“When people like myself say American values must be emulated and America is a bastion of freedom, we get Guantánamo Bay thrown in our faces. When we talk about the America of Jefferson and Hamilton, people back home say to us: ‘That is not the America we are dealing with. We are dealing with the America of imprisonment without trial.'” – Husain Haqqani, a Pakistani scholar sympathetic to the war on terror.
CONFIRMED: The military concedes three incidents of deliberate abuse of the Koran and two incidents of accidental abuse of the Koran in interrogations at Guantanamo. A much more detailed report is in the works. Moreover, “none of these five incidents was a result of a failure to follow standard operating procedures in place at the time the incident occurred,” according to General Hood. So deliberate abuse of the Koran was within “standard operating procedures” at Gitmo. And yet one soldier has already been disciplined for his actions. If what he was doing was within “standard operating procedures,” why the discipline? And do you remember last week when we were told there were “no credible allegations” of Koran abuse? I’m beginning to see what Pat Tillman’s parents were complaining about. Why the lies?
THE SPIN CONTINUES: The toilet incident allegation has been withdrawn, after the detainee was “reinterviewed.” The detainee was never asked specifically about the toilet allegation in his “re-interview”. Reassured? Still, it’s progress to have the military concede what others still refuse to see and what the miitary was denying outright only a week ago. Remember also that at Gitmo, none of the interrogators was an amateur. They cannot pull the Lynndie England defense. Someone somewhere thought this was a good idea. Who? Did anyone explicitly authorize this? Or was it a function of unclear guidelines? In which case, who was responsible for unclear guidelines? Did the memos allowing for far greater leniency in interrogatory abuse have anything to do with this? We currently have many more questions than answers. Frankly, we need an independent inquiry into all this. The military is deeply hobbled by its past errors in this area. Now watch the spinners: this couldn’t happen; this didn’t happen; it’s Newsweek’s fault; it only happened five times; the military says that eight allegations didn’t pan out; even if it did happen, it’s a “much-ado-about-not-much story“; whose side are you on anyway?
WHAT’S COMING: We could also soon be facing the prospect of many more photographs coming out from the hell of Abu Ghraib prison. What we have seen so far – horrifying though it was – is the least of it.
“IT HAPPENS IN WARTIME”: Yes, some things do escalate in the heat of battle; people make wrong decisions, but those decisions are completely understandable under dangerous conditions. That’s why I’m greatly relieved to see Second Lt. Ilario Pantano acquitted of wrong-doing. There is a world of difference between difficult moments in the heat of battle and premeditated, approved abuse of people completely under your control. The torture-spinners need to stop conflating these arguments. They exonerate the inexcusable while tarring soldiers doing their best in extremely difficult circumstances.
The Dish 