Abu Punishments Too Lenient

[kmack]

Kennedy: One Year after Abu Ghraib, US Response Still Inadequate
Agence France-Presse

Tuesday 26 April 2005

Washington - One year after abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq rocked official Washington, the administration of President George W. Bush has done little to prosecute those responsible or to prevent new abuse, a senior US senator said.

In a Senate speech noting the anniversary, Edward Kennedy lamented that investigations into prisoner abuse by US forces in Iraq have led to punishment for a few "conveniently lower-rank soldiers," while the administration he said, chose to "insulate the civilian leadership from responsibility."

"The American people deserved a thorough review of all detention and interrogation policies used by military and intelligence personnel abroad, and a full accounting of all officials responsible for the policies that allowed the abuses to take place," Kennedy said, dismissing the nine government-led probes carried out so far as "incomplete and self-serving."

He called for a much more thorough, independent probe into the scandal.

"We need a full and independent investigation of our current detention, rendition and interrogation policies, including an honest assessment of what went wrong in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo."

The Democratic senator continued: "The torture scandal is not going away on its own. Our nation will continue to be harmed by the reports of abuse of detainees in US custody, the failure by top officials to take action and the abandonment of our basic rules and traditions on human rights."

The prisoner abuse photos, Kennedy added, "stand in sharp contrast to the values America has always stood for: our belief in the dignity and worth of all people; our unequivocal stance against torture and abuse; our commitment to the rule of law.

"The images of cruelty and perversion are still difficult to look at a year later," he said, adding: "These images are seared into our collective memory."

i dont want to see these lower ranking officers paying for crimes that took place higher on the pay grade. this was a horrible act, someone needs to step up and say "i ****ed up, and im sorry and ready to accept the consequences for my actions".

anyone think it will happen? or should we just let these poor soldiers who just did what they were told take the heat?