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There is a long list of disgraceful examples of war crimes (some of them continuing): Reprisal attacks on Iraqi cities like Fallujah, using white phosphorous and depleted uranium weapons; torture, deemed "enhanced interrogation techniques" by the wordsmiths in Washington; orders to look the other way as detainees continue to be tortured by Iraqi security forces; and drone and other air attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan that callously kill unarmed civilians.
Just last month, there was Gen. David Petraeus shocking Afghan government officials with his suggestion that Afghan parents are burning their own children to cast blame on the U.S. military for civilian casualties from air assaults.
For his part, Taguba remained a stalwart on behalf of the Army's honor. He publicly condemned prisoner abuse and eventually called for the prosecution of those responsible. He has written:
"There is no longer any doubt that the current [Bush] administration committed war crimes. The only question is whether those who ordered torture will be held to account."
More than two years after President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney left office, it seems safe to guess the answer to Taguba's question. Accountability? Foggetaboutit!
For various reasons ranging from expediency to cowardice, the Obama administration has taken no steps to hold the perpetrators of those war crimes accountable. The only jeopardy that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the faux-lawyers who "approved" the torture face at this point, is eventually being held accountable abroad under the international legal principle of universal jurisdiction.
This danger already accounts for why many senior Bush-era officials do not venture abroad; they fear capture and prosecution. Rumsfeld had to beat a hasty exit from Paris in October 2007, and Bush had to cancel a planned trip to Geneva last month -- just to be on the safe side. But U.S. "Justice" officials are neither investigating nor prosecuting.
Manning's Forced Nudity
Even worse, the recent behavior of today's Pentagon brass -- and their new political overlords -- gives further support to Taguba's allusion to the Mafia.
When Private Bradley Manning put his conscience ahead of his personal well being by allegedly releasing important information to the world's public via WikiLeaks, he was apprehended and put into an inhumane solitary confinement. And he now faces charges that carry the possibility of him spending the rest of his life in prison.
One of the charges is "aiding the enemy," a military crime punishable by execution. Pentagon officials apparently thought they were showing some mercy, though, when they let it be known that they would not seek the death penalty for Manning.
Still, the Army has been treating Manning in ways reminiscent of the detainees at Abu Ghraib and the CIA's various "black sites." He has been locked in his cell at the Marine brig in Quantico, Virginia, for 23 hours a day and barred from interaction with other prisoners even during his one hour of "exercise" in an empty room.
On Wednesday, Manning was stripped of his clothes and forced to remain naked in his cell for seven hours. He also was required to stand naked during an inspection. A U.S. military spokesman confirmed the incident, calling it "not punitive," but said he couldn't explain why Manning suffered forced nudity because to explain would violate "the detainee's privacy."
On Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Geoffrey Morrell defended the general conditions of Manning's maximum security imprisonment due to "the seriousness of the charges he's facing, the potential length of sentence [and] the national security implications" as well as his personal safety. [NYT, March 4, 2011]
So, authorizing, plotting, and carrying out torture, assassinations, and aggressive warfare -- violations of both U.S. and international law -- get you no punishment, only hefty speaking fees from friendly political groups and fat contracts from book publishers.
But sharing facts with the public -- and actually helping the spread of democracy across the Middle East and around the world -- gets you put in prison under harsh and humiliating conditions.
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