Month: May 2004

So it looks like Professor Osgood is helping me make up my mind about who to blame regarding Abu Ghraib. Here is a graf from what he wrote in today ‘s Washington Post: Military sociology has at its core two powerful insights. First, military organizations reflect in many ways the societies from which they emerge. If a society condones brutality and lewdness, you will find soldiers beating prisoners and copulating with one another while their comrades take souvenir snapshots. If a society has no norm of chief executives accepting responsibility for their corporations’ moral and financial failures, do not expect…

The case against Brandon Mayfield has been voided. (Previous posts). This is great news. More encouraging is what the fall-out of the case might be. First, I think it does wonders for increasing faith in the judicial system. It would have been better if the mistake had not been made in the first place, but the fact that legal system corrected the mistake relatively quickly is encouraging. Second, the PD for Mayfield believes part of the reason for the accusation was that Mayfield is Muslim. “Steven Wax, the public defender who represented Mayfield, said an FBI computer likely returned a…

Brandon Mayfield has been released from custody. Although he remains a material witness, it does not appear that he will be charged with a crime at this point. (Original post.) US forces are pulling out of Karbala. I’ve only seen this article on the NY Times, and am surprised no one else is reporting on it. Relevant paragraphs: Colonel Bishop said the withdrawal was intended to “allow time for the political process to go forward.” He declined to give details on that process, and it was not immediately clear what negotiations were taking place. American officials have been pressuring the…

This salon.com article talks about the abuse that prisoners are suffering in Brooklyn. It’s frighteningly similar in style, if not degree, to Abu Ghuraib.