Ultimate responsibility for Abu Graib lies with Bush....

The rush to war in Iraq placed these MP's in a position that made abuse easier to come about. Lack of manpower, lack of supervision, lack of training, extended tours of duty, rock bottom morale caused by extended tours of duty which directly relates to poor planning at DoD.

Is all of Afghanistan in US control? No.

The war in Iraq was a war of choice unrelated to the "war on terror" but republican propaganda ministers would have you believe otherwise.
Rumsfeld sent an unprepared, under-manned force to Iraq and one of the end results is what happened at Abu Graib.

nt

Rummy: "Ask General Myers. I didn't read about the buck. In fact, this is the first I've heard of the buck."
Powell: "Don't go there. Just don't go there."

of a US military person.

Less than six months later, one soldier is killed in what is essentially a "gang style" drive-by shooting.

Guess who was blamed then?

hole in the USS Cole, killing several US personnel.

Guess who was blamed for the security lapse? Not the guys on the Cole, who probably didn't realize how vulnerable they were.

Republicans hold this like Clinton should have jumped into a telephone booth and come out in red and blue tights and flown around the globe to pluck the raft out of the water seconds before the fatal blast.

I've been listening to people call for Rumsfeld's head for this, or demanding Bush be impeached for it, or whatever. As much as I would like to see Rumsfeld and Bush retire permanently from public "service," I don't blame them for the Abu Graib situation.

He's WAY too high up in the chain. He didn't give orders to do this, and I believe that he is honestly disgusted by these actions. The people who did it will be court martialed, as will their direct CO's, most likely.

This just seems like we're grabbing at threads and blaming Bush & Co. for EVERYTHING that goes wrong.

We need to remember that the key to winning modern elections is to win the hearts and minds of "swing" voters, and this makes us just look like big whiners.

Bush and his administration are the ones who have set to tone for what goes on. Every corporation I have ever been associated with has a climate set by the chief executive. If the CEO has a high standard of morals, that gets communicated to everyone including the person who sweeps the floor. If the U.S. had a truly noble and honorable president, I don't think you'd see this kind of shit going on.

At the outset of combat two years ago, Rumsfeld announced:

1. that detainees in Afghanistan "do not have any rights" under the Geneva Conventions, which are "outdated",
2. that there will be no formal hearings to determine whether detainees are prisoners of war or unlawful combatants (as GCs require),
3. that Army regulations on the interrogation of prisoners no longer apply,
4. that detainees may be held incommunicado,
5. that detainees may be deprived of legal representation, even if they are US citizens,
6. that--even after all of the previous standards of conduct had been waived--no new procedures were put in place to ensure against violations of conduct.

Those POLICIES produced the ABUSE!.

He is responsible for everything that has happened in Iraq.