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| Restoring Our Honor |
chekhovToo |
05/06/04 |
Restoring Our Honor
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
We are in danger of losing something much more important than just the war in Iraq. We are in danger of losing America as an instrument of moral authority and inspiration in the world. I have never known a time in my life when America and its president were more hated around the world than today. I was just in Japan, and even young Japanese dislike us. It's no wonder that so many Americans are obsessed with the finale of the sitcom "Friends" right now. They're the only friends we have, and even they're leaving.
This administration needs to undertake a total overhaul of its Iraq policy; otherwise, it is courting a total disaster for us all.
That overhaul needs to begin with President Bush firing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld today, not tomorrow or next month, today. What happened in Abu Ghraib prison was, at best, a fundamental breakdown in the chain of command under Mr. Rumsfeld's authority, or, at worst, part of a deliberate policy somewhere in the military-intelligence command of sexually humiliating prisoners to soften them up for interrogation, a policy that ran amok.
Either way, the secretary of defense is ultimately responsible, and if we are going to rebuild our credibility as instruments of humanitarian values, the rule of law and democratization, in Iraq or elsewhere, Mr. Bush must hold his own defense secretary accountable. Words matter, but deeds matter more. If the Pentagon leadership ran any U.S. company with the kind of abysmal planning in this war, it would have been fired by shareholders months ago.
I know that tough interrogations are vital in a war against a merciless enemy, but outright torture, or this sexual-humiliation-for-entertainment, is abhorrent. I also know the sort of abuse that went on in Abu Ghraib prison goes on in prisons all over the Arab world every day, as it did under Saddam without the Arab League or Al Jazeera ever saying a word about it. I know they are shameful hypocrites, but I want my country to behave better not only because it is America, but also because the war on terrorism is a war of ideas, and to have any chance of winning we must maintain the credibility of our ideas.
We were hit on 9/11 by people who believed hateful ideas ideas too often endorsed by some of their own spiritual leaders and educators back home. We cannot win a war of ideas against such people by ourselves. Only Arabs and Muslims can. What we could do and this was the only legitimate rationale for this war was try to help Iraqis create a progressive context in the heart of the Arab-Muslim world where that war of ideas could be fought out.
But it is hard to partner with someone when you become so radioactive no one wants to stand next to you. We have to restore some sense of partnership with the world if we are going to successfully partner with Iraqis.
Mr. Bush needs to invite to Camp David the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, the heads of both NATO and the U.N., and the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria. There, he needs to eat crow, apologize for his mistakes and make clear that he is turning a new page. Second, he needs to explain that we are losing in Iraq, and if we continue to lose the U.S. public will eventually demand that we quit Iraq, and it will then become Afghanistan-on-steroids, which will threaten everyone. Third, he needs to say he will be guided by the U.N. in forming the new caretaker government in Baghdad. And fourth, he needs to explain that he is ready to listen to everyone's ideas about how to expand our force in Iraq, and have it work under a new U.N. mandate, so it will have the legitimacy it needs to crush any uprisings against the interim Iraqi government and oversee elections and then leave when appropriate. And he needs to urge them all to join in.
Let's not lose sight of something as bad as things look in Iraq, it is not yet lost, for one big reason: America's aspirations for Iraq and those of the Iraqi silent majority, particularly Shiites and Kurds, are still aligned. We both want Iraqi self-rule and then free elections. That overlap of interests, however clouded, can still salvage something decent from this war if the Bush team can finally screw up the courage to admit its failures and dramatically change course.
Yes, the hour is late, but as long as there's a glimmer of hope that this Bush team will do the right thing, we must insist on it, because America's role in the world is too precious to America and to the rest of the world to be squandered like this.
Your comments please... |
Clarification/Follow-up by ETWolverine on 05/06/04 11:05 am:
>>>Its typical of Bush and his cronies (you) to deny that anything is wrong, to refuse to take responsibility for it, if it is, and to blame the messenger in any case. <<<
I have not denied that there was anything wrong with what happened in Abu Gharib prison. I have stated quite clearly that something must be done. I have also heard Bush, Rumsfeld and Condi Rice all make public statements decrying those actions and events, apologizing for them and promising to bring those who perpetrated it to justice. Nobody is denying responsibility here. Bush, after all, is not Clinton. Bush knows what the word "is" means, and he takes responsibility for what happens under his command.
What I am "blaming the messenger" for is gross misstatements about the level of knowledge by the Bush administration of any of these events, gross misstatements about our successes in Iraq, and the obvious partisan politization of the entire article in calling for Rumsfeld to be fired.
Elliot
Clarification/Follow-up by tomder55 on 05/06/04 11:30 am:
some interesting facts are beginning to emerge.The 'Taguba Report'a fifty-three-page report, written by Major General Antonio M. Taguba and not meant for public release, was completed in late February. Its conclusions about the institutional failures of the Army prison system were devastating.
Largely forgotten is that the vast majority of the alleged abuses were committed against the most hardened terrorist suspects and known troublemakers, many of whom took part in prison uprisings that put the lives of U.S. military guards at risk.
Section 34 of the Report begins: "The following riots, escapes, and shootings have been documented and reported to this Investigation Team." Here's a few highlights:
June 9, 2003 - Riot and shootings of five detainees at Camp Cropper. (115th MP Battalion) Several detainees allegedly rioted after a detainee was subdued by MPs of the 115th MP Battalion after striking a guard in compound B of Camp Cropper.
A 15-6 investigation by 1LT Magowan (115th MP Battalion, Platoon Leader) concluded that a detainee had acted up and hit an MP. After being subdued, one of the MPs took off his DCU top and flexed his muscles to the detainees, which further escalated the riot. The MPs were overwhelmed and the guards fired lethal rounds to protect the life of the compound MPs, whereby 5 detainees were wounded.
November 24, 2003 - Riot and shooting of 12 detainees . . . Several detainees allegedly began to riot at about 1300 in all of the compounds at the Ganci encampment. This resulted in the shooting deaths of 3 detainees, 9 wounded detainees, and 9 injured US Soldiers.
November 24, 2003 - Shooting of detainee at Abu Ghraib(320th MP Battalion). A detainee allegedly had a pistol in his cell and around 1830 an extraction team shot him with less than lethal and lethal rounds in the process of recovering the weapon.
A 15-6 investigation by COL Bruce Falcone (220th Brigade, Deputy Commander) concluded that one of the detainees in tier 1A of the Hard Site had gotten a pistol and a couple of knives from an Iraqi Guard working in the encampment. Immediately upon receipt of this information, an ad-hoc extraction team consisting of MP and MI personnel conducted what they called a routine cell search, which resulted in the shooting of an MP and the detainee.
December 17 2003 - Shooting by non-lethal means of detainee from Abu Ghraib (320th MP Battalion). Several detainees allegedly assaulted an MP at 1459 inside the Ganci Encampment, Abu Ghraib (BCCF). An SIR was initiated by SSG Matash (320th MP BRIGADE, S-3 Section).
The SIR indicated that three detainees assaulted an MP, which resulted in the use of a non-lethal shot that calmed the situation.
Another incident portrayed in the press as a "murder," looks a whole lot different in context of the Taguba Report, which says that on June 13, 2003:
൦-40 detainees rioted and pelted three interior MP guards with rocks. One guard was injured and the tower guards fired lethal rounds at the rioters injuring 7 and killing 1 detainee."
Complete text of Article 15-6 Investigation of the 800th
Military Police Brigade by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba
Clarification/Follow-up by chekhovToo on 05/08/04 12:32 am:
Purplewings - When using the word "civilization", what do you mean by that? Surely you are not using it as a code word, meaning "we are superior to them".
Clarification/Follow-up by purplewings on 05/08/04 6:25 am:
I didn't think of it as our being superior but if it's taken that way, okay. It is meant that we are educated and more advanced. We have medical, social, and spiritual knowledge that would be useful to curb the violence and create unity, if they would listen and make an effort to understand.
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