Shoot the Messenger

[SpeedoGuy]

Abu Ghraib revisited.

The two-star general in charge of investgating the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq claims the Bush administration knew much more about the scandal much earlier than it ever admitted in public. Further, the responsibility for the abuses extended far higher up the chain of command than just the handful of enlisted personnel who were court martialed and punished.

Gen. Anthony Tabuba also claims he was ostracized and his career dead-ended by the senior military brass in the Pentagon for truthfully reporting his findings about Abu Ghraib, apparently to Donald Rumsfeld's infinite displeasure. To quote Taguba:

“From the moment a soldier enlists, we inculcate loyalty, duty, honor, integrity, and selfless service,” Taguba said. “And yet when we get to the senior-officer level we forget those values. I know that my peers in the Army will be mad at me for speaking out, but the fact is that we violated the laws of land warfare in Abu Ghraib. We violated the tenets of the Geneva Convention. We violated our own principles and we violated the core of our military values. The stress of combat is not an excuse, and I believe, even today, that those civilian and military leaders responsible should be held accountable.”

A nine page article about Taguba by Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker magazine can be found at:

Annals of National Security: The General’s Report: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

 

[rawbone8]

Tahuba seems to come across as a highly principled professional who was too honour bound to close ranks and hide the truth. It's well worth reading the entire New Yorker piece. I can't imagine the gut wrenching feeling of someone in his position being canned for his candour, but the guy has balls sticking to a code of honour. That's a patriot.

...A few weeks after his report became public, Taguba, who was still in Kuwait, was in the back seat of a Mercedes sedan with Abizaid. Abizaid’s driver and his interpreter, who also served as a bodyguard, were in front. Abizaid turned to Taguba and issued a quiet warning: “You and your report will be investigated.”

“I wasn’t angry about what he said but disappointed that he would say that to me,” Taguba said. “I’d been in the Army thirty-two years by then, and it was the first time that I thought I was in the Mafia.”

I wonder who leaked the report in the first place. Hersh said he didn't get it from Tahuba.