the Greater Nomadic Council

All of this seems obvious enough. The problem is there's no chance it'll happen - zero. I doubt the soldiers in question will ever do prison time within the military justice system, much less standing trial for treason. And as for Bush 'rooting out the problem'? Don't make me laugh.

After a few years of this shit, I think it's becoming clear that the only productive thought exercise on policy is to imagine the absolute dumbest, most half-assed way a situation can be handled, assume Bush will do that, then start thinking about what the next administration will be able to do to fix the damage.

Bush knew these things were being alleged to happen back in January. Did he twist any arms to get it investigated or stopped? No. His presidency has got to be the strangest mix of knee-jerk action and unconcerned passivity in a long time.

We'll have to wait and see, but I predict some pretty stern punishment for those involved, at least for the ones that we can prove are involved.

Yes, but by the time it happens, it may be too late to make a difference. Simply as good PR for us in Iraq, the trials need to be as soon as possible. Even so, I'll be surprised if anyone beyond those actually committing the acts get punished in any real way.

Of course they'll be punished severely; that's what scapegoats are for. As for their superiors, 6 have recieved General Officer Letters of Reprimand, which will prevent them from ever being promoted and probably force them out without retiring. LTG Sanchez determined that they did not know what was going on, but should have known.
None of this changes the fact that we have lived down to the Islamists' portrayal of us as decadent, immoral Westerners. I don't see how that damage can be repaired.

I'm not sure the damage can be repaired, but there are ways to try. Bush should be twisting every arm he can to speed up their trials and be doing it in a very public way. As others have pointed out, the whole 327th company should be disbanded amidst much publicity. Not only would all the proposed punishments be just, but they'd also be smart politics... which makes me despair of them ever happening. I'm glad to hear that some in the chain of command are getting slapped down a bit, but if I haven't heard of it, it can't be very public knowledge yet. I just don't see the Bush administration pushing for more publicity on this. Two ten-minute interviews on Arabic television isn't going to cut it.

He should and he will (twist every arm to speedily, severely and publically punish the soldiers). This will give the impression that the 7 soldiers being court-martialed are an abberation. It will allow him to ignore the rest of the Taguba report (if he's read it, Runsfield hasn't (see http://slate.msn.com/id/2099976/). The interrogators congratulated the soldiers for getting good results. These guardsmen also received next to no training before being called up (some training days were spent administering drug tests). They had no morale facillities and remained in Iraq longer than they had been originally told. Basically, the Army took a bunch of young kids, put them in a bad situation, gave them vague guidelines, and wondered why things went wrong. Until this is changed, abuses will continue to occur. I hope that a severe punishment will scare others straight.

As a beginning, I like Tacitus' idea--disband the unit, and court marshall the 7 responsible. Meanwhile, let's hope Bush doesn't fuck up too badly in the Arab interviews.

JLoBiafra, if you're who I think you are, let me just say how glad I was to hear that you're back in the States and in one piece. If you ever have the time or inclination, I (and all the other Nomads, I assume) would love to hear about your experiences and your thoughts on the situation in Iraq.

I am, and thanks.
My experiences were limited in scope, so I have no unique insight to "what's really going on in Iraq", but I do have a bit of knowledge about the Army and its culture. In another thread, someone posted that these 7 assholes are outnumbered by the Pat Tillmans. I wish that were true. The day before this story broke, I taught a class to my unit about Enemy Prisoners of War. I was continually asked why we are not allowed to beat prisoners. Soldiers expect to be abused and/or tortured if they become POWs, so they think they should be able to abuse and/or torture POWs we capture. What happened in Abu Ghraib is not, I think (based on reliable but second-hand knowledge) unique. The soldiers I know, like most Americans, do not have a high level of morality. Their main goals in life are to drink and fuck. Without a lot of guidance they can not be depended on to do the right thing. I think, though, that this is indicative of society as a whole.

The Army Times has posted the report on the Article 15-6 investigation of prisoner abuse by the 800th Military Police Brigade at Abu Ghraib. The pdf document is here. Pages sixteen and seventeen detail the photographs we have seen and may reveal some of the additional information that Drudge, among others, has indicated will be addressed by Rumsfeld soon. (From How Appealing)

I like the idea of burning down the prison on Iraqi TV, as one or two Senators suggested. Then we can go back to ~Old Style~ Viet Cong interrogations in UH-1 Hueys.

Anyways, I watched the live Press Conference-oh, wait, "Senate Inquiry"-it was just a press conference with Senators acting as reporters, with the ass munchers taking advantage of world wide broadcasts. There was a point made by (the Senator b4 Collins, what ever his name was)-he was getting into Runsfelds nuts and squeezing them--ABC went to Commercial!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fuckers.
Anyways, I did change the channel, to find NBC was allowing this Senator-damn I WILL find out who this patriot was-was drilling down to some serious shit-WHO the enabler was. Man they was squirming! Did you see that? I was like yeah baby. Anyways, they changed the subject and then some other Republican Senator was like "I love you Rumsfeld, I want to have your baby" or whatever these ass kissers say....

Death to the UN Peace out.

Lorenski, you are very offensive. I would prefer you to mind your language and try to discuss your opinions without condescension.

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash.htm

Redstripe, thank you for your critical analysis, I will keep these things in mind in the future. Please allow me to reciprocate. Your writing is impeccable textbook analytical style, fluent and concise, entertaining, even thoughtful. Yet it lacks something, something, balls maybe? Perhaps the challenges of experience will help them sprout. I am assuming you are young because only an intellectual whippersnapper could complicate bawdy language or cynicism the way you did.

And let me just add an irony here-I do exude evangelical behavior when it comes to Globalization, but these photo's in this prison are going to literally bring the last 2 years of being sold an expensive war, laughing at our libertys and grinding America's 1990's booty into hamburger, to it's knees for us Americans. Do you understand the horrific implications of these photo's, and the videos? I'm listening to Matt Drudge, and the networks are tugging at a video from an entire different brigade raping young boys. I think a hearty f'n-A couldn't even touch how offensive the state of your country is in right now in the eye's of the world.