Monday, June 21, 2004
Will The Truth Come Out?
We may, and I stress may, finally get some truth about the prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib. A judge in the courts marshall hearings has ruled that the top military commander in Iraq and his subordinates may be questioned.
I really don't think this will get us anywhere, but it will force some people to make a tough decision. The way I see it they have three choices:
So I would say that choice two seems the most likely. However, there are some problems with choice two. What if someone doesn't play ball? What if someone has a conscience? What if someone has a shred of moral decency? All it would take is one person to cave in and this would all blow up in their face.
Wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a society that valued truth and decency? (I know this is getting a little idealistic, but hear me out.) Isn't that the standard we like to hold ourselves to? Isn't that the reason (one of many) we invaded Iraq to begin with, because Saddam had no sense of decency and he wasn't being truthful about his stockpiles of weapons? Isn't truth and decency the vision for the new Iraq?
I'd say this would be the perfect time to set the example for the rest of the world. Step up to the plate and be honest! Even if it means that some top level officials get screwed in the process. The only way to restore America's credibility worldwide is to come clean about these abuses.
The current administration has cost our nation a lot of well-earned and well-deserved respect as the guiding force in the world. Up to this point we have always tried to be on the right side of conflict. Good over evil. I know that the White House would have you believe that the war on terrorism is an example of just that, but over the last sixteen months, we have become the aggressor and the tyrant. We have crossed the line from good to evil. Hopefully these hearings can bring us back and begin the long, slow process of restoring our dignity.
- A U.S. Army judge on Monday accepted a request by attorneys of soldiers accused of abusing detainees to question the military's top commander in Iraq and all his subordinates.
The order effectively compels Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. general in Iraq, and Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, the second-ranking commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and their subordinates to participate in a deposition with defense attorneys and Army prosecutors unless they invoke their rights against self-incrimination.
I really don't think this will get us anywhere, but it will force some people to make a tough decision. The way I see it they have three choices:
- Invoke their fifth amendment rights and look guilty as hell,
- Lie under oath and perjure themselves, or
- Actually tell the truth (not likely to happen).
So I would say that choice two seems the most likely. However, there are some problems with choice two. What if someone doesn't play ball? What if someone has a conscience? What if someone has a shred of moral decency? All it would take is one person to cave in and this would all blow up in their face.
Wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a society that valued truth and decency? (I know this is getting a little idealistic, but hear me out.) Isn't that the standard we like to hold ourselves to? Isn't that the reason (one of many) we invaded Iraq to begin with, because Saddam had no sense of decency and he wasn't being truthful about his stockpiles of weapons? Isn't truth and decency the vision for the new Iraq?
I'd say this would be the perfect time to set the example for the rest of the world. Step up to the plate and be honest! Even if it means that some top level officials get screwed in the process. The only way to restore America's credibility worldwide is to come clean about these abuses.
The current administration has cost our nation a lot of well-earned and well-deserved respect as the guiding force in the world. Up to this point we have always tried to be on the right side of conflict. Good over evil. I know that the White House would have you believe that the war on terrorism is an example of just that, but over the last sixteen months, we have become the aggressor and the tyrant. We have crossed the line from good to evil. Hopefully these hearings can bring us back and begin the long, slow process of restoring our dignity.
