One lesson: Abu Ghraib and Photography…just don’t mix. Seymour Hersh has provided the details and background to this scandal in great depth in the pages of Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib.
As one who learned about this breakdown from traditional news sources Hersh provides criticism for the Bush Administration and Donald Rumsfeld with a new insider view of the breakdown of command and control.
Clearly the treatment depicted in photographs now famous only harms future American interests and the war on Al Qaeda.
Acceptable Torture? Hersh has stated our actions (photos) have given the green light to our current and future enemies: a ready-made excuse to ignore Geneva Conventions. Don’t like where this goes…for our futures.
2 replies on “Latest read: Chain of Command”
Ahh, yes because before Abu Ghraib the terrorists weren’t hiding among civilians to use them as shields, and they weren’t using Mosques as bases and storage for weapons, they also had uniforms so they could be easily identified so as to help minimize civilian casualties.
Not that any terrorist behavior excuses what happened at Abu Ghraib whatsoever but I think that is a retarded conclusion to come to. Our current enemies do not obey Geneva Conventions, and they are highly unlikely to ever do so. Also just because we don’t obey Geneva (in this one isolated case) doesn’t mean our future potential enemies will ignore it, shouldn’t they hold themselves to a higher standard? Just how we should hold ourselves to a higher standard in our current fight.
[…] Papers. The CIA torture of innocent captives is well documented. It reminds me of the book Chain of Command which I read back in 2006. Remember the photographs of detained prisoners that caused a media […]