Monday, May 03, 2004

read this article! As the international furor grew, senior military officers, and President Bush, insisted that the actions of a few did not reflect the conduct of the military as a whole. Taguba’s report, however, amounts to an unsparing study of collective wrongdoing and the failure of Army leadership at the highest levels. The picture he draws of Abu Ghraib is one in which Army regulations and the Geneva conventions were routinely violated, and in which much of the day-to-day management of the prisoners was abdicated to Army military-intelligence units and civilian contract employees. Interrogating prisoners and getting intelligence, including by intimidation and torture, was the priority. Update: and here is the Army study that was the basis of the above article. 8:31:54 PM

the power of photos Excellent commentary on the power of photos to shape our feelings and debates concering Iraq. Clearly, this power is not lost on the Bushmen -- hence the censoring fo the war dead, the eleborate toppling of the Saddam statue, and of course, the "mission accomplished" staging of pres AWOL -- but facts can only be manipulated so far. What we are seeing now is a rebellion of fact against fantasy instigated by the leaking of embarrassing photos. 8:04:09 PM