When you conduct war with no oversight or accountability, this is what you get. Incredible. http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/04/26/officer.charged/index.html U.S. prison chief in Iraq charged with 'aiding enemy' BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A U.S. Army officer who was commander of a military prison in Iraq has been charged with giving a cell phone to suspected insurgents who were detained there, a charge described as "aiding the enemy," according to the U.S. military. Lt. Col. William H. Steele, who was commander of the U.S. Army's Camp Cropper, also was charged with having an improper relationship with a detainee's daughter and an interpreter and possessing p*rnography, the military said. Camp Cropper, located near Baghdad International Airport, houses thousands of suspected insurgent detainees and some high profile prisoners. Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was held there until he was hanged last December. Steele was arrested last month and confined in a military jail in Kuwait while he awaits an Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing, according to U.S. military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Josslyn Aberle. The four charges also accuse Steele of possessing and mishandling classified information, disobeying an order, and not doing his duty in the approval of funds, according to the U.S. military. The military gave few specifics about the charges. The first one said that Steele "did, between on or about 1 October 2005 and 31 October 2006, aid the enemy by providing an unmonitored cellular phone to detainees." It gave no specifics about the number or identity of the detainees involved. The second charge accused Steele of "having unauthorized possession of classified information" and "knowingly and willfully retaining the same and failing to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States." Charge three suggested that Steele carried on improper relationships with Iraqis, interactions that were deemed "conduct unbecoming an officer in the armed forces." Specifically, it said that on two dates in October 2005 and February 2007, Steele did "wrongfully fraternize with the daughter of a detainee." The third charge also said Steele did "knowingly and wrongfully provide special privileges to and maintain an inappropriate relationship with an interpreter" between December 2005 and December 2006. The fourth charge against Steele included a range of accusations that he possessed pornographic videos, wrongfully possessed classified information, disobeyed an order, and "failed to fulfill his obligations as an approving authority in the expenditure of Field Ordering Officer funds."
wasnt he caught? isnt he being held accountable? what exactly does one mans antics have to do with an overall wartime strategy? i think its a reach, to say the least.
No oversight until after the crime has been committed. Is there any reason why controls can't be in place to prevent stupidity like this, Abu Ghraib, etc. from happening in the first place? Par for the course for Bush Administration. They've been reactive, rather than proactive, since 9-11-01, and they've failed because of it.
no crime until the crime happens. of course their are controls, but to a certain point controls become ineffecient. Would you blame every rouge soldiers actions on the administration?
too bad nobody told this to the bush/cheney administration before they decided to attack iraq, a country which had never done anything to us. the problem is that it wasnt a few "rouge soldiers", but rather the administration dictating policies of torture. it came from the top, but instead we send a bunch of low-level privates to prison.
we are talking about this particular cell phone instance, which obviously didnt come "from the top". but for sake of argument, you win. its all their fault. whoopy. rejoice. but then what? you do well at fingerpointing and blaming but i've seen little effort with any sort of viable, and effective, alternatives.
First of all it isn't their job to come up with a better plan. It is the job of the commander-in-chief, and the executive branch. It is the job of the person who got us in the mess to fix it, and hold those accountable who have screwed up. Second when Democrats in congress have come up with even some very general ideas and put them into legislation such as the bill that passed the house, they are accused of playing politics, overstepping their constitutional role, etc. Third(which really ties into the first two) They could have the best plan in the in the history of the world, and it doesn't matter, because they aren't in a position to implement it. It just isn't their job, or in their power. The responsibility comes down to the commander-in-chief.
so hold the people at fault accountable..but how does that help the current situation? I know it can be a deterrent for future follies, but what about now? It all sounds nice and proper, "hold them accountable", but im having a hard time understanding how that will truly help now, other than having someone to blame. and yes, democrats do have 'very general' ideas. I think thats part of the problem. Didnt all of this start b/c of general ideas presented by others? As for the playing politics and overstepping their grounds, i think those are very valid points. third, maybe i overly optimistic, but if i think a good plan was presented it would be put into place. its their job to present a reasonable plan that can be implemented and im not sure that they have really done that thus far.
Seriously?? You don't think letting people do illegal things with no repurcussions won't encourage more of those things to be done tomorrow, or the next day, or next month, or next year?
The army has quickly become a job "American's don't want to do" so why don't we let illegal areas do it. Staging area will be the home depot in Qatar.
Good plans were presented prior to the invasion. Bush wiped them out, and went with bad ones. I have posted this before. Explore the site to find out about all the good plans that were ignored. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/truth/interviews/ Again, the most important point here, is that it isn't any Democrat's job to come up with a plan. It is the job of the president to come up with a plan. It is perfectly fine in a democracy to criticize the plan, and hte job the President is doing, especially when his plan is unsuccessful, and he refuses to change it. Which leads to accountability. The people who came up with the good ones were ignored, and in some cases driven out of their jobs. The people who came up with the bad ones were in some cases given promotions, protected from investigations into how badly they messed up, etc. I have posted this before. Explore the site to find out about all the good plans that were ignored. I think the lack of accountability shows a lack of desire from the administration to approach the situation with openess.
Yes but the plans were presented prior to the invasion. They were obviously superior plans and yet were ignored. So to say that a reasonable plan won't be ignored by the president just can't be believed. We've been there before and are suffering the falseness of that assumption now.
well like i said, that was my optimism coming out. i should learn to control that when discussing politics good talk.
