I woke up early this morning, thinking about Abu Ghraib. There are several things to be written, and it will take some time. There are three levels to consider:
- Constitutional, including just war and strategic considerations
- Institutional, including issues of ethics, corporate culture and command responsibility
- Personal, including the confrontation of our own capacity for evil, spiritual remedies, and judging others.
I'm not sure where all of this is going. I may write for publication prior to posting on this blog.
In the meantime, look at the remarks of Thomas Sowell on the press. He makes a case that the press is hypocritical - it withheld evidence of Saddam's torture but is all too willing (read free) to expose American torture.
"........ CNN had the forbearance to withhold information about far worse things that were done during the Saddam Hussein regime, for fear of having their Baghdad office closed down. But apparently that was more important than the war in Iraq."
He makes a further case that premature exposure was unethical, compromising US forces.
"Some say the camera doesn't lie but it can grossly mislead. If these same photos were released at some future time, after those responsible had been court-martialed and punished, that would present a very different picture and the military authorities would be freer to pinpoint blame.
But a court martial is a trial, and that places severe restrictions on what military authorities can say because they have to be responsible adults, even if journalists are not. If a colonel is conducting a court martial and the generals over him are publicly denouncing those on trial, will that be considered a fair trial whose verdicts will stand up on appeal?
Could the photos not wait until the whole story was in, so that they could be seen as what they are -- pictures of things that were not tolerated by America, even though worse things are tolerated and even celebrated in some Middle East countries that are having a field day condemning the United States and whipping up calls for revenge?......."
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