Abu Ghraib, and a lack of Accountability 05/13/2004

If you want to hear a rant, but not out of the mouth of a cynic, click here and read Ralph Nader's response to all this... Otherwise, read on.

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I really hate this war. The unbelievable atrocities at the Abu Ghraib prison, only further prove my point: that war is the most horrible thing mankind ever invented.
I really doubt those soldiers over there did those sorts of things when they were living at home, not having a gun draped across their shoulder 24 hours a day.
We've forgotten Neitzche's maxim: "He who hunts monsters should be wary that he also does not become a monster."

Then there is the beheading of Nick Berg, by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, done in retaliation of what occurred in Abu Ghraib.

I hear people talk, read what people say online, how the Iraqis deserved what they got. How they are little more than animals.
These are the same people who made such eloquent arguments (nonetheless still full of bullshit) about how it was necessary to liberate the Iraqi people.
Sorry, if the Iraqis are little more than animals, then why the fuck would we want to waste lives liberating them?

I've been trying to avoid talking about this one with people, because of how disgusted I am with all of it. In my opinion, there's nothing to talk about.
A couple of days ago, a friend's mom tried to talk to me about it. I'm not sure what she was looking for, or what point she was trying to make, other than saying we are justified for being over there, which is a load of bollocks, mate.

The thing about all this that really disappoints me, and thank god I have a cynical shell or it'd do more than disappoint: The U.S. is trying seven soldiers for the shit that went on in Abu Ghraib. Seven.
Even if that's all the soldiers who did such things, we still have a problem.

Soldiers are trained from the get go that they are only allowed to do what their superiors say they can. They are not at liberty to improvise. Which means that their commanding officer is responsible for the actions of his subordinates.
He should be on trial as well, since if he ordered them to act this way he is just as at fault, and if he didn't, then he has no ability to discipline his troops and doesn't derserve the stars he wears.
This responisibility goes right up the line, all the way to the Commander in Chief. Especially since administration officials knew about Abu Ghraib since January.

All we've been seeing from this administration, one day after the next, is the Adam and Eve Defense. "It's not my fault I messed up, but this other person, they are to blame."

It makes me want to call up the President and scream "Fuck you" through the phone until I am hoarse. Take some goddamn accountability for the people you are commanding you fucking son of a bitch.