Operation Whitewash?

In a fitting conclusion that demonstrates the lack of proper accountability in the military in wartime (at least for some of the military), several Army brass were cleared of wrongdoing in the Abu Graib fiasco. While I agree that the whole story was overpublicized, those that harp on that (like some of the talking head talk show hosts -Rush, Sean- you guys that means you!), that is missing the whole point. That was a prime example to show to the citizens of Iraq that such behavior is not tolerated in our military and we whitewashed it away. As I stated earlier in this blog, the idea that just a few privates where the only ones involved is ludicrous. But by only prosecuting those of lower rank it sends a message to the rest of the world that we are not interested in holding our own troops accountable unless they hurt other troops or are low ranking.

We had a good opportunity to prove something to the Iraqi people, and just as importantly to deny the insurgents the great PR that this mess provided and we totally blew it. I am not sure who that many troops can act up in the same area and the commander not being responsible. To use an example from my profession (retail management), if you run a store and half of them are stealing, think the boss won't be held accountable for his store (kind of like a general's command in the army)? Don't bet the farm he or she won't be.

Here is a story on it from The Washington Post via Yahoo:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1802&ncid=716&e=16&u=/washpost/20050423/ts_washpost/a10546_2005apr22