More hypocrisy at White House - Andrew M. Greeley

The current shock and outrage at the White House and the Pentagon are as phony as a $17 bill.

The president might not have known what was happening specifically at Abu Ghraib, Iraq, but had to know at least in general how the CIA and military intelligence were "softening up" prisoners for interrogation. snip

If the president did not know, then he was guilty of what we used to call in the seminary "vincible" ignorance. He should have known, and there is no excuse for him not knowing. One can bet on it, the low-level grunts will be blamed and the CIA and the MI brass will go unscathed. Also, poor Don Rumsfeld may have to take the fall to cover for the president. snip

Is there any chance of winning the war in Iraq? Ought not we support the troops by insisting that they be brought home? Should not the United States specify the day — Jan. 1, Feb. 1, whenever — that we're out of there? Is there any other way it can end? All right, there will be national humiliation like the helicopters taking off from the roof of the embassy in Saigon. But that's going to happen anyway. snip

The president is the responsible person in this country; the buck stops at his desk, as Harry Truman said once and forever. He may scapegoat others, he may duck and weave, but either he knew what was going on or should have known.

Those Americans who will vote to re-elect him will support the man responsible for Abu Ghraib.

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