What is wrong here is that the others are OUT of prison rather than joining Graner. I have no sympathy for that monster and have no sympathy whatsoever for the others.

What is also wrong is the fact that those responsible from the top are also not in prison. Yes, Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice, ALL the top Pentagon and Joint Chiefs of Staff brass should be in jail. Every last one of them. There is NO honor at the top of the military, any of the branches, for their role in the CONTINUED abuse of prisoners. All the top execs/robotons at the CIA also should be in prison.

Rather than writing of sympathy for Graner, how about simply writing about outrage that he is the only one still (or ever) imprisoned? I couldn't care less that he is there, no sympathy at all, but I DO care that he is the ONLY one there.

Bush may be able to pardon a host of people but he cannot protect himself or any others from prosecution by other countries. Obama may not be able to investigate, arrest, and see convicted all those responsible but he CAN investigate to get the information out AND set up a situation that is amenable for other countries to bring charges - he should in no way, shape, or form work to hamstring any such endeavors. In fact, he should secretly encourage such actions and promise full cooperation.

Pardon's shmardons. There are still ways for those collaboratively guilty to be punished. It simply takes moral fortitude and guts (by the new President) to see it through.

Every time you turn on your TV you're assaulted by recruiting ads that extol the virtues of making your kid "Army Strong".

It's time to deal in Truth in Advertising here... when is DoD going to start the NEW ads showing Graner in his waist cuffs, leg irons, and orange jumpsuit, being lead to the showers at Fort Levenworth by two MPs?

Wouldn't that be a great recruiting advertisment?

I did a hitch... and since 9/11 I've advised anyone who's asked to stay FAR, FAR away from recruiters.

As every soldier knows full well, it rolls downhill... and Graner and the rest of the Abu Gharib crew are typical; they're all valley dwellers.

Your beloved Charles is still behind bars because he sexually and physically tortured helpless detainees. He should be in bars much longer than 27 months for such an act, as should his superiors. And if karma really was a son of a gun, you would be too. Is it that hard to figure that out?

I mean, did they miss the news for about 6 months and not see the photos? The so-called "orders from the top" defense doesn't hack it. No one from "the top" has show us anything that bears that out, although we are suspicious, and rightly so.

It's too bad that Graner and others may have gotten swept up in this cess pool of a war that wasn't even necessary. By now, Saddam Hussein would have crashed and burned under the weight of his own mess. But that's how war is. it's not tidy and it's not neat and it's not always clear.

No one told them to pose the prisons and take Kodak memories with them like they were dead deer on Thanksgiving day.

Charles Graner is very small potatoes, and shouldn't be in jail one day longer than John Yoo or Addington, but what the hell is John Walker Lindh, who basically had no evidence against him except what they tortured out of him, doing in jail?

Ironically, I posted a piece on my blog last night referencing Bill Kristol's call to W. for pardons of CIA thugs who waterboarded and worse as well as those who ran illegal wiretaps. My point was that Graner et al as usual in this administration are getting zero slack for their parts in the clusterhump that was A.G. prison., It's so typical of this bunch to zero in on some dude who took his orders a little too seriously and made a game of abusing prisoners. But come off it, are we dumb enough to think that Red Graner thought up this stuff or gave the orders to perpetarte any of it ? Please. Rumsfeld's memoirs should have been written from a federal pen and that's where Cheney can write his too along with Gonzo and W. while we're at it.

~

The best way to stop a giggle is to stuff carrots in the nostrils.

Place a red beet in the mouth. Carrots Change Confused people.

Confucious Sometimes Say: Carrots Have the highest sweet quality.

Confused folk turn orange. Carrot consumption wake up Confucious.

Confucious Sometimes Say: Beat Mark Benjamin red. Use a limp turnip?

Sympathy for Charles Graner? I am sympathetic only to the point that the is the ONLY person in jail for the abuse. Graner, along with those who ordered the treatment, and the others who carried out those orders, are only marginally better than the characters who ran the concentration camps in Nazi Germany. It is unconscionable that there have been no other charges brought against anyone in the Administration who ordered and condoned this!

You are wrong where it matters.

They may not have received specific orders telling them to stack prisoners naked like wood, etc, but they WERE repeatedly congratulated/praised for their "good work" in "prepping" the prisoners. And let me tell you another FACT from the horses mouth:

Around the time of the Abu Ghraib revelations we had our annual "Law of Armed Conflict" (LOAC) briefing (USAFR). In the past it meant watching a video (actually well made and relatively engaging) about what is permissible and impermissible in war, about the Geneva Conventions, etc. It was followed by a quick question/answer session if needed or desired, run by a JAG officer. Well, not THAT time. No, that particular immediately post-Abu Ghraib session didn't have the video. It had an LtCol JAG officer there to give us a briefing. He spoke off-the-cuff with an attempted folksy charm. He spoke dismissively and jokingly about the Geneva Conventions and the OTHER laws of war vis a vis prisoners. He basically told us that the Conventions didn't really apply to these Iraqi and Afghani prisoners.

I was appalled. I probably sat there with my mouth gone slack as this shit spewed from his mouth. Afterwards I was quite upset, even angy and disgusted. This was OFFICIAL cover for a general suspension of the "niceties" of the Law of Armed Conflict and Geneva - a DIRECT invitation for any among us who might be placed in a situation to take or hold prisoners in Iraq or Afghanistan to blow off some undefined aspects of Geneva and the LOAC to which it is a mere part. It was OFFICIAL sanction of prisoner abuse: a suggestion to act "creatively" in violating same. It was a promise for a pat on the back for a job well done should any of us treat an Iraqi or Afghani prisoner or prisoners with less than full LOAC regard.

Let me tell you something Rose 22. If I ever am in a situation where Americans (or allies) are holding a prisoner and they begin violating ANY aspect of the LOAC, I will personally pull my 9mm and place it at the offenders temple and order them to stand down - and then I will take control of the prisoner(s) myself. If I am EVER in a situation whereby I learn of abuses in contravention of LOAC by others I will gather up all the information I can and immediately spill it to the news, the internet, and to my Senators and Congresspeople without hesitation. You know NOTHING about this shit. NOTHING.