I once knew someone from judo dojo who was Jewish, from Cairo. Following the Six Day War a campaign was instituted there against all Jews, or at least, all Jews with assets. No one was allowed to emigrate with more than $25. The government seized this guy’s family jewelry business and bank accounts. His father and older brothers were imprisoned, never to be seen again, and he was the next likely target. So, at age 15 he escaped as a stowaway.
When the Yom Kippur War started, he wanted to enlist in the Israeli military. Instead, Israel hired him as a guard over Egyptian war prisoners. He had no qualms about kicking or hitting them, he told me, in vengeance for what happened to his father and brothers.
That abuse, while not excusable, is at least understandable. His assault on prisoners was personal. It was not at anyone’s direction, not part of national policy. It wasn’t like American policy, the one shoveled under heaps of Pentagon dung.
The Pentagon has only itself to blame if its lack of credibility translates into poor public support. Look at its “investigations.” Can you see any substantive results?
Despite the Pentagon’s twelve-plus investigations into prisoner abuse in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay, only one commander was reprimanded: Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, demoted. Frontline offered more in “The Torture Question: Who’s to Blame for Abu Ghraib?” Author Mark Danner commented on investigation conclusions:
But none of the people in actual positions of responsibility — I’m talking about [Lt. Gen.] Ricardo Sanchez; … I’m talking about Col. Mark Warren, people who actually were in positions of responsibilities — have in fact not been punished. So we have several times people using the phrase “failure of command,” but the interesting question is, how can there be a failure of command if none of the commanders failed?
Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, agreed, pointing to how Gen. Miller and Gen. Sanchez, as well as Gonzales and Rumsfeld, were rewarded.
… the Bush administration wants to at least give up some…less important people to at least make it appear as if there’s a real investigation going on here and we’re really disciplining the right people…
But the people who actually put this policy in place have gotten promotions.
Who are they and what are they doing now? Maybe somebody, ahem, wants to subpoena them.
Human Rights First has a list. HRF changed its name from “Lawyers Committee for Human Rights” to reflect the breadth of professions involved in its advocacy, research and analysis. It joined the ACLU earlier this year in suing Rumsfeld on behalf of five Iraqis and four Afghans who were tortured and abused. The organization has an “End Torture Now” campaign featuring a where-are-they page.
Unless publicly identified, they slip under the radar. So, I’ve turned them into face cards. We already know who the Joker is.
- Donald Rumsfeld, King of Spades
- Alberto Gonzales, King of Hearts
- General Dan K. McNeill, King of Diamonds; he oversaw operations in Afghanistan when detainees were tortured to death and disclaimed abuse despite autopsy reports of severe trauma; promoted to Commanding General U.S. Army Forces Command.
- Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, King of Clubs; commander of detainee operations at Guantanamo and credited with instituting the use of dogs at Abu Ghraib; made senior commander in charge of detention operations in Iraq. Not disciplined despite an investigation recommendation. Retired August 2006.
- Jay S. Bybee, Queen of Spades; former Assistant Attorney General and principal author of the memo defining torture so narrowly as to require organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death; Bush nominated him for the Ninth Circuit, where he now sits. Read Russ Feingold’s opposition to the nomination here.
- William J. Haynes II, Queen of Hearts; a Texan, Harvard Law; Defense Department General Counsel who recommended many of the most abusive tactics used at Guantanamo, then at Iraq; Bush nominated him to the Fourth Circuit, withdrew it, renominated him, then pulled it again last month;
- Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast, Queen of Diamonds; so far, the highest-ranking intelligence officer connected to Abu Ghraib; now in charge of the Army’s interrogation training facility at Fort Huachuca, AZ.
- Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, Queen of Clubs; he oversaw detention facilities in Iraq and authorized abusive interrogation techniques, writing that he wanted to exploit the Arab fear of dogs; not punished despite Pentagon reports he allowed torture to continue. Retired November 2006, claiming his career a casualty of the scandal. Residing in the San Antonio area.
- Col. Marc Warren, Jack of Spades; provided legal advice to Lt. Gen. Sanchez supporting the use of dogs and stress positions; delayed notifying superiors of Red Cross reports of detainee abuse; nominated to be a brigadier general.
- Maj. Gen. Walter Wojdakowski, Jack of Hearts; oversaw military police and intelligence units responsible for operations at Abu Ghraib; although criticized for weak leadership that led to the abuses, he is now in charge of the Army’s infantry training school at Fort Benning.
- Capt. Carolyn Wood, Jack of Diamonds; in charge of the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion, whose members were involved in the killing of two Afghan detainees; assigned to Abu Ghraib where she drafted abusive interrogation rules authorized by Lt. Gen. Sanchez; reportedly an interrogation instructor at Fort Huachuca.
- Timothy E. Flanagan, Jack of Clubs; formerly in the Department of Justice, now General Counsel for Tyco International; selected by Gonzales to be Deputy White House Counsel; withdrew his nomination for Deputy Attorney General in October 2005 after questions arose over his involvement in crafting the rules on detainee treatment; I found a picture of Brother Flanagan, still trailing his buddy, Gonzales, when he addressed a conference of LDS lawyers in Washington, D.C.
Enough with rewarding war crimes and whitewashing reports. Let this not be a casualty of public overload because so much about Iraq has gone so wrong.