Officer cleared of Abu Gharaib charges

The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that the only officer to face court martial charges in the Abu Gharaib incident had the major charges dismissed yesterday;

Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan was cleared this week of any criminal wrongdoing by Maj. Gen. Richard J. Rowe, commander of the Military District of Washington. Lt. Col. Jordan was instead given an administrative reprimand, a blot on his record.

Barring any startling new information, the decision means no officers or civilian leaders will be held criminally responsible for the prisoner abuse that embarrassed the U.S. military and inflamed the Muslim world.

Lt. Col. Jordan, 51, of Fredericksburg, Va., was acquitted at his court-martial in August of charges he failed to supervise the 11 lower-ranking soldiers convicted for their roles in the abuse, which included the photographing of Iraqi prisoners in painful and sexually humiliating positions.

But he was found guilty of disobeying an order not to talk about the investigation, and the jury recommended a criminal reprimand, the lightest possible punishment.

Of course, the ACLU is outraged that this can’t be tracked back to the White House;

“It could not be more clear that prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan resulted from policies and practices authorized by high-level officials, including military and civilian leaders,” said Hira Shamsi, an attorney with the National Security Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. “Although the abuse was systemic and widespread, the accountability for it has been anything but.”

What happened at Abu Gharaib was entirely the work of those who’ve already been convicted. As I’ve said elsewhere on the internet, the very first day of the Army’s Basic Training, the very first class recruits get is the law of Land Warfare and the Army’s official policy is that prisoners should be treated with dignity – we are even instructed to protect prisoners with our own lives and well being from their own comrades.

Amnesty International prefers to dabble in hyberbole;

Mila Rosenthal, deputy executive director for research and policy for Amnesty International USA, said: “I think we’re emboldening dictators and despots around the world. We’re saying that it’s OK to allow these kinds of abuses to flourish.”

Well, that’s just ridiculous – torture and prisoner abuse was happening long before the United States even came into existence, and it’ll continue no matter how many American military officers we imprison in relation to Abu Gharaib.

Those enlisted people were not operating under any official authority to build naked pyramids in their prison. Period. No officer instructed them to point at genitalia. The guilty people have been punished. Was this major negligent? Yes, absolutely – that’s why he was reprimanded. Was he complicit in the goings on? Nope – no officer since Lt. Calley give an illegal order to their subordinates.

The ACLU and AI have a political agenda and a financial stake in undermining our national security and the current administration. if anyone else should be punished, it’s those traitorous goobers.

Category: Antiwar crowd, Link fest, Politics, Society, Support the troops, Terror War