How can this be?
Well, for one thing, it is highly unlikely that this torture and abuse could have gone undetected by the commander of the prison for even a short time. These acts of brutality and humiliation were carried out on a daily basis and in full view of all present for almost the better part of an entire year.
It is suspected, then, that these crimes against the prisoners of Abu Ghraib and other military facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo in Cuba, were secretly approved by high-ranking cabinet members of the Bush administration, and carried out by the Pentagon.
If this is the case, we are witnessing a major breakdown in the morality of our elected leaders, namely the Bush administration. And what is perhaps even more troubling, the morality of the command structure of our military -- carrying out these unlawful policies without so much as a raised eyebrow.
Members of the Bush administration and the Generals in the Pentagon know full well what the Geneva Convention is, and what it implies. The United States is a signatory of this treaty.
Yet they attempted to cover these crimes up. Without the photographic evidence, released to the press by a former guard at Abu Ghraib, the torture, sadism, and sexual humiliation would have continued unabated. With these revelations, the spectre of fascism rears its ugly head for the entire world to see.
The photos of naked humanity arranged in heaps, piled one upon another, brings to mind the images of Aushwitz and Buchenwald. Although the scale of the crimes at Abu Ghraib are miniscule in comparison to the death camps of Nazi Germany, what appears to be the same, then as now, is the mindset -- the grinning prison guards, standing over their tormented victims.
It is this mindset, from the lowliest ranking prison guard to the highest-ranking government and military official, which is manifest. The horrendous scandal at Abu Ghraib is just one sign of the rot which lies behind the facade of an America which used to stand for freedom, liberty, equal justice, and human rights -- an America which no longer exists.
The new America, part of the new world order, now only exists for the profit of a greedy oligarchy of wealth and power. The Bush administration, subservient to this oligarchy, will try to escape responsibility by putting the blame for these war crimes on the lower ranks, the useful idiots whom they found quite willing to do the dirty work.
They will further censor any new evidence which may surface. Congress has already agreed to withhold hundreds of new photos and videotapes of torture and murder from the public. We, the public, were never supposed to see what was happening at Abu Ghraib to begin with, and the government, to shield themselves from further shame and scandal, will refuse to show us more.
The committees set up by Congress will investigate and find no wrongdoing by any high-ranking Generals or politicians, just like the 9/11 hearings. The big shots will get away with just a slap on the wrist.
The public will think justice is served when the military courts throw the enlisted perverts to the dogs, and even then most of them will get off light.
© 2004, by the author.
What do you think?
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Members of the Bush administration and the Generals in the Pentagon know full well what the Geneva Convention is, and what it implies.
The United States is a signatory of this treaty.
Yet they attempted to cover these crimes up.
Without the photographic evidence, released to the press by a former guard at Abu Ghraib, the torture, sadism, and sexual humiliation would have continued unabated.
With these revelations, the spectre of fascism rears its ugly head for the entire world to see.
The photos of naked humanity arranged in heaps, piled one upon another, brings to mind the images of Aushwitz and Buchenwald.
Although the scale of the crimes at Abu Ghraib are miniscule in comparison to the death camps of Nazi Germany, what appears to be the same, then as now, is the mindset -- the grinning prison guards, standing over their tormented victims.
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