Protecting the Brass from Abu Ghraib Fallout

Is anyone surprised that the only senior officer charged in the Abu Ghraib mess is a reservist? That career officers and civilian leadership is somehow off the hook, that responsibility only flows so far up the chain of command?

I'm not sure what the rationale is for deciding that Gen. Karpinski is accountable but Gen. Sanchez isn't since he's the one who gave the military police undue authority in the prison (effectively removing control for the interrogation units from Gen. Karpinski), who authorized inappropriate interrogation practices, who allowed ghost detainees, who didn't meet the requests for human resources necessary to meet our obligations under international law. I don't know what the rationale is, but I'm hoping the Senate Armed Services Committee finds out. They aren't so happy that accountability only goes so high up the chain of command and is largely the preserve of the reservists and not active duty forces. We'll see if they can follow the chain higher.

Comments

[eRobin]

I can't remember - didn't Karpinski make some noise early on about the policy going way up the chain? I think she did.

Honestly, I'm lost in this whole thing. I gave up when I saw that nobody but low-level drones and, I guess now Karpinski, was going to pay any price. If I don't see Rumsfeld take the fall for this, I can't bear to keep track of the details too closely. All the brass that set this in motion should be in prison for treason.

Thanks for keeping up with it.