Am I the only person outraged that even one criminal homicide has occurred? And Rumsfeld is exactly where on this issue?
Ebbers got taken down yesterday in the Worldcom scandal and faces life in prison. Everyone agrees that it's about time that CEOs of major corporations are accountable - even criminally accountable - for their actions. Donald Rumsfeld has overseen a Defense Department that now admits that as of Sept. 30, 2004 (and THAT was nearly 6 months ago!) that 26 Inmate Deaths May Be Homicide, and he gets to keep his JOB? WTF?
Only one of the deaths occurred at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, officials said, showing how broadly the most violent abuses extended beyond those prison walls and contradicting early impressions that the wrongdoing was confined to a handful of members of the military police on the prison's night shift.
In some of the cases, including the death of an Iraqi, Manadel al-Jamadi, in Abu Ghraib in November 2003, most of those initially charged with crimes by the military have ended up receiving only nonjudicial punishments, and neither their names nor the details of those punishments have been disclosed. Altogether, Army criminal investigators had conducted 68 detainee death investigations with 79 possible victims as of February 2005, said Lt. Col. Pamela Hart, an Army spokeswoman. Of those investigations, 53 have been closed and 15 cases remain pending, Colonel Hart said.
In addition to the 24 Army cases listed as criminal homicides and the 11 cases listed as justifiable homicides, 28 cases are listed as confirmed or suspected deaths from accidents or natural causes. An additional five are cases in which the cause of death has not been determined, Colonel Hart said.
It's interesting to note that the NYT is the only major US paper carrying this story today. I hope it doesn't get lost behind the Michael Jackson nonsense or the Ebber's conviction story. Every American should be outraged over this.
UPDATE: Andrew Sullivan has some good thoughts on this article as well.
