Marty Lederman gives a full, and quite sickening, analysis of the legal and political context of the Iraqi torture-murder story I noted below.
This administration is not only morally bankrupt, it has soiled the military, which had, I thought, rebuilt its honor after the then-nadir of Vietnam. Official torture and murder with the connivance or malign neglect of higher-ups is almost as bad as governments get, short of genocide.
Documents Tell of Brutal Improvisation by GIs: they put an Iraqi Major General into a sleeping bag, wrapped him in electrical cord, and beat him until he died.
Two of the soldiers–enlisted men–are being tried for murder. (Their lawyer says that they shouldn’t be blamed as it was days of earlier torture–hitting the detainee with fists, a club and a length of rubber hose–that did him in.) The CIA’s role is being suppressed from the public accounts; there is no word as to whether the CIA’s operative will be prosecuted, although the “The CIA inspector general’s office has launched an investigation”.
An indicted soldier’s lawyer, not an unbiased source, is quoted by the Post as saying,
“The interrogation techniques were known and were approved of by the upper echelons of command of the 3rd ACR,” … “They believed, and still do, that they were appropriate and proper.”
Iraq Coalition Casualties reports the 2000th uniformed victim. Not to mention the civilian deaths and infrastructure carnage. (And the monetary cost to the US taxpayers of the future.)
And to what benefit?
Painfully true jokes via Daily Kos:
The White House announced that the public would not be allowed to see the memos produced by John Roberts when he represented the United States government as a lawyer. They say this is because of the attorney-client privilege. Here’s the part I don’t understand: he represented the United States, we’re the client, he’s our lawyer. Shouldn’t we be allowed see our own notes?”
–Jay Leno“North Korea is making several demands in exchange for giving up their nuclear program, including a promise from America not to attack them. Which is a little strange because for us to attack them we would have to have `slam dunk’ proof that they have weapons of mass destruction. I mean, for Gods sakes people, we’re not maniacs. It would have to be an air-tight case. We wouldn’t just come in there and start bombing you…”
–Jon Stewart“It was so hot down in Florida Jeb Bush was rigging ice machines.”
–David Letterman“The White House dropped the phrase `war on terror’ when polls showed no one thought we were winning it. They think they know how to make it more popular. They’re going to stop calling it `war on terror’ and start calling it `Shrek 3.'”
–Argus Hamilton, comedian and columnist (Via Time magazine)
This Watley Review posting on Disgruntled Harry Potter Fan Releases “Corrected” Version of Book fooled me completely. It so perfectly captures a certain type of reality that when I first read it, I never even imagined it was a parody.
It is a parody, isn't it? (cf. Ann Bartow's concluding Note to the exceedingly gullible). I mean, this rapid-fan-translation story is supposed to be true….
Congratulations to UM Law’s Joanne Harvest Koren, who has just been elected Chair of Miami-Dade County’s Community Relations Board.
Update:Joanne also co-wrote an op-ed in today’s Miami Herald, Tragedy Can Spur Civil Discourse.
Recent Bluessky Posts
Jotwell Blenderlaw