I wouldn't disagree with you on this, Ken.
Except for this 'or (this would be a stretch) Donald Rumsfeld.' It
seems to me, from what I've read, that he is definitely a link in the
chain of commands that led to Abu Ghraib & a whole chainlink fence of
other prisons stretched around the globe.
I think it very interesting, indeed, that the military judge didn't
accept her plea, apparently on the basis of feeling she didn't feel
guilty, but it that also leads (as unlikely as that seems) to some
thought about the orders she was under & why, it would begin to lift
the stone on some rather nasty bugs...
Doug
On 5-May-05, at 9:29 AM, Ken Wolman wrote:
> Ironically the military
> court would not accept Pvt. England's plea, so the prosecutors seem to
> be back on Square One.
>
> What I find difficult here, which is why the writing is a long way from
> done (if I ever think it's important enough to do it over), is that
> there is are indeed both volunteer and victim aspects of Lynndie
> England
> that make her (in my mind) a seriously complex character who really is
> worthy of some serious discussion, even if the study comes from Stanley
> Milgram's ghost. I truly believe she and her buddies in the prison
> were
> given free rein to do as they wished by implicit direction from On
> High,
> but that this young woman had a gift for repellent behavior before she
> ever put on the uniform. Who let up on the reins? Of course I do not
> know. Yet I am not exactly shocked and awed that her defense either
> wasn't allowed to or didn't try to subpoena Gen. Karpinski, the prison
> governor; Ricardo Sanchez; or (this would be a stretch) Donald
> Rumsfeld. Someone was stage-managing prisoner treatment at Abu Ghraib
> and elsewhere and it wasn't a 20-year-old woman. I still recall the
> comment attributed to some guy in Defense, that they purposely selected
> people like Lynndie English for prison duty because they were stupid
> and
> sadistic hillbillies. If not those words than close enough.
Douglas Barbour
Department of English
University of Alberta
Edmonton Alberta T6G 2E5 Canada
(780) 436 3320
http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/dbhome.htm
I don’t need to
hold back here
in the union
of forms
Charles Olson
|