Scandal Overshadows Abu Ghraib Victories

Scandal Overshadows Abu Ghraib Victories
By CHRISTINA ALMEIDA, Associated Press Writer

In a dusty caravan of Humvees and 2 1/2-ton trucks, the 72nd Military Police Company set out from Baghdad International Airport in the early hours of May 24, 2003.

Their mission: to secure the notorious Abu Ghraib prison for an onslaught of prisoners expected to arrive within days.

For the next five months, the soldiers would convert the abandoned, trash-filled complex, a monument of atrocities under Saddam Hussein, into livable cells.

"We worked extremely hard," 1st Sgt. Daryl Keithley said in an interview after returning to Nevada. "Of that, our company walked away very proud."

It would only be later, after the 72nd left Baghdad and word of abuses at Abu Ghraib prompted international outrage, that the Nevada Guardsmen would begin to wonder what they had accomplished.

(more)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040524/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/guarding_abu_ghraib&cid=542&ncid=1480

...the soldiers would convert the abandoned, trash-filled complex, a monument of atrocities under Saddam Hussein, into livable cells...
for prisoners being arrested without probable cause and held without charges or access to a lawyer.

Guardsmen dug a trench for a communal bathroom and put up pieces of cardboard for privacy...
When the camp ran out of water, soldiers were ordered to hand over theirs to prisoners.
When detainees arrived barefoot, soldiers searched the prison grounds for discarded shoes...
...a tent had been set up for family visits.
There was no money for adequate plumbing or shelter. Yet there was enough money to pay mercenaries $2,000 a week while the Guard's families line up at food banks.

"You can't walk around and tell people about all the good things you did at this prison," Armstrong said. The scandal is "all that's ever going to be remembered."
And the photos are only the icing on the cake. The REAL scandal of Abu Ghraib is that it was Bush's chance to show the world that even during a time of warfare, democracy United States style works. In so blatantly breaking his promise to close the torture and rape rooms and introduce due process, Bush betrayed his misson and his country.

:puffpiece:
rocknation

The building was so encrusted with Saddamian evil that it infected our fine boys and girls, leading them to do things that no American could ever contemplate otherwise. Even with all the effort in the world to clean it up and make it presentable, this evil building still managed to seduce our wonderful troops into doing its malignant bidding.

It is time for this building to own up and show a little personal responsibility. Thus, the building must be condemned and executed, cleansing the U.S. military of this unfortunate stain on its honor.

I remember some town tried and sentenced a rogue circus elephant once. They used a crane and chains to hang it. This makes about as much sense.