Hearings on the Hill: Powerful Probe or Political Posturing?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Americans can expect more shocking photos (search) and searing public debate as the Bush administration works to calm the firestorm over U.S. soldiers' abuse of Iraqi prisoners.
Senators scheduled another hearing Tuesday with top military and intelligence officials, including Army Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba (search), author of a Pentagon report that found numerous "sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses" at a U.S.-run prison complex near Baghdad.
Stephen Cambone, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, was among those scheduled to testify later in the day as the committee delved into "chain of command" issues in the prison abuse cases.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The hearing was set up Monday, to follow last Friday's, as the Pentagon agreed to disclose as-yet unreleased photos and at least one video to the Senate Armed Services Committee. The administration would not say whether it would allow the public to see them.
Hearings on the Hill: Powerful probe or political posturing?
A sample of your responses:
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It's political posturing. If you seen one picture you have seen them all. It's not what's in the pictures it's the message. Once you crack the egg you fry it or scramble it. And this eggs been politically scrambled beyond recognition.
Louis F.
North Las Vegas, NV
The Army newspaper has come out against Rumsfeld. Generals are openly speaking against him, too. These are not Democrats or Liberals, but conservative military men who've placed their lives on the line. The very least we owe our men in uniform is to probe this, as republican senator Mc Cain said, wherever it leads. Is it torture ? Nineteen deaths being investigated. Prisoners being stomped, electrocuted, bitten by dogs. Women raped, men sodomized. If this isn't torture, I don't know what is. If these were US servicemen in the pictures, you'd be screaming to high heaven. This is not who we should be.
Luis
Tampa, FL
This is political posturing at its worst. While not condoning what they did I would imagine that this type of "abuse" goes on in every prison throughout the world and since time immemorial. We can only hope that the President is directing as much energy in bringing those Iraqi's that brutalized and murdered our American contractors and soldiers to justice as he is prosecuting those involved in this incident.
Talya P.
San Antonio, TX
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Scapegoats? You're dealing with people with the power to lock you in a room and throw away the room. You don't need much training to know if you're getting an unlawful order, but humiliation vs. physical abuse can be ambiguous. None-the-less, physical abuse was used in conjunction with the objective and will take time to sort out. Not releasing more photos under the auspice of preserving the judicial rights of the accused is wise, since it denies the enemy propaganda value that clearly exacerbates danger to our troops - and our mission. The press might keep that in mind.
Rick S.
Colorado Springs, CO
Please stop this political prison story. This is absolutely ridiculous. This is such a shame, shame, shame to continue talking about this story, which is doing nothing but putting our military on trial, as well as ourselves on trial before the whole world. This story is now a diversion from reality. Most of these prisoners at least have their lives. What about those contractors who don't? Let the military process these cases through the Military Code of Justice. Then report the story(s)!!! If the media continues to harp on this prison story, there is the possibility those who really are guilty of giving bad orders may not be held accountable.
Bob
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