[Peace-discuss] Only the Jailers are Safe

[Morton K. Brussel]

Now, if only the NYT wold call for impeachment…

EDITORIAL
Only the Jailers Are Safe

Published: December 20, 2006
Ever since the world learned of the lawless state of American  
military prisons in Iraq, the administration has hidden behind the  
claim that only a few bad apples were brutalizing prisoners.  
President Bush also has dodged the full force of public outrage  
because the victims were foreigners, mostly Muslims, captured in what  
he has painted as a war against Islamic terrorists bent on destroying  
America.

This week, The Times published two articles that reminded us again  
that the American military prisons are profoundly and systemically  
broken and that no one is safe from the summary judgment and harsh  
treatment institutionalized by the White House and the Pentagon after  
9/11.

On Monday, Michael Moss wrote about a U.S. contractor who was swept  
up in a military raid and dumped into a system where everyone is  
presumed guilty and denied any chance to prove otherwise.

Donald Vance, a 29-year-old Navy veteran from Chicago, was a whistle- 
blower who prompted the raid by tipping off the F.B.I. to suspicious  
activity at the company where he worked, including possible weapons  
trafficking. He was arrested and held for 97 days — shackled and  
blindfolded, prevented from sleeping by blaring music and round-the- 
clock lights. In other words, he was subjected to the same  
mistreatment that thousands of non-Americans have been subjected to  
since the 2003 invasion.

Even after the military learned who Mr. Vance was, they continued to  
hold him in these abusive conditions for weeks more. He was not  
allowed to defend himself at the Potemkin hearing held to justify his  
detention. And that was special treatment. As an American citizen, he  
was at least allowed to attend his hearing. An Iraqi, or an Afghani,  
or any other foreigner, would have been barred from the room.

This is not the handiwork of a few out-of-control sadists at Abu  
Ghraib. This is a system that was created and operated outside  
American law and American standards of decency. Except for the few  
low-ranking soldiers periodically punished for abusing prisoners, it  
is a system without any accountability.

Yesterday, David Johnston reported that nearly 20 cases in which  
civilian contractors were accused of abusing detainees have been sent  
to the Justice Department. So far, the record is perfect: not a  
single indictment.

Administration officials said that prosecutors were hobbled by a lack  
of evidence and witnesses, or that the military’s cases were simply  
shoddy. This sounds like another excuse from an administration that  
has papered over prisoner abuse and denied there is any connection  
between Mr. Bush’s decision to flout the Geneva Conventions and the  
repeated cases of abuse and torture. We hope the new Congress will be  
more aggressive on this issue than the last one, which was more bent  
on preserving the Republican majority than preserving American values  
and rights. The lawless nature of Mr. Bush’s war on terror has  
already cost the nation dearly in terms of global prestige, while  
increasing the risks facing every American serving in the military.
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