"Mary Shafer" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 23:39:20 -0400, "Kevin Brooks"
wrote:

"John Cook" wrote in message
...

Saying that more Iraqi's are being serviced by the electrical grid
isn't the best example you could give at the moment - Many have seen
the pictures of that Iraqi prisoner hooked up to it ;-).

Not really a laughing matter--and of course, the individuals responsible
were brought up on charges before the press even went public with that
story. A number of personnel facing courts martial, and a fair number of
more senior leaders receiving non-judicial punishment for lesser related
offenses, because a troopie did what he was supposed to do (report
improper/illegal behavior). So the end game looks like a few individuals
screwed up, are facing the consequences, and the US Army met its
obligation
to investigate and take punitive action where appropriate--not a bad
thing,
IMO.

Do you still feel that this has been handled promptly and properly?

Look at the timeline--the report of the activities in question was received
by the chain of command on 16 Jan, IIRC, and the CID kicked off its
investigation within three days. Less than four months later the first
indicif-dual is getting ready to face a courts martial. How many *civil*
criminal proceedings do you see take off this quickly?
Sounds pretty prompt to me.

Properly? Sounds like it. CID was involved from the get-go, and the
commander began a 15-6 investigation concurrently. About the same time, the
Army announced that an investigation was underway to the press (not vice
versa). Key leaders in the suspect units were removed from command
immediately. Despite the inept braying of the media (on topics related,
large and small--I just lstened to CNN's Judy Woodruff tell her viewers that
today's editorial in Army Times...will undoubtedly be read by all US
Marines, who read each and every copy...(?!)), the system is working,
promptly and apparently efficiently.

You could toss up the rather general concerns raised by the ICRC last
year...but being as they were concerned with infractions that allegedly
occured the same month we began moving into Iraq, and included such weighty
concerns as keeping prisoners in unlighted cells (when 90 plus percent of
the entire Iraqi population was sililarly without power), I am not sure how
much creedance to give that approach.

Brooks


Mary

--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer