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Archive: 03/20/2004

However, in another despicable but not surprising display of disloyalty and lack of personal morals, many on the left have made every attempt to politicize this shameful occurrence for personal and political gain. Various news sources are reporting that the John Kerry campaign has started using references to or pictures of the scandal in a fund raising letter! This is completely unprecedented and unacceptable. The very ones who so stoutly defended Bill Clinton's disgusting degradation of the very office of the President of the United States, are now trying to use this dreadful event as a weapon to damage the Bush Administration, the US military and bring about the downfall of the Secretary of Defense, and the President himself.

Now, worst of all, via commentary in the tragic shadow of the barbaric, blood-lust murder of Nick Berg, an innocent civilian, there appears to be no limits to the lengths to which some American politicians will go for purely partisan purposes. As difficult as it is to comprehend, some on the left have tried to use even this savage crime to gain some political advantage. Perhaps these radical left-wingers with their twisted value system would have been more satisfied if the complete video had been shown on the news networks, so as to give them more "ammunition". It is a sad statement on the condition of left-wing politics in the United States.

The bottom line on the Abu Ghraib prison incident is this: it happened, it was very wrong, and those who are responsible will and should be found out and brought to swift and stern justice. They have deeply embarrassed, betrayed and degraded themselves, their service, and their entire country by committing these disgusting acts.

But almost equally as disgusting are apparently soulless left-wing partisans who will use anything- any tragedy, any crime and any excuse to try to bring damage and embarrassment on the Bush Administration, despite the cost to our country. They did it with 911, they did it with the so-called 911 commission, and now they have done it with this prison scandal. And in a manner most vile, some have even used the blood of Nick Berg as lubrication for their radical purposes. Shame, shame on them. At the very least, John Kerry and some of the left-wing ghouls who support him need to stop using abused prisoners as political fodder, and allow the dead to rest in peace.

Nothing is more heart-breaking than the demise of decency.
Guo Moruo

Of course these prisoner mistreatments are wrong and bad acts. They certainly reflect, accurately enough, that not all Americans ascribe to lofty ideals and strong moral choices. But then most people already knew that. Besides, when one considers some acts perpetrated by the recently deposed Hussein regime these "humiliations" seem almost humane. After all no one was electrocuted, beaten, starved, families threatened or killed, used as test subjects for chemical or biological weapons, or any of the other atrocities said to have been done under Saddam’s watch.

Even current events make these "humiliations" seem almost tame. Take for example actionsby the Iraqi’s themselves, stomping and hanging burnt bodies from bridges like modern day savages. Or the beheading of an American contractor as apparent "retaliation" for the "abuses" at this one prison. And then there is the Sudan where they are making like seventeenth century Germany by raping, pillaging, and burning every village they come across on their campaign of what may be ethno-religious cleansing. This doesn’t mean that the terrible acts committed by a few American soldiers are in any way OK, just that the "humiliations" could have been much, much, much worse.

As for the Bush administrations response…would any administration have responded any differently? They condemned the "abuses" and vowed that those responsible would be brought to justice. Most importantly is their promise to take steps to help make sure further abuses do not happen. Perhaps if anything, Bush might have taken more personal responsibility for the events. Rumsfeld has taken full responsibility for the events and seems strongly committed to seeking justice and preventing further violations of the Geneva Convention rules. This statement of responsibility has resulted in some foolishly calling for Rumsfeld’s resignation. Kerry taking this one step further accurately states "The chain of command goes all the way to the Oval Office."

  Overall the effects on the outcome of the election are likely to be infinitesimal to non-existent. Both Bush and Kerry wisely chose to have their campaign messages focus on domestic issues. Bush naturally had to say much about the events and looked obviously strained while attending to some important campaign stops, especially after the beheading of American Nick Berg. Kerry on the other hand has been almost silent about the prisoner abuse focusing on health care and keeping quiet about Iraq. He probably, and correctly, believes that the latest Iraq scandal will move those that are borderline about our position in Iraq towards a democratic vote this November.

In stated retaliation for the actions of Americansoldiers in the prison, an American civilian named Nick Berg, a 26-year-old Philadelphia man who was working in Iraq as an independent contractor, was captured and beheaded by supposed al-Qaida members. His body was found on a bridge in Iraq on Tuesday. Reports indicate that the video clip of his murder (found on an al-Qaida Web site), which has been examined by the various intelligence agencies, depicts the American’s murder by one of five masked men under the title “Abu Musab al-Zarqawi shown slaughtering an American.”

The ongoing investigation of the prison scandal needs to be swift, accurate, non-partisan, and bow to no authority other than the law. The actions of the soldiers who disgraced the American name and military with their unlawful and detestable actions toward Iraqi prisoners should be shown no quarter, even if that means that the U.S. Army suffers a great deal of embarrassment and humiliation. Better that than America loses her credibility as being above that kind of activity. It was bad enough when the torture was discovered. Now that mistreatment may have contributed to the death of an American civilian.

Questioning of suspects is one thing, but there are rules that we espouse and must always follow (the Geneva Convention, for one) , even if our foes do not. The intolerable cruelty of our enemies should not become the standard against which we measure our actions. As Americans, we hold ourselves to only the highest standard. That standard dictates that the responsible parties in this scandal be held to the greatest punishment allowable for the offense.

And what of President Bush in all this? His admirable apology was well placed and deserved, but the Commander-in-Chief may have fallen a little short of his duties this time. It’s an election year, granted, but what happened to “the buck stops here?” Are we never to enjoy the kind of president like Kennedy again? One with the understanding that his position as leader of the United States of America will, at times, put him in the position of peril for actions that he neither wanted nor asked for?

The judicial sentence and punishment levied may end with Brig. Gen. Karpinsky. But the president and every other American should be ashamed to have been one at a time when only the worst of our character was seen.