by hilzoy (h/t Body and Soul)
"The wrongdoers will be brought to justice"
-- George W. Bush
"Mr. Chairman, I know you join me today in saying to the world, judge us by our actions, watch how Americans, watch how a democracy deals with the wrongdoing and with scandal and the pain of acknowledging and correcting our own mistakes and our own weaknesses. And then, after they have seen America in action, then ask those who teach resentment and hatred of America if our behavior doesn't give a lie to the falsehood and the slander they speak about our people and about our way of life."
-- Donald Rumsfeld
"Watch America. Watch how we deal with this. Watch how America will do the right thing."
-- Colin Powell
"The prisoner, a slight, 22-year-old taxi driver known only as Dilawar, was hauled from his cell at the detention center in Bagram, Afghanistan, at around 2 a.m. to answer questions about a rocket attack on an American base. When he arrived in the interrogation room, an interpreter who was present said, his legs were bouncing uncontrollably in the plastic chair and his hands were numb. He had been chained by the wrists to the top of his cell for much of the previous four days.
Mr. Dilawar asked for a drink of water, and one of the two interrogators, Specialist Joshua R. Claus, 21, picked up a large plastic bottle. But first he punched a hole in the bottom, the interpreter said, so as the prisoner fumbled weakly with the cap, the water poured out over his orange prison scrubs. The soldier then grabbed the bottle back and began squirting the water forcefully into Mr. Dilawar's face.
"Come on, drink!" the interpreter said Specialist Claus had shouted, as the prisoner gagged on the spray. "Drink!"
At the interrogators' behest, a guard tried to force the young man to his knees. But his legs, which had been pummeled by guards for several days, could no longer bend. An interrogator told Mr. Dilawar that he could see a doctor after they finished with him. When he was finally sent back to his cell, though, the guards were instructed only to chain the prisoner back to the ceiling.
"Leave him up," one of the guards quoted Specialist Claus as saying.
Several hours passed before an emergency room doctor finally saw Mr. Dilawar. By then he was dead, his body beginning to stiffen. It would be many months before Army investigators learned a final horrific detail: Most of the interrogators had believed Mr. Dilawar was an innocent man who simply drove his taxi past the American base at the wrong time."
-- NYTimes
Sentences in the death of Dilawar:
"Before a military judge in Fort Bliss, Tex., the soldier, Sgt. Selena M. Salcedo, 24, pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty and assault, admitting that while at an American military detention center in Bagram in 2002 she kicked the prisoner -- a 22-year-old taxi driver -- grabbed his head and forced him against a wall several times after he avoided her questions. Military prosecutors agreed to drop two related charges. She was reduced in rank to corporal or specialist, given a letter of reprimand and docked $250 a month in pay for four months." (NYT)
"The most serious charges in the case were levied against Pfc. Willie V. Brand, a reservist and military police officer, who initially was charged with Dilawar's death. A military jury convicted Brand last week of assault, maltreatment, maiming and making a false official statement. The same jury spared Brand jail time, instead ordering that he be reduced in rank and pay to a private, the Army's lowest rank.
Spc. Brian E. Cammack pleaded guilty in May to abuse charges and was sentenced to three months in prison. (...)
Sgt. James P. Boland, also a reservist from Ohio, was given a letter of reprimand citing him for dereliction of duty for his work at Bagram. Boland, who has left the Army, was initially charged with chaining Dilawar's hands above his head and other abuse charges." (cite)
"A military intelligence interrogator was sentenced to two months in prison after admitting that he abused an Afghan detainee who later died. The interrogator, Specialist Glendale C. Walls, pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty and assault. In addition to the prison sentence, he was reduced in rank and pay and will receive a bad-conduct discharge." (cite)
Number of military officers over the rank of sergeant who have been charged in connection with detainee abuse: 1
Number being considered for a fourth star: 1
Number of civilian leaders involved in the formulation of detention and interrogation policies who have been investigated or charged in connection with detainee abuses: 0
Number nominated and confirmed as Attorney General of the United States: 1
Number nominated for an appellate judgeship: 1 2
Number described by the President, after Abu Ghraib, as "doing a superb job", and by the Vice President as "the best secretary of defense the United States has ever had": 1
***
"In the courtroom of honor, the judge pounded his gavel
To show that all's equal and that the courts are on the level
And that the strings in the books ain't pulled and persuaded
And that even the nobles get properly handled
Once that the cops have chased after and caught 'em
And that the ladder of law has no top and no bottom,
Stared at the person who killed for no reason
Who just happened to be feelin' that way without warnin'.
And he spoke through his cloak, most deep and distinguished,
And handed out strongly, for penalty and repentance,
William Zanzinger with a six-month sentence.
Oh, but you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Bury the rag deep in your face
For now's the time for your tears."
-- Bob Dylan, 'The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll'
