Aug. 25, 2004 - 17:19 MDT

THE WONDERING JEW

Yes, But

"The report, set to be released today . . . ." was in yesterday's paper. Here is what is in the Rocky Mountain news today, by Eric Rosenberg of Hearst Newspapers - in part:

Abu Ghraib report nixes resignation idea

WASHINGTON -- "The chief of the Pentagon's investigation into the Iraq prison abuse scandal said Tuesday that the Abu Ghraib facility was so chaotic it was like Animal House and that culpability reached into the upper levels of the Defense Department."

"Still, the four-member panel headed by former Defense Seretary James Schlesinger concluded that current Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other senior leaders, including Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, should not be forced to resign because of the scandal."

"Referring to Rumsfeld, Schlesinger said: "His resignation would be a boon to all of America's enemies."

Schlesinger, speaking at a Pentagon news conference to release the panel's 118 page report, faulted the U.S. military chain of command -- from Rumsfeld down to the commanders of the units in Iraq responsible for prisoners.

Schlesinger said commanders at Abu Ghraib up to the brigade level share 'direct responsibility' because 'they did not adequately supervise what was going on' at the prison. Senior military leaders such as Army. Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of American forces in Iraq during the time of the abuses, share 'indirect responsibility in that the weaknesses at Abu Ghraib were well-known and that corrective action should have been taken,' he said."

"Senior Pentagon leaders and top commanders in Iraq 'were not focused on the detention operations.' 'In retrospect it's clear that we regarded that as an error on their part,' Schlesinger said."

"Contradicting Rumsfeld's earlier assertions that the abuses were isolated, Schlesinger said the investigation found 'widespread' abuses."

"The report said that the U.S. military is investigating about 300 allegations of abuse in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where suspect al-Qaida terrorists are imprisoned. Thus far the report said , 155 investigations have been completed, yielding 66 substantiated cases of prison abuse."

In a box in the article it shows that in Iraq 55, Guantanamo 8 and Afghanistan 3 of the allegations out of the 155 completed were substantiated.

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Sometimes I have the right slant on things it would appear. When I first read of the Abu Ghraib scandal it seemed to me that the mess went all the way to the top and the investigation, as far as it has gone shows that to be an observed fact by Schlesinger and the other three.

It wasn't mentioned in the article why investigation on such sweeping charges have not been totally completed before the report was released. Could it be that the report was premature ? If so, why ?

So Schlesinger says the top dogs should not be forced to resign. I guess the only reason that they shouldn't resign is because of the old philosophy of not changing horses in the middle of the stream. Wonder if any of the lower echelon would be willing to take over with Iraq being in such a mess ?

It seems to me that military brass, the Pentagon should be announcing the penalties that will be levied on the offenders that are not under the shield of Schlesinger's remarks. Well, you know how it is in such complicated affairs there is always the old escape hatch of Yes, But . . . . . . . . . .

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