempting to bring political reform to the heart of the Arab Middle East. But there is little question that his Defence Secretary's implementation of this grand vision has brought shame and hostility upon the United States. Mr. Rumsfeld did a service to the civilized world by engineering Saddam's defeat. But for the sake of America and Iraq both, it is now time for him to go.