“If I tell the truth...”

In an exhaustive story in The New Yorker, Seymour Hersh describes how Major General Antonio Taguba conducted an investigation on the torture of prisoners held by the U.S. Army at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. (The New Yorker: The General’s Report)

Taguba is ordered to limit his investigation to low-level soldiers to shield those higher up in the chain of command, including then secretary of state Donald Rumsfeld. Taguba was later sidelined and pensioned-off for trying to do his job.

Hersch shows how Rumsfeld and the top brass in the Pentagon encouraged the practice of torture but still denied any knowledge and strictly limited investigations to shield themselves.

Now that the truth has been published in the New Yorker, why is torturer-in-chief Rumsfeld not arrested and brought to justice? Because U.S. has lost all moral principles (if it ever had any) and is killing and torturing innocent people in pursuit of so-called “terrorists”.

Taguba says a lot of people are lying to protect themselves. While Taguba himself is ostracized for trying to uncover the truth. There is no place for an honest officer in the U.S. military. Only one officer, Lieutenant Colonel Steven Jordan is to be court-martialled in August in connection with the torture at Abu Ghraib. He may very well be guilty, but it's also clear he's a scapegoat so more senior officers up to and including the secretary of defense are not disturbed.

And Congress is doing nothing to launch its own investigation. Most of the detainees at Abu Ghraib were not “terrorists” and didn't even have anything to do with the insurgency. Based on lies, the U.S. invaded another country and started torturing its people and those responsible are left undisturbed. And then Americans ask themselves “Why do they hate us...?”