The Wrong Direction
This NYT editorial makes lots of good points:
The proper way for Mr. Bush and Mr. Rumsfeld to show support for the troops is not to use them as a screen from the heat over the mismanagement of the military prisons. It is to fix the problem, now. The solution is real changes, not cosmetic ones like yesterday's announcement that Abu Ghraib's inmates would be moved within the prison grounds to new temporary quarters, which have been dubbed Camp Redemption . . . Each passing day has made it more clear that the routine treatment of prisoners in military prisons violates international law, the Geneva Conventions and American values of due process and humane behavior. This is a terrible burden for the fine men and women serving in Iraq to bear, as they live their lives among an ever more hostile populace.. . . Mr. Bush and Mr. Rumsfeld should also stop trying to dump the blame on the shoulders of America's enlisted men and women . . . Mr. Bush and his Republican allies in Congress should stop trying to evade responsibility by accusing those who want to ask tough questions of being disloyal to the troops and the war effort.
One point that made me chuckle, though, was the "Camp Redemption" name -- are they channelling Cotton Mather and the Quakers?
And just what is now being redeemed in this prison -- the reputation of the army, perhaps, or the immortal souls of all those so-called terrorists at Abu Gharib? Or maybe just some Canadian Tire dollars?
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