Pentagon: "Ok, ok... Some soldiers DID disgrace the Koran"

Brandon9000 wrote:

What's useful is trying to understand certain members here who crow with delight about everything any American might have done wrong, any setback or difficulty our troops may be experiencing, frequently attribute conspiracies and lying schemes to Americans, but seem utterly disinterested in immensely worse behavior on the other side. I mean just that, no more no less. I am not implying that people on our side who behave disgracefully shouldn't be stopped and disciplined.

I expect there to be disgraceful behavior in time of war. That behavior is within the realm of human experience and will surface given the opportunity. What I do not except is the unwillingness of our government to stop and discipline those responsible. When the Red Cross notifies us that abuses are occuring in November and honest soilders are risking their careers reporting abuses to their superiors in January I expect action before the photos are all over the news in March. I expect real investigations instead of limited investigations by officers with insufficient rank to question the right people. I want to know why torture equipment seems so readily available that bored, night shift guards can easily set it up. I expect and demand that my government do that. I'm not disinterested in the heineous practices of other countries and organizations, I just think that it is not an excuse that explains misconduct done in my name.

Either/both.

Where did the information come from that the detainee retracted his story? How can you be sure it is reliable?

Cycloptichorn

The now-retracted Newsweek story refers to a detainee who claimed during interrogation that guards at the facility beat detainees and flushed a Koran down a toilet.

But Hood said the detainee told the recent military investigators a different story. The detainee said, "no, that he wasn't beaten or abused, but that he had heard rumors that other detainees were," Hood said. "We then proceeded to ask him about any incidences where he had seen the Koran defiled, desecrated or mishandled, and he allowed as how he hadn't," Hood emphasized. "But he had heard guards -- that guards at some other point in time had done this.

"(The detainee) went on to describe to his interrogator that that was a problem that was only in the old camp," Hood said. "I believe he meant referring to Camp X-Ray."

Camp X-Ray was a temporary facility used when detainees were first brought to Guantanamo Bay in early 2002. More suitable holding facilities were opened in April 2002.

It seems to me that the people connected, for instance, with the Abu Graib malfeasances have been disciplined severely, as they certainly should have been. Do you believe that these bad acts are more numerous or wose in nature than the bad acts committed by American interrogators in previous wars? They are certainly deplorable, and they must be stopped, but are they unusual?

Okay. You know as well as I do that the gov't has lied or mislead people, in this administration and past ones, time and time again. If I asked you for a list of clinton lies and coverups I've no doubt you could produce some for me;

... but the Military is the same as then.

What makes you think that any major gov't organization such as this can successfully self-monitor themselves? Especially in a case such as this? There is no objective reason for them to tell the truth, much reason for them to lie, and little chance that anyone will be able to find out the difference until it is far too late.

My belief is that there is no reason to believe that an organization such as the military, during a time of war, can effectively self-police or self-investigate, especailly when there is a clear interest for one's country in not revealing the truth.

I don't think those responsible have been "disciplined severely."

It's just about respecting the artifacts of someone's culture.

If that doesn't matter to you then not much more can be said.