Spin Dry

Thanks to Atrios for this one. Short version -- Rear Admiral Don Guter (ret.), spokesman for JAG (who are the military's uniformed lawyers) says that they warned civilians in the Pengaton -- repeatedly -- about the inadvisability of using torturous interrogation methods at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere. No one listened, and the rest is becoming history.

In other news, this stuff has apparently also been going on at Guantanamo Bay, according to a story in The Guardian (UK):

Dozens of videotapes of American guards allegedly engaged in brutal attacks on Guantanamo Bay detainees have been stored and catalogued at the camp, an investigation by The Observer has revealed.

And, according to The New Yorker:

The roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie not in the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists but in a decision, approved last year by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to expand a highly secret operation, which had been focussed on the hunt for Al Qaeda, to the interrogation of prisoners in Iraq. Rumsfeld’s decision embittered the American intelligence community, damaged the effectiveness of élite combat units, and hurt America’s prospects in the war on terror.

(Emphasis added).Well, folks, this puts the administration in a rather awkward position. Continue to support Rumsfeld and therby taint W with the stink of having known about this all along even as more and worse information comes to light...

Or dump Rumsfeld and have every little detail dragged out in public in the confirmation hearing for his replacement, which will drag on and keep this story right at the top of the news through the Republican convention.

On top of all this, things are about to explode against the US in Iraq. Yeah, sure, the Iraqis want freedom. They want freedom from us.

Nice, for once, to watch W and Company slowly twisting in the wind even as W's approval rating takes a big turn south and heads right for the toilet.