Helen Thomas is a woman I have admired most of my life. I loved to watch her at Presidential press conferences. She never gave up, she followed up her questions, and generally took no bullshit from anyone, including the President. Sadly, now reporters are too chicken, or perhaps less than well educated or informed to ask hard hitting questions; or perhaps they are afraid the Bushites will never let them enter a press event again if they speak out, so they don't. Helen Thomas still speaks out, and eloquently on Abu Ghraib .
I agree with Ms. Thomas that there is absolutely no way these enlisted personnel (and one LTC) came up with the entire idea to torture prisoners. The prevailing attitude is always set at the top. I think there is long line of guilty folks that are getting off. Where were the Chaplains? They should have been out and about, and monitoring the situation, the condition of the prisoners, etc. As the daughter of a military Chaplain I know full well what the Chaplain SHOULD have been doing, but what did he/she do? There are always more people out there than just the guards, and there is rumor, and more. Oddly there was only one man with the courage to stand up and say it was wrong. Now he is basically in a witness protection program. Although I understand he will be awarded a medal from the JFK Profiles in Courage group, which he richly deserves.
The "fearless leaders" of our military deserve punishment for their roles, which I am sure they had in all of this. Instead, the enlisted folks are scapegoated and the big wigs get off. Symptomatic of this country today. The rich and the bigwigs get it all, and the rest of us get nada (nothing).
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