The BBC has a story on the American soldiers who've been abusing Iraqi prisoners. They've got a still from "60 Minutes" of one of the prisoners...the pose reminds me of those paintings of Jesus showing the wounds in his hands. Anyway, this is the bit that struck me:
One of the suspended soldiers, Staff Sergeant Chip Frederick, said the way the army ran the prison had led to the abuse."We had no support, no training whatsoever. And I kept asking my chain of command for certain things... like rules and regulations," he told CBS. "It just wasn't happening."
He said he did not see a copy of the Geneva Convention rules for handling prisoners of war until after he was charged.
This has to be one of the lamest excuses I've ever heard. Do they really need a rulebook to explain to them that its wrong to stack up naked prisoners, to threaten to blow their nuts off, and/or to tell them they'll be electrocuted? Please.
Posted by Jason at April 30, 2004 09:32 AM