WFB GETS IT

Whenever I think I’m going crazy (having qualms about extra-legal torture while most conservatives are fine with it), I’m relieved to find William F Buckley on a similar wavelength. On Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, WFB gets it right:

The best evidence of the incongruity of Abu Ghraib with American standards is the universal revulsion felt by the American people when those photographs were published. But right now there are only seven soldiers being prosecuted, and the sense of it is that that does not go deeply enough. If what happened was odious, but what happened did so under the auspices of a well-organized military, then you scratch up against the lessons of Nuremberg, which held superiors responsible for misconduct by subordinates. And people are wanting to know what are the relevant jurisdictions, and what tribunals do we have in mind to convoke in order to satisfy ourselves – and the world – that America wants more than merely to punish the people who did it. We need to punish also the people who let it happen.

We have to know who really sanctioned this. And we have to stop it. Just because some anti-war opportunists are getting on this bandwagon does not absolve pro-war advocates from holding this administration responsible.