Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: i-node who wrote (198808)	8/28/2004 7:51:22 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1583681

> It tells us nothing other than you're blowing smoke! No, it tells you I'd vote for Clinton before Kerry. Well, you don't have that choice. You're stuck with Bush!

To: i-node who wrote (198808)	8/28/2004 7:55:28 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1583681

August 27, 2004 Failure of leadership: New Abu Ghraib reports look up the ranks The Bush administration has long insisted that a few "bad apples" were solely to blame for the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Two new reports - one by a panel headed by a former defense secretary and one by a panel of Army generals - this week should put an end to that unsupportable claim. The findings represent nothing less than a broad indictment of U.S. military leadership, with responsibility going up the chain of command to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. They also describe patterns of abuse that go beyond what has previously been reported. The reports are a welcome counter to earlier Pentagon whitewashes. But they're far from the last word on Abu Ghraib; more remains to be revealed about what happened at the prison and why. A truly independent investigation, one that includes members of Congress and human rights advocates, is needed to look unflinchingly at Rumsfeld's failure to make certain that the Geneva Conventions were respected in Iraq, as well as the role of the Central Intelligence Agency in interrogation abuses. On Tuesday, a panel led by former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger said the Pentagon's top civilian and military authorities had contributed to the abuses by failing to provide clear guidance, by failing to plan adequately for the postwar occupation and by responding too slowly after abuses were revealed. On Wednesday, a Pentagon probe led by Lt. Gen. Anthony Jones and Maj. Gen. George Fay, concluded that more than two dozen military intelligence soldiers and civilian contractors committed criminal offenses, and that military officials hid prisoners from the Red Cross. The Jones-Fay probe, which focused on military interrogation abuses, identified 44 separate cases, some of which were even more brutal than those depicted in the photographs taken on the infamous Tier 1A at the Abu Ghraib compound. They included such appalling cases as a detainee being struck with a chair until it broke and then choked until he passed out, a female prisoner being sexually assaulted, and soldiers using Army dogs to scare teenage detainees into defecating and urinating on themselves. The reports should widen the scope of prosecutions and disciplinary actions stemming from the scandal. So far, only a few low-ranking soldiers have been called to account, although their lawyers have argued exactly what this week's reports point out - that the ultimate responsibility goes much higher up the military ladder. It may be tempting for President Bush and Congress to declare that the Abu Ghraib scandal has now been fully investigated, especially with the November election rapidly approaching. But the job isn't done yet. They should now appoint an independent panel with a broad mandate to conduct a final, comprehensive, no-holds-barred review - and then make certain that all those responsible, including those at the top, are held fully accountable. Shortly after the scandal first broke and the front pages of newspapers were filled with the sickening photos of abuse, Secretary of State Colin Powell exhorted foreign leaders to "watch America - watch how we deal with this." The rest of the world is still watching to see what America will do. registerguard.com