|
"Soldierâs Family Set In Motion Chain Of Events On Disclosure"
Found thanks to Citizen Smash and Kevin Drum. EFL; RTWT.So the father went to his brother-in-law, William Lawson, who was afraid that reservists like his nephew would end up taking the fall for what he considered command lapses, Mr. Lawson recounted in an interview on Friday. He knew whom to turn to: David Hackworth, a retired colonel and a muckraker who was always willing to take on the military establishment. Mr. Lawson sent an e-mail message in March to Mr. Hackworthâs Web site and got a call back from an associate there in minutes, he said. That e-mail message would put Mr. Lawson in touch with the CBS News program "60 Minutes II" and help set in motion events that led to the public disclosure of the graphic photographs and an international crisis for the Bush administration. It is still not entirely clear who leaked the photos and how they got into the hands of a "60 Minutes II" producer. What is clear, however, is that the furor over the photos is unlikely to dissipate any time soon... The irony, Mr. Lawson said, is that the public spectacle might have been avoided if the military and the federal government had been responsive to his claims that his nephew was simply following orders. Mr. Lawson said he sent letters to 17 members of Congress about the case earlier this year, with virtually no response, and that he ultimately contacted Mr. Hackworthâs Web site out of frustration, leading him to cooperate with a consultant for "60 Minutes II." "The Army had the opportunity for this not to come out, not to be on 60 Minutes," he said. "But the Army decided to prosecute those six G.I.âs because they thought me and my family were a bunch of poor, dirt people who could not do anything about it. But unfortunately, that was not the case." So, let me get this straight... the pictures were published and the scandal broke because the Army insisted on prosecuting some abusive prison guards rather than letting them go? I guess itâs really true that no good deed goes unpunished. Posted by: Phil Fraering 2004-05-08 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=32529 |