FIVE FOR FIVE

DILAWAR’S TORMENTOR HAS BEEN SENTENCED  [story]  Justice and judgement hang in the balance of how we treat the prisoners in our charge.  A taxi driver, not a terrorist, Dilawar was hung by his wrists from a ceiling for five days.  With some certainty, prosecution of Diliwar's killers would hang on legal terms and defense would hang on excuses.  Uncertainty of just what is and what is not allowed would be one excuse, frustration another.  Dilawar suffers no uncertainty nor frustration.  One certainty remains. Dilawar is dead.
 

Claus said the abuses were the result of frustrations during interrogations. He admitted to forcing water down the throat of a detainee known as Dilawar and twisting a hood over the man's head. Dilawar died at the detention center in 2002. No one has been charged with causing his death.[CNN]

Even as the young Afghan man was dying before them, his American jailers continued to torment him. [NY Times]

``They are my actions, and I can't ever take them back,'' Claus said. ``I am extremely sorry this has become a national issue and an international issue at that. The Army doesn't deserve ... this.'' [Guardian UK]

Dilawar doesn't deserve this either.  Five for five.  The tormentor Claus got five months, Dilawar will be dead for five forevers.

MORE ON DILIWAR [here] [hat tip: Talk Left]

RELATED READING
"WHAT YOU ALLOWED TO HAPPEN HAPPENED" [Body and Soul] There have, in fact, been some pretty serious cases of abuse involving Special Forces soldiers and Navy Seals. The elite. This is not all about Lynndie England and a bunch of semi-educated animals, and that's nothing new.

ONE WHO STOOD UP: Letter of Captain Ian Fishback to John McCain [WaPo] Some argue that since our actions are not as horrifying as Al Qaeda's, we should not be concerned. When did Al Qaeda become any type of standard by which we measure the morality of the United States? We are America, and our actions should be held to a higher standard, the ideals expressed in documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Others argue that clear standards will limit the President's ability to wage the War on Terror. Since clear standards only limit interrogation techniques, it is reasonable for me to assume that supporters of this argument desire to use coercion to acquire information from detainees. This is morally inconsistent with the Constitution and justice in war. It is unacceptable.

GETTING TO THE BOTTOM [Joseph L. Galloway/Knight Ridder]  There have been 17 separate investigations of Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and other prisoner abuse scandals. All have gone straight to the bottom of every case. All have consistently claimed that no one higher up the chain of command, including the civilian leadership in the Pentagon, bears any responsibility for any of this.

Hogwash. BS. Nonsense.

Comments

[blondesense Liz]

Now that is too depressing. The whole damn concept of war and fucking up our young to fight for politics is more than I can take lately. I feel like suing the whole government for ruining so many lives. Bastards.

[Roxanne]

I sense an encroaching outbreak of outrage fatigue myself.

[DuWayne Brayton]

All these are are American dreams
useless petty stupid little things
running round in circles like as not to drive you mad
can't quite tell the difference between the good and bad
wanted everywhere everybody get a piece
the fuck you lookin at aint no heart upon my sleeve
harder faster tighter than the rest
I'm just a fuckin killer learnded and passed that test
heart side long gone don't know you any more
what the fuck I 'sposed to do when I walk out of that door

[DuWayne Brayton]

How do they re-humanize?

[DuWayne Brayton]

Or do they?

were they ever?

or were they dreaming?

are we?

fffuuuccckkk

[Mimus Pauly]

Let me get this straight...

Old, distrustful, cynical people take young, trusting, impressionable people, put them in uniform, break down their individuality, cobble them together as parts of a collective whole, sell them a line of doctrinaire bull about honor, duty, God, and country, teach them how to use firearms and other weapons, inure them from the troubled pangs of their consciences resulting from the consequences of their actions by convincing them that the "enemy" is sub-human, turn them loose in a hostile environment, and, when they predictably go all S&M on a bunch of prisoners... the old, distrustful, cynical ones who laid the groundwork for these abuses disown the monsters they created just to save their own yellow hides?

If I missed something in there, someone let me know...

[The Heretik]

Mimus, I think you covered most of it. If you missed anything, perhaps it is some outrage that we expect others to abide by the rules of humanity, but hold ourselves above those same rules because of these "exceptional" circumsstances. Plus: 9/11 changed everything! God bless America.

[Lance Mannion]

Three cheers for Capt. Fishback and may his name be remembered far longer than Lyndie England's!

You know whose name I can never remember and yet it's a name that should be celebrated: the helicopter pilot who put his chopper in between the surviving villagers and Calley's man at My Lai. It's right that we always remember who Calley was so we never forget that Americans can do evil. But it's not right that that pilot's name isn't remembered right beside it so that we also have the example of how it's possible to stand up to evil too.

[Lance Mannion]

Three cheers for Google.

The helicopter pilot's name is Hugh Thompson. Here's the story.

[Kathy]

Joe,

You say here Claus was sentenced to five years. The Guardian article says he was sentenced to five months. Which is it?

[The Heretik]

Five months, Kathy. Five months. Thanks for pointing that out. I think when editing I went back to working copy of post without a proofread. I am human (and thankfully so). Five years would be bad enough, but the outrage really is minor misdemeanor offenders get more punishment than Claus did. Damn.

[THX]

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