Prediction: The Left and Right will switch places a little on Abu Ghraib

[BurtWorm]

The right will soon start mercilessly trashing the grunts who got caught torturing Iraqi prisoners.

This will only be because the left will (rightly, I think) start to switch their fury from the hired hands to the intelligence officers who ordered the torture and now have convenient scapegoats to take the heat off of them. The right wing will get the message that the grunts are there to take the heat, so will deliver the heat.

The media will be too confused to keep following the story and will gladly flee from it when Michael Jackson stirs in the background.

[jean]

1. The right wing think tanks have had a few months to synthesize talking

point plans - didn't "they" know about the torture since at least last November? (If not longer)

I would assume they had set to work with a talking points program to handle this issue if it ever came to light.

It seems like McClellan, bush, Rumsfeld - they're all taking off pretty slow and aren't too slick in handling this.

Do we, the DNC/DLC, the Kerry campaign or whoever else is on our side, have a doomsday talking points plan to keep the issue framed and focused properly?

[BurtWorm]

4. The right has been exposed as being much less organized

and prepared than they want us to believe they are. The whole Iraq situation is a miserable case in point. They're much more efficient at reacting than acting. When they try to make something happen...well, just look at the shape PNAC is in.

So it seems to me that they will be taking their cues on how to respond to this Abu Ghraib mess from the way the left responds to it. They have no real moral compass. Their whole MO is to tear down the other side. Thus, I think they will be relying on the left to assess the situation and find its target. The right will then return with a diversionary tack based on the Bushists' hierarchy of "plausible deniability." This means the lower downs will take the brunt.

I could be really wrong. The Bushists could decide to just shove Rumsfeld overboard and hope his carcass keeps the buzzards at bay. And it could just work. Ditching Rumsfeld might fool the media into believing the situation is all taken care of, and the real story of Abu Ghraib will go underground again.

[jean]

5. Yes - your assessment makes perfect sense. Dumping Rumsfeld

could snowball on them though, plus bush NEVER unloads his people, or at least hasn't up to this point.

[BurtWorm]

7. They let it be "known" that Bush "let Rumsfeld know" of his "displeasure."

This could be a sign that they're testing to see how much further they have to go with Rumsfeld. Is an official "upbraiding" enough to convince voters that Bush is "angry" about Abu Ghraib and enough is enough? Or will they have to push Rumsfeld overboard and hope that will do it?

[central scrutinizer]

2. that's what I have been saying from the start

Those most responsible are those with the most authority.

[robbedvoter]

3. Agreed. Bushco has to pay. (PNAC included)

The grunts - only the ones actually involved.
generalizing to "the army" is dumb and myopical.

[sniffa]

6. why can't they support the troops?

why does the right hate america?

[rucky]

8. Article on Contractors:

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/83482/1/.html

...

CACI International Inc., which has staff at the prison, Wednesday expressed "disgust" at the abuses but said it had received no official information from the Pentagon on which it could act.

"I must report that we have not received any information to stop any of our work, to terminate or suspend any of our employees, or otherwise show cause for any inability to perform in any fashion regarding the alleged, discussed and repeated issues in the press," CACI chairman and chief executive Jack London said in a statement.

At a meeting of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, Senator Ted Kennedy expressed "revulsion" after being briefed by military officials about the scandal.

"I think it's imperative that there be the complete investigation not only of that prison, and not only of the American servicemen, but also the private contractors, and why we have these private contractors in the first place, and how they are going to be held accountable as well," Kennedy said.

______________________________________

Agreed...this is going to be our focus. My congressperson went on local news to shed light on this angle. It is a coordinated attack on our end to go after the contractors. That takes the heat off the troops & shines it right back on the administration who awarded these sweetheart deals. Coming soon: more discussion on Geneva Convention & ICC.