[Mb-civic] Cementing Totalitarianism: Scapegoating Our Troops In Iraq

[Cheeseburger]

Cementing Totalitarianism:  Scapegoating Our Troops In Iraq

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/23/international/middleeast/23soldiers.html


BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 22 - A military judge on Friday rejected efforts by two 
soldiers charged in the Abu Ghraib scandal to obtain testimony from 
military intelligence officers about whether the soldiers were ordered or 
encouraged to take part in abuse of detainees.

The judge ordered the soldiers, Specialist Charles Graner and Sgt. Javal 
Davis, to stand trial in Baghdad early next year. Lawyers for the two men 
had sought immunity grants for officers, including Col. Thomas Pappas, the 
head of the military intelligence brigade at the prison, in an effort to 
show that their clients had been acting under orders.

"He reasonably and honestly believes he had been acting lawfully," said one 
of Mr. Graner's lawyers, Guy Womack. "The orders had been given to him by 
his superiors in the military police chain of command, military 
intelligence and civilian intelligence."

The judge, Col. James Pohl, rejected those requests. He also rejected an 
effort by Mr. Davis's lawyers to interview Defense Secretary Donald H. 
Rumsfeld and Stephen Cambone, the under secretary of defense for 
intelligence. One of Mr. Davis's lawyers, Paul Bergrin, said interviews of 
four generals, including Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the former American 
commander in Iraq, showed they had had detailed conversations with Mr. 
Rumsfeld and Mr. Cambone about interrogation tactics.

The generals "while they were in Iraq, had meetings with Rumsfeld and 
Cambone and had explicit conversations about actionable intelligence and 
improving interrogation techniques," Mr. Bergrin told Agence France-Presse, 
which provided the pool report for Friday's hearing.

Specialist Graner, 36, is charged with conspiracy, dereliction of duty, 
cruelty, maltreatment of detainees, assault, indecency, adultery and 
obstruction of justice. He faces up to 28 years in prison if convicted. 
Judge Pohl set his trial for Jan. 7.

Sergeant Davis, 26, is charged with assault, dereliction of duty, 
maltreatment of detainees and conspiracy. He faces up to eight and a half 
years in prison. His trial was set for Feb. 1.

Both men are reservists in the 372d Military Police Company, based at 
Cresaptown, Md.

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That report is a whole 1 week old, but since today is Halloween, I thought 
a nice spooky story about the Iraqi Abuse Trials (which they wouldn't be 
caught dead convening in America) of the "expendable to save our own asses" 
"few rotten apples at the bottom" now involving even refusal of allowing 
potential =Key Testimony= just put another very clear layer of icing on the 
cake of this New Fascist Regime.

It's been there all the time, but it's nice to at least see some news of it 
leaking out to planet earth, part of it at least.

This is it.

The final frontier.

LOL........

Welcome to Amerika.

We folks at the bottom spell it "America", but we can already see what's 
coming, because it's been here for so long staring us in the face, so we're 
just getting ready for the changes coming fully understanding now that one 
day, maybe not today, or tomorrow, but some day they will just change the 
"C" to a "K" and at that late date anybody who really cares anymore will 
either be dead or in little camps.

Yes, indeed, "Support Our Troops".

=NOBODY= =DOES= at The Top Of The American Government's Current 
Administration, so we might as well.

Whether such a paltry effort will actually be able to convince them to hold 
the trials here in the USA ("You just can't have everything, kids": 
Rumsfeld), or even stoop so revolutionarily low as to allow some new 
foreign animal of horror called "Potential Key Testimony" into the trials 
not only in the interest of a fair sentence to those "few rotten apples at 
the bottom" but so we can at least go to work every Monday morning here in 
our country and still be able to say with a straight face "Justice Is Alive 
SOMEWHERE In America", or be able to ever tell an American Child that again 
without the Angel Of Lies sticking his pitchfork up our asses and them 
noticing the funny look on our faces, remains to be seen.

Most likely not though.


p.s.:  Dear Mr. Kerry, you better f*cking win.





Cheeseburger

- Where has the sparrow gone now that I need its song.