Posted on 01/17/2005 10:35:58 AM PST by Jon Alvarez
Matt Maupin, of Batavia, Ohio, is still missing in Iraq. The last time this American soldier was seen he was kneeling in front of a group terrorists on the same kind of sick and sadistic videotape we've seen broadcast on the Arab propaganda network Al-Jazeera. In uniform, supposedly under the protection of the Geneva Convention
Last time I checked, neither Al Qaeda nor the terrorist insurgency in Iraq, had signed the Geneva Convention, so prisoners in their control are in no way under its protection.
The reverse is also true.
This article uses as its line of departure several "facts" that are not congruent with reality. I would suggest that the author read the Taguba Report for a better understanding of the events at Abu Ghraib Prison.
(An aside: when did "ignorant bloviating" become "a point of view?")
I find it fascinating that "conservatives" are advocating the notion that the American military should excuse, tolerate, and promote indiscipline within the ranks.
The only rationale for pardoning him is if you assume that higher ups did, in fact, order him to do the stupid things he did. I don't buy that. That is Michael Moore's argument.
He is not an interrogator dealing with terrorists with critical info we need to get. He is a low life jailer abusing those under his authority. He doesn't deserve any consideration.
I disagree with you.
I agree that the Geneva Convention does not apply to terrorists. But one of the things I take great pride in is the basic decency of the American soldier. Graner has crossed a line, and it would dishonor us to tolerate it.
He doesn't deserve twenty years, that would be excessive, but he deserves to do time, and to be at the mercy of prison guards who, one would hope, will be more professional than was he. Its good to remember that he is a prison guard in his civilian job, so he can't claim ignorance, he is trained and experienced in this job. One wonders what kinds of nonsense he has done on the job back home. I doubt he will be missed.
He will not stay at Leavenworth for 10 years. They have parole too.
He should have shut up and taken an Article 15; not given his parents, NYT and CBS the pictures to try and get off the hook. Garner deserves his sentence for stupidity, thinking he could weasel his way from justice.
This idiot was a prison guard in his civilian life and thought he has free rein during midshifts.
I agree Poobah
I would be more inclined to think that just maybe this animal was acting on orders from superiors and was not predisposed to abusing people who couldn't defend themselves if I hadn't read all of the testimony by his peers and wasn't aware of his civilian record, which, as I understand it, contains allegations of many of the same activities while he was a US Prison guard.
IMO This guy is lucky he got as little time as he did considering the nature of his crimes AND the incredible damage he inflicted on his fellow soldiers. I am sure there are more dead or injured because he did hat he did than there would be otherwise.
Graner's sentence was appropriate for a variety of reasons, not least among them because either he, his co-horts in crime, or his attorney illegally leaked the evidence of his crime (the photos) to Mary Mapes of CBS in an attempt to blackmail the Bush Administration into giving all of the perpetrators lighter sentences.
It was through CBS that the NY Times obtained those photos that lead to 41 straight days of front page Abu Ghraib scandal stories.
Such evidence for criminal trials is illegal to leak under both U.S. civilian and UCMJ statutes, as well as it being a violation of the Geneva convention to take and publish humiliating photographs of prisoners.
So don't try to re-write history into having some sort of "Saint Graner."
He did the crime. Now he'll do the time, and *nothing* that he's done to date merits leniency or sympathy on our part.
Allegations, hell...he was FIRED from one prison for doing stuff like this.
I was going to reply to this, but I have little to add to your comments. The harm done to America by his actions is incalculable, and any putative benefit from "softening-up" the prisoners non-existent. His actions might have recruited some of the people setting off bombs and killing Iraquis and Americans today. Ten years might be light for the harm done.
As a staff noncommissioned officer, he had the responsibility of leading, training, and disciplining those under his command. Instead, he led them into a swamp of perverse sadism before the whole world.
Instead of the honor and glory that the combatants in this war have earned, he stained them and all of us by un-American conduct.
He should have gotten more, not less time in jail.
Graner is a pain in the a$$ without producing tangible results. Ten years will give him time to think about how he assisted the socialist liberal DemocRat traitors and the the anti-American MSM. The pig headed egotist got what he deserved.
Worth repeating.
These scattershot protestations against the military's own rules being applied to Graner couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. They are all over the place, and they sound looney and desperate. If these ever were true Conservatives, they have become as unhinged as the Left in this country.
For a few hours of sadistic fun these soldiers did incredible damage to the image of the United States. They gave our enemies (Al Qaida, the UN, Ted Kennedy) a propaganda victory. In a war where the center of gravity is US public opinion, this was a serious hit.
Pardon Graner? Uh, I don't think so.
No need for me to respond -- you said it much better than I could.
I know that he was fired. He just wasn't ever convicted in a trial for these felonies. That's why I used 'allegations' to describe this animal's past behavior.
Graner's a thug who figured thousands of miles and no ACLU allowed him to play little tin god.
Getting fired from a unionized goobermint job is harder than getting convicted.
Never looked at it that way but I can't disagree. :-)
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