The Dish

The Washington Post, which has been exemplary in its coverage and editorial policy on this, reprints Fishback’s letter today. Read it. It’s posted in full below. Read the Human Rights Watch report. Stop looking the other way. Fight back. Demand new legislation to stop this. Demand an independent investigation that can find the real culprits, not the scapegoated grunts. The Democrats, by and large, have been useless. Only McCain can save us now:

Dear Senator McCain:

I am a graduate of West Point currently serving as a Captain in the U.S. Army Infantry. I have served two combat tours with the 82nd Airborne Division, one each in Afghanistan and Iraq. While I served in the Global War on Terror, the actions and statements of my leadership led me to believe that United States policy did not require application of the Geneva Conventions in Afghanistan or Iraq. On 7 May 2004, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld’s testimony that the United States followed the Geneva Conventions in Iraq and the “spirit” of the Geneva Conventions in Afghanistan prompted me to begin an approach for clarification. For 17 months, I tried to determine what specific standards governed the treatment of detainees by consulting my chain of command through battalion commander, multiple JAG lawyers, multiple Democrat and Republican Congressmen and their aides, the Ft. Bragg Inspector General’s office, multiple government reports, the Secretary of the Army and multiple general officers, a professional interrogator at Guantanamo Bay, the deputy head of the department at West Point responsible for teaching Just War Theory and Law of Land Warfare, and numerous peers who I regard as honorable and intelligent men.

Instead of resolving my concerns, the approach for clarification process leaves me deeply troubled. Despite my efforts, I have been unable to get clear, consistent answers from my leadership about what constitutes lawful and humane treatment of detainees. I am certain that this confusion contributed to a wide range of abuses including death threats, beatings, broken bones, murder, exposure to elements, extreme forced physical exertion, hostage-taking, stripping, sleep deprivation and degrading treatment. I and troops under my command witnessed some of these abuses in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

This is a tragedy. I can remember, as a cadet at West Point, resolving to ensure that my men would never commit a dishonorable act; that I would protect them from that type of burden. It absolutely breaks my heart that I have failed some of them in this regard.

That is in the past and there is nothing we can do about it now. But, we can learn from our mistakes and ensure that this does not happen again. Take a major step in that direction; eliminate the confusion. My approach for clarification provides clear evidence that confusion over standards was a major contributor to the prisoner abuse. We owe our soldiers better than this. Give them a clear standard that is in accordance with the bedrock principles of our nation.

Some do not see the need for this work. Some argue that since our actions are not as horrifying as Al Qaeda’s, we should not be concerned. When did Al Qaeda become any type of standard by which we measure the morality of the United States? We are America, and our actions should be held to a higher standard, the ideals expressed in documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Others argue that clear standards will limit the President’s ability to wage the War on Terror. Since clear standards only limit interrogation techniques, it is reasonable for me to assume that supporters of this argument desire to use coercion to acquire information from detainees. This is morally inconsistent with the Constitution and justice in war. It is unacceptable.

Both of these arguments stem from the larger question, the most important question that this generation will answer. Do we sacrifice our ideals in order to preserve security? Terrorism inspires fear and suppresses ideals like freedom and individual rights. Overcoming the fear posed by terrorist threats is a tremendous test of our courage. Will we confront danger and adversity in order to preserve our ideals, or will our courage and commitment to individual rights wither at the prospect of sacrifice? My response is simple. If we abandon our ideals in the face of adversity and aggression, then those ideals were never really in our possession. I would rather die fighting than give up even the smallest part of the idea that is “America.”

Once again, I strongly urge you to do justice to your men and women in uniform. Give them clear standards of conduct that reflect the ideals they risk their lives for.

With the Utmost Respect,

— Capt. Ian Fishback

1st Battalion,

504th Parachute Infantry Regiment,

82nd Airborne Division,

Fort Bragg, North Carolina

The overwhelming majority of our soldiers are as decent and as honest and as moral as this hero. They have been betrayed by incompetence, brutality and treachery at the very top of this administration. And those responsible must be brought to justice. But we also owe them new legislation to draw a line between the stain of the Bush era and the future. We cannot undo the profound damage this president has done to this country’s honor and military. But we can stop it now. And we must.

MORE EVIDENCE: This blog broke the story of more Geneva Convention violations recently: the posting of mutilated and dead Iraqis photographed by U.S. soldiers on a website also devoted to porn. Now, there’s an investigation. No other blog, to my knowledge. followed up. (Update: at least one did.) (Update II: As you can see from my original posting where I gave full credit and a link, the corpses-for-porn story was in fact first noticed by Eric Muller. I’m sorry I forgot this. Here’s the link again.)

It’s embarrassing. Daily Kossers in the comments section expose his combination of moral condescension and ignorance of basic statistics. He’s reduced to saying that he cares about racism and sexism (which I don’t doubt) but that I, and others in the reality-based community, don’t. For the record, I believe with every ounce of my being that discriminating against an individual on the basis of race or gender is deeply, profoundly immoral. (That’s why I oppose affirmative action, by the way; and why I favor equality in marriage rights.) But Armando’s view that women are somehow being discriminated generally in higher education makes no sense at all. As anyone on any major campus will tell you, and as Glenn Reynolds points out today, women are now outnumbering men on most campuses. Is that a function of anti-male sexism? Or merely a recognition of individual merit?

“Sometimes in my dark moments, I think [George W. Bush] is ‘The Manchurian Candidate’ designed to discredit all the ideas I believe in.” – David Brooks, TimesSelect hostage, on Meet The Press, Sunday. Read the link for the full context, where David also has hopeful words to say about the president. But let me just say this: for my part, those dark moments keep growing in number.

It doesn’t surprise me that the newest hero in the American armed services, Capt Ian Fishback, is a devout Christian. Fishback tried for 17 months to get his superiors to address systematic, condoned torture and abuse of military prisoners. His superiors knew they had the green light from the very top and did nothing but intimidate Fishback. He persisted. Why? He has a conscience. As he put it: “We are America. Our actions should be held to a higher standard. I would rather die fighting than give up even the smallest part of the idea that is ‘America.'” Part of his courage, however, came from faith:

[F]or Fishback, who friends describe as a deeply religious Christian and patriot who prays before each meal and can quote from the Constitution, his ordeal may be just beginning. Army officials have temporarily furloughed him from Special Operations training school at Fort Bragg, N.C., to make him available to the Criminal Investigation Command as it sorts through his allegations.

The Bush administration policy of allowing cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of prisoners is about as deep a moral crime as one can imagine. It violates every central tenet of Christianity, and the hard-won honor of the U.S. military, which is why some evangelical Christians, to their credit, have spoken up about it. These last few days, however, I have waited for others to take note of what Fishback has testified to, at great personal risk. I have waited for his courage to be hailed, especially on conservative Christian blogs. There are few moral evils worse than torture. So why the silence? Why?

Another mass-murderer gets his come-uppance. Some mild rejoicing is in order. There is evidence that we are making some gradual progress against the insurgency, although so much depends on the political developments of the next few months. My hope is that the experience of voting might prompt many Sunnis to abandon the Jihadist and Baathist insurgents. My fear is that the new constitution is too tough on the Sunnis – especially with regard to oil revenue – and that if they vote in large numbers but still fail to reject the current deal, they might sour on the new Iraq even further. But the bottom line in Iraq is that any move to democracy under even optimal circumstances would require a grueling campaign against the minority who once ran Iraq with appalling brutality and will not go quietly. Better for other Iraqis to battle them than us. But as long as we can, we need to train and fight alongside the defenders of the nascent Iraqi state. Now is not the time to cut and run. Now is the time to stay the course, while constantly adapting tactics. And by ‘stay the course,’ I envisage some American military role for at least five more years, and probably longer.

Here’s the loony-left version of the Republican kiddies’ book. This one isn’t as clearly aimed at children, but it certainly reads like something some moonbat parent might read to a five-year-old. Sigh. Then again, a reader makes the following decent point:

Is a six-year old socialist somehow inherently more absurd than a six-year old Christian or a six-year old Muslim? We think nothing of ascribing religious beliefs to (or imposing religious beliefs on, if you prefer) our youngest children, or sending them to schools for — again, depending on your perspective — spiritual enlightenment or religious indoctrination. But a six-year old is no more able to make a free choice about his or her religious beliefs than about his or her political beliefs. So why mock someone for sending a child to “Socialist Sunday School” and let them off the hook for sending a child to religious Sunday school? Surely both are simply examples of parents attempting to pass along their own worldview to their children, to fix their beliefs before they are old enough to really think them through. The only real difference as far as I can see (and this is a perception unsupported by any hard numbers) is that kids are far more likely to change their political views as they mature than they are to reject their religious schooling?

My response would be that there’s a difference between teaching children about the meaning of the universe and telling them which contemporary politicans might be lurking under their beds.

GLOOMY ABOUT THE WORLD? This is a piece of sentimental but real uplift. Grace happens.

A reader writes:

“I think there’s an even better Philip Larkin line, although it refers to a specific artist. In “For Sidney Bechet” he writes “On me your voice falls as they say love should/ Like an enormous yes.”
By the way, this poem, which begins “That note you hold, narrowing and rising, shakes/ Like New Orleans reflected on the water . . .” and which ends “And greeted as the natural noise of good/Scattering long-haired grief and scored pity” has a particular poignancy at this moment.”

Indeed. if you are unfamiliar with Larkin, you are missing, to my mind, the greatest English-speaking poet of the last half-century. Try the Collected Poems. None disappoints. Some never leave your consciousness.

“Aren’t you guys in charge of the “legislative agenda”. And for all the talk of your disdain for ‘flaunting rhetoric’ what have you done? Nothing. When push came to shove you refused to put any of the ‘pork’ to your home district on the table. What is this, ‘Do as I say, not as I do?’. That doesn’t work for parents and it sure as hell won’t work for you.
And even worse was the apparent tongue lashing you gave conservative House members for actually proposing real cuts. The article claims you don’t like GOP House members portraying the GOP as big spenders. Well, it’s the truth isn’t it? Perhaps you need to look in the mirror and take stock of whether or not, to paraphrase Jack Nicholson, you can handle the truth. Plus, you’re not a king, so you don’t get to tell the ‘peasants’ when to speak and when to shut up, especially when they are speaking uncomfortable truths.” – anklebitingpundits, formerly “CrushKerry,” speaking the truth to Tom DeLay.

“Poetry is what is lost in translation” – Robert Frost.

“All music is what awakens from you when you are reminded by the instruments.” – Walt Whitman.