statement from an MP on iraqi prisoner torture...

[silverpatronus]

an MP who is a friend of an acquaintance posted this in a blog, and she has allowed me to quote her, and asked that i quote her by name and unit.

I am an MP...The training that I have been through is exactly the same as the training that the reservists at Abu Ghraib have been through. Most of them have been through far more training than I have. There is no excuse for what they did, and the ones who claim they weren't trained on the Geneva Conventions are lying. Every MP is told, from his or her very first day in basic training, that they already are being held to, and always will be held to, the very highest of standards. We are the ones who watch the watchmen. It is our responsibility to make sure that war is conducted by the moral standards which we have sworn to uphold. The freshest E-1 private, if he is an MP, can arrest a four-star general if the GEN is doing something wrong, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realise that what went on there is against every regulation on prisoner treatment that we have.

-SPC Meredith L. Patterson, 339th MP CO, Davenport, IA, US Army Reserve.

i just wanted to share that, and put forward these question: are the MPs lying about their training, have the rules changed regarding US adherence to the geneva conventions, or did the truth get lost somewhere in the chain of command between the pentagon and abu ghraib?

[maggrwaggr]

1. the truth has long since turned to smoke and vanished

happened when Bushco called up the news media and said Gore hadn't won Florida.

All this weirdness started THAT NIGHT.

[MsUnderstood]

2. I am glad to see Military stick up for the right thing

It is not always easy to stand up and say something smells in this room.

Nothing has changed in the training of the military. The change has come about in the way the people in charge are applying the rules. Rumsfield said the geneva conventions don't apply. Bush said those at guantanamo bay do not need the laws applied to them.

Military screwups at other prisons were overlooked by the government. Repeated complaints were ignored. Hey, if my boss received complaints that he was always coming in late but he did not correct the situation, then I'm gonna come in late too. . .

I could go on. . .In a military operation, you have to enforce all the rules, down to how you wear your uniform and stand at attention. Thousands of years have taught us that if you keep the little rules in line then they soldiers don't screw up on the big rules. But if you ignore the big rules then you have lost the war for your military.

[silverpatronus]

3. kick

:kick: