Sunday, January 16, 2005
Puff Up That Chest and Be Proud
The Guardian Unlimited reports that CACI International and Titan, two firms involved in the Abu Ghraib torture scandal "have been awarded valuable new contracts by the Pentagon." Well, you know now that the "ringleader" of the "abuse" has been convicted we can rest easy and return to business as usual. Never mind that the man who wrote the memos that helpd set up the environment for Abu Ghraib to happen is about to win Senate approval to be the next A.G. of the U.S. Never mind that the President who looked the other way and issued orders that allowed torture to be used is about to be sworn into his second term and feels that he has a free pass to press his agenda because he won fair and square.
The Guardian Unlimited reports that CACI International and Titan, two firms involved in the Abu Ghraib torture scandal "have been awarded valuable new contracts by the Pentagon." Well, you know now that the "ringleader" of the "abuse" has been convicted we can rest easy and return to business as usual. Never mind that the man who wrote the memos that helpd set up the environment for Abu Ghraib to happen is about to win Senate approval to be the next A.G. of the U.S. Never mind that the President who looked the other way and issued orders that allowed torture to be used is about to be sworn into his second term and feels that he has a free pass to press his agenda because he won fair and square.
"We had an accountability moment, and that's called the 2004 elections," Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post. "The American people listened to different assessments made about what was taking place in Iraq, and they looked at the two candidates, and chose me.This quote shows how shallow Georgie's understanding of democracy as a concept is. That his Pentagon is renewing contracts with firms directly linked to torture is another. Just so everyone is clear as to the professionalism and commitment to human rights of these two firms, this bit from the Guardian should make things clear:
CACI interrogators used dogs to scare prisoners, placed detainees in unauthorised 'stress positions' and encouraged soldiers to abuse prisoners. Titan employees, [. . .], hit detainees and stood by while soldiers physically abused prisoners.These are the people George Bush does business with. That's character. $174 million of your tax dollars are going to firms that torture people. But rest easy because Jesus is George Bush's favorite philosopher. Or mabye all that torture was just an example of the "unexpected" things that "happen" when "removing a dictator from power and trying to help achieve democracy." I guess the whole torture thing just kind of happened, despite all those memos. I guess all those WMDs just kinds of disappeared...kinda unexpected. What this crank finds unexpected is the idea that torturing people is part of "trying to achieve deomocracy."
Investigators also discovered systemic problems of management and training - including the fact that a third of CACI International's staff at Abu Ghraib had never received formal military interrogation training.