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A modest proposal from the blogosphere regarding Abu Ghraib
This is excerpted from a posting by blogger Tacitus. Iâve not seen a similar suggestion anywhere else to date, and I think the ideas have some merit.. . . Something must still be done, and done swiftly. The wheels of justice, such as they are, will turn at their own rate, and far be it for me to speed them. But this being the military, there are things that can be done which will impart some measure of justice while not being of the judicial process. Many of these things will not be fair, but the Army, as I was endlessly reminded by various persons in authority over several years in uniform, is also not fair. Not being fair, though, is not the same thing as not being right. The first act that is entirely within the Armyâs power is the immediate relief from duty -- or reassignment to menial tasks -- of all officers and NCOs in the chain of command of the offending unit, which, from press accounts, appears to be the 372nd Military Police Company. I do not speak merely of leadership within the company: I mean through the brigade level at minimum, and division if possible. Responsibility equating to culpability is an age-old military principle, and it ought to be applied with rigor here. A second act within the Armyâs power is the immediate dismissal from service of, and the loss of all contracts by, CACI, whose employees are alleged to be involved in the prisonersâ maltreatment. Concurrent to this, United States or military courts could, I would think, certainly discover appropriate jurisdiction over the relevant civilian personnel and proceed accordingly (should they reject it, the clarifying option of Iraqi jurisdiction might be offered). The third and final act that is within the Armyâs power is to disband the 372nd Military Police Company. Dissolve it entirely; never resurrect the unit designation; strip it of its citations; bury the guidon in disgrace in front of all its soldiers and an Iraqi delegation in Iraq; scatter its alumni to the four corners of the Army. Cruel? Yes. Harsh? You bet. Salutary? Absolutely. The Army is a closed society that treasures its hierarchy and its heritage: institutional oblivion is therefore among its most dreaded fates. This ought to be the fate of the 372nd, with all the public humiliation and display that can be mustered. To the soldiers, it will say that there will be little mercy and no mitigation for crimes in Americaâs service; to Iraqis, it will say that we have excised our cancer and are moving decisively forward. To Americans, it will say that we have the courage to be the best, not by comparison, but as an end in itself. There is precedent for this: almost a decade ago, soldiers of the Canadian Airborne Regiment tortured and murdered a Somali prisoner in their custody. After extensive investigation revealing a culture of impunity, brutality, and hazing within the Regiment, the Canadian government disbanded the unit in disgrace. In its execution it was, to my mind, something of an overreaction on Canadaâs part -- they do, after all, have precious little infantry to spare -- but the principle behind the decision was sound, and right. Iâm not so sure Canada can do without its Airborne Regiment in the long run. I am quite sure we can do without the 372nd Military Police Company. Hat tip to Sgt. Stryker, who favors the idea. What say you, fellow Ranters? Posted by: Mike 2004-05-06 |
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