Iraq Torture: Army officers accuse Rummy of lying

DoD has a problem: More officers are coming forward calling Rumsfeld a liar.

Will Congress look into the allegations, or look for another excuse to keep its head in the sand?

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If Able Danger is any guide, Congress will speak out. To make that happen, you need to let your friends know: The officers in your military are getting muzzled and threatened to be quiet about war crimes.

What Libby was doing is widespread within DoD. Many do not want to be held accountable for what they did. And they're smearing others, like Valerie Plame, LtCol Schaeffer, Sibel Edmonds, and Capt. Fishback to avoid the consequences for violations of the law.

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Army Capt. Ian Fishback learned ethics at West Point: There are laws of war, and military officers who obey unlawful orders can be court martialed.

Fishback and other Army officers contend the civilian leadership has been lying to Congress: The abuse in Iraq was systematic, and was directed from the senior levels.

These anecdotes are consistent with the documents from Guantanamo: That the JCS was fully aware of the problems, and that the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Army CID were both present during the abuse.

Normally, when there's an allegation of mistreatment, NCIS and CID have their internal command inspectors enter the arena, conduct a report. But this report doesn't disappear. It's sent directly to the JCS, the Joint Staff. They work directly for the Secretary of Defense.

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Which leads us to Fishback's allegations.

DoD, as they have done with LtCol Schaeffer in re Able Danger hope to paint Fishback as a lone malcontent.

There's one small problem. There are numerous photos and other reports confirming what the many officers are saying.

LtCol Schaeffer realized that he had to get an attorney; but DoD efforts to discredit him failed when others came forward.

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America lost its way after 9-11. And the laws of war got thrown out the window.

It's a good thing Harriet Miers nomination got withdrawn. No sense in having more of the "green light for torture" infecting the Supreme Court.

What's going to happen with the laws of war, torture, and American military personnel?

Hopefully, Fitzgerald will get Cheney to spring a leak or two. Then again, why stop there. Why not call in the entire JCS and have them explain to the court why the documents from Abu Ghraib said one thing, but the President said something else to the Congress.

It looks like there are many war criminals in DC. Those who obeyed those unlawful orders aren't innocent.

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Millions of Germans wanted the world to believe "they didn't know." In 2005, this excuse isn't going to work.

Especially when Fitzgerald has Cheney's notations on the documents from both Libby and Rumsfeld. If that's not enough, there's the small matter with GCHQ.

NSA, you're still not off the hook. Many of you know exactly what's going on, and continue to follow unlawful orders.

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Look to Fishback's example. Your strength is in numbers.

The American public, when it finds out, will have no mercy.

We have 280 million, and a long memory.

Choose wisely.

Others already have.

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If you're not willing to follow the laws of war, then shut down the service academies, stop wasting money teaching people things you will not enforce, and don't cry when the enemy violates the laws of war we ignore.

There's no sense inviting people to volunteer to learn things, only to discredit their good names for doing exactly what you've taught them to do: Follow the law.

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Other links

Coverup of war crimes.

Where were the military commanders when this was happening?

Newsweek article listed above incorrectly reports that the guidance was vague. The laws of war and SECDef Guidance are clear. More of the selective research and memory problem.

Don't forget the floating torture ships.

More evidence of a military training, disciple problem.

Will the CIA be given the power to torture American civilians stateside?

American Psychiatric Association wants to ethically work with torture. British Medical Association calls this absurd.

With the problems listed above, where is the DoD IG and can we really have confidence the troops can have their concerns reviewed without getting smeared like Valerie Plame [Vice President Cheney's Libby was indicted] or LtCol Schaefer [Able Danger]?

Getting no response from West Point on his ethical questions, Fishback had to go to Human Rights Watch to get some assistance and advice on what to do. That's the same as a command and control problem, on top of the "playing stupid about Rummy's SECDEF guidance" which is clearly promulgated.