Thursday, March 10, 2005

More on the Church Report...

Please excuse the double-posted entry earlier, Blogspot appears to be suffering some difficulties. Now, then...commented on the Church Report earlier, but I've had a chance to read some more about it since then.

What the hell is this collective punishment shit? And I love how the investigations are going absolutely nowhere. I applaud removing the guy from involvement with detainees, but come on! Shouldn't this guy be busted down or something?

After clashing with Afghan rebels at the village of Miam Do one year ago, American soldiers detained the village's entire population for four days, and an officer beat and choked several residents while screening them and trying to identify local militants, according to a new Pentagon report that was given to Congress late Monday night.

Although the officer, an Army lieutenant colonel attached to the Defense Intelligence Agency, was disciplined and suspended from further involvement with detainees, he faced no further action beyond a reprimand.

It's really upsetting to note that the medics are involved.

The report also delved into the role that medical personnel might have played in failing to report abuses they witnessed or treated. Investigators reviewed the cases of 68 detainees who died while in American custody, including 63 in Iraq and five in Afghanistan, the summary said. Six of those deaths were related to detainee abuse, investigators determined.

In three cases, two in Afghanistan and one in Iraq, the report concluded that "it appeared that medical personnel may have attempted to misrepresent the circumstances of the death, possibly to disguise detainee abuse." These cases were forwarded to the Army surgeon general for review, the report summary said.

But, ultimately, it of course leaves senior officials free and clear. Those torture memos were clearly a coincidence, and the fact that this is a systemic problem is all just a coincidence. It's just because the higher-ups didn't say not to do it.

Admiral Church's report faults senior American officials for failing to establish clear interrogation policies for Iraq and Afghanistan, leaving commanders there to develop some practices that were unauthorized, according to the report summary. But the inquiry found that Pentagon officials and senior commanders were not directly responsible for the detainee abuses, and that there was no policy that approved mistreatment of detainees at prisons in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Roll. Freakin'. Eyes.

Posted by crimnos @ 4:30 PM