What happened to our military? Three years ago. . . .

On 9 February 2001, just a few days after boosh was sworn in as .. . . whatever. . . . the submarine USS Greeneville took a group of civilians on a cruise. The civilians were big-dollar boosh campaign donors. During the cruise, the submarine did a "blow," or rapid ascent. In doing so, it struck the Japanese fishing vessel Ehime Maru. Nine Japanese civilians died.

Within weeks of the incident, a court of inquiry had been called.

The officers of the Greeneville all took responsibility for what had happened and issued apologies.

They were, of course, part of Clinton's military. Such degrading behavior never happens in the new boosh military. . . .Empire means never having to say you're sorry.

http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/03/20/submarine010320

<snip>
"I am fully responsible for this truly tragic accident and for the rest of my life I will live with the horrible consequences of my action," Waddle said.

"I took an awesome responsibility when I became commander of the USS Greeneville. I have no less of a responsibility to stand up and explain the exercise of my judgement … and I intend to do so," he said. "This court and the families (of the victims) need to hear from me."

In an emotional statement on Monday, the officer of the deck aboard the USS Greeneville apologized to the families of nine Japanese civilians who died in the accident.

"To the families of those who perished and to the crew of the Ehime Maru … I humbly apologize," said Lt. junior grade Michael Coen, the officer of the deck on the submarine when it collided with the Japanese vessel.

<end snip>

personal responsibility".

So, the good military person he was, the officer took full responsibility.

Now that the military has seen how much personal responsibility W was really willing to take, they're covering their own asses.

Remember, when Waco happened, Clinton said that he took full responsibility for what happened under his watch.

and then someone called in the Randi Rhodes show about it, but not in that context. So I went looking for news reports.

The officers of the USS Greeneville screwed up, one way or another, but when they did so, they took responsibility. And that, I think, is the military many of us want to support here on DU.

But I don't think we have that same military any more, and that's the kind of discussion I was trying to spark. I think there are genuinely sincere people in the military, but something has happened to the ethos.

Maybe, as you suggest, the brass are covering their asses. But I think it's an entirely different man's /sic/ army, and I'm having more and more difficulty supporting it.

Oh, well, if the thread dies, it dies. I don't start many anyway.

it was a little more outrageous each time, then 911 and we all became numb. I wish I could find a simple, factual timeline of these news stories.

but I am going to say it anyway. The reason the officers of the Greenville handled their fuck up with honor is because they were career military.

The prison guards from West Virginia and Pennsylvania are not. They are normally civlians, who work shit jobs at local prisons and they felt like playing soldier was their chance to let it all just go. Reports seem to indicate Graner and I forget the other ringleaders name, that there have been complaints made against them in the past in their civilian jobs for excessive force against prisoners but I imagine they always felt somewhat restrained to let their agressions out in the way they really wanted to. The dark world of Abu Ghraib allowed them that freedom.

Eevn the General of the prison was a reservist!