| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: Politix |
| "Soldier’s Family Set In Motion Chain Of Events On Disclosure" |
| 2004-05-08 |
| 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. Hackworth’s 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. Hackworth’s 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.’s 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 it’s really true that no good deed goes unpunished. |
| Posted by:Phil Fraering |
| #6 The irony, Mr. Lawson, is that your family IS a bunch of dirt people who can't do anything about your son coming to trial because the Army would rather suffer the humiliation it has than submit to your blackmail. The fruit didn't fall far from the tree. I hope you can get adjoining cells. As for "undue command influence" the more I've thought about it, the more I suspect that may be one of the liberties that gets curtailed in wartime like being able to get on an airplane with your shoes tied. Whoever did the deed will do the time. |
| Posted by: Mr. Davis 2004-05-08 11:57:53 PM |
| #5 Robert: Well, they could be trying to create a huge uproar in hopes that it would enable them to plead "undue command influence," which Donald Sensing has been writing about. Although whether they'll be able to do this if the information gets traced back to their defense attorneys is something I don't know. |
| Posted by: Phil Fraering 2004-05-08 11:44:19 PM |
| #4 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. That's not a defense. Lawson's kid is still a criminal, no matter who told him to do what. "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.’s 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." What an ass. "Boo hoo! I'm getting dissed, so I'm going to release classified information and jeopardize the war effort. Boo hoo!" What Lawson's done is ramp the outrage over this into a fever. How does he feel knowing that because of his "whistle blowing", serious people are recommending his kid be sent to the firing squad? |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-05-08 11:36:24 PM |
| #3 Hackworth does seem to have a huge chip on his shoulder and a pretty limited line of vision - i.e., his world seems to start & end with ragging on the military brass. |
| Posted by: watching 2004-05-08 9:06:30 PM |
| #2 Shit gets done on Rantburg, tell you what. The photos were a staged event, I'm assuming, so the photo taker was not just some guy passing by. Somebody had an idea on what was going to take place. By what I read the photos were then quickly(?) released to the troops via e-mail. But we still don't know who took the pics, who's idea to take the pics, or who released the pics. Have the photos had the intended results? |
| Posted by: Lucky 2004-05-08 9:02:08 PM |
| #1 Hackworth hmmmmm. I get the same flesh crawl about him that I get about John Walsh. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-05-08 7:55:25 PM |