This accounting of Abu Ghraib is like the Jerry Springer version:
To some, the grave misdeeds at Abu Ghraib, where the three soldiers worked for six months in 2003, have become a twisted symbol of the American military occupation of Iraq. But the scandal is also one rooted in the behavior of military reservists working at the prison, an environment that testimony has portrayed as more frat house than military prison, a place where inmates were routinely left naked and soldiers took pictures of one another simulating sex with fruit.
The reservists' treatment of Iraqi prisoners and their entanglements with one another - pieced together from documents, court testimony, e-mail and interviews - have produced a dark soap opera, one whose episodes have continued to play out in the months since the scandal erupted, and culminated in the Texas courtroom last week.
The reporter Kate Zernike has taken the White House and Pentagon line that it was not systemic because the torture tactics utilized, with the understanding and justification at the highest levels of civilian and military leadership, were the result of "a few bad apples".
The story by this reporter shows a deep and continuing misunderstanding of the reports by other journalists and other investigations including ICRC report, the Taguba Report, Fay Report, and the Schelsinger report.
It is dismissive of the fact that Abu Ghraib is permanently associated with America, the US military and specifically with Mr. Bush and his monumental hypocrisy about "getting to the bottom" of those who are "responsible".
To some, the grave misdeeds at Abu Ghraib, where the three soldiers worked for six months in 2003, have become a twisted symbol of the American military occupation of Iraq. But the scandal is also one rooted in the behavior of military reservists working at the prison, an environment that testimony has portrayed as more frat house than military prison, a place where inmates were routinely left naked and soldiers took pictures of one another simulating sex with fruit.
The reservists' treatment of Iraqi prisoners and their entanglements with one another - pieced together from documents, court testimony, e-mail and interviews - have produced a dark soap opera, one whose episodes have continued to play out in the months since the scandal erupted, and culminated in the Texas courtroom last week.
The reporter Kate Zernike has taken the White House and Pentagon line that it was not systemic because the torture tactics utilized, with the understanding and justification at the highest levels of civilian and military leadership, were the result of "a few bad apples".
The story by this reporter shows a deep and continuing misunderstanding of the reports by other journalists and other investigations including ICRC report, the Taguba Report, Fay Report, and the Schelsinger report.
It is dismissive of the fact that Abu Ghraib is permanently associated with America, the US military and specifically with Mr. Bush and his monumental hypocrisy about "getting to the bottom" of those who are "responsible".
posted by Ken at 2:20 PM
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