Where Do We Go From Here?

Family members and other supporters of those who have been charged with these crimes assert that the perpetrators were ordered to do so, the same defense that was used by Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg War Trials after World War II. At that time, this defensive tactic was judged as not valid. If the accusations today are true, and hopefully the investigations now underway will determine this, then those who issued such orders, or those whose orders were either intentionally or unintentionally unclear, must also be brought to justice. Claims that military protocols such as saluting and maintaining uniform standards were waived in the 800th Military Police Brigade, if proven true, must also be addressed and corrected, and discipline restored. In war or in peace, such sloppiness is not acceptable.

During questioning by the Senate Armed Services Committee, Secretary Rumsfeld stated several times that the reason the potentially serious nature of these events were not escalated in a timely manner was because of the current Military Justice System process. Investigations are dealt with at one level before being passed to the next higher level.  This is done to ensure that the accused can get a fair trial without having “command influence” jeopardize the outcome of that trial. It was obvious during the hearing that many of the Senators, rather than listening to the response to the last question and wanting to learn something, were instead busy preparing for their next chance to grandstand. Rumsfeld had to answer the same question several times, giving the same answer each time. The pompous asses in the group that call themselves senators already had their minds made up, and were merely going through the motions of fact-finding.

For routine cases, the existing process is satisfactory. In this case of prisoner abuse, it raises the question of why, during the early phases of the investigation, that no one who saw or was aware of the photographs recognized the potential damage that they could do to the country. Would it not have been possible and even preferable to bypass the standard process in this case by notifying the Pentagon brass of their existence, even if it jeopardized the criminal investigation and the cases against the perpetrators?  Or was it because the potential damage to the country was not even recognized by the lower chain of command? In either case, as Rumsfeld said, changes are in order. The process must allow lower levels of the military to escalate any information that could result in serious harm to the country, while at the same time protecting the rights of the accused..

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