THE INVISIBLE MAN

The story of the Iraqi terrorist who was ordered off the books by Rumsfeld and Tenet makes odd reading. The two reasons given for hiding this captive are a) to make sure his treatment wasn’t monitored by the Red Cross (but no one condoned abuse of prisoners, did they?) and b) to keep his location secret (Why? The military cannot keep its own inmate records secret?). Besides, the reason that the suspect was regarded as so important, apparently, was because he “possessed significant information about Ansar al Islam’s leadership structure, training and locations.” And yet – here’s the mind-blowing part – he was only interviewed once in “one cursory arrival interrogation”! Here’s a military desperately trying to get information on the insurgency; they go to extraordinary lengths to sequester a key informant; they do something that is “deceptive, contrary to Army doctrine, and in violation of international law,” according to the Taguba report; both Tenet and Rumsfeld sign off on this shady business; and then … nothing! It boggles the mind. Here we have two features of the Iraq occupation that we have slowly come to see close-up: the violation of settled military ethics and international law, authorized by the highest authorities, and complete incompetence. At least that’s the only rational explanation I can find for this story as it currently reads. Does Rumsfeld have a better explanation?