Abu Ghraib Revisited

The consensus in my office here at NAS Jacksonville is that Lynndie England is very definitely a scapegoat who is being railroaded by the U.S. Army. At least the judge had the sense to declare a mistrial the other day.

I'm not defending the despicable actions of the seven MPs who have been tried for their involvement in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, but these were mostly low-ranking, undertrained reservists who had been ordered (read: pressured) to make their prisoners as miserable as possible to induce them to talk. Having said that, as human beings the accused should have had a better idea of what was appropriate and inappropriate treatment of the prisoners. What we have here is a case of some morally ambiguous people who, without proper direction, allowed a darker, baser side of human nature to surface.

Although the CO at the top of the food chain is ultimately responsible for this behavior—and brigadier general Janis Karpinski has taken the fall and been demoted to colonel—the inquiry shouldn't stop there.

Wikipedia.com has an excellent and very objective section on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.