Evidence Grows of More Widespread Abuse

The Bush administration's contention that the sexual humiliation and physical abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison as depicted in photographs first disclosed two weeks ago were the work of just a "few bad apples" from a poorly trained military police unit is...

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Former NSA Director: War Weariness Growing

I asked retired Gen. William E. Odom if he agreed with me that the Bush administration would be well-advised to release all the Abu Ghraib photos immediately, even the most disgusting ones. PR gurus routinely advise corporation and other organizations facing a brewing...

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Prisongate: The Down and Dirty

What struck me most about Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's testimony last week was how he reserved his greatest indignation for those who leaked classified information exposing rampant military abuse of Iraqi prisoners. They did so "against the law," he twice noted...

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Polls: Abuse Photos Spell Trouble for War Party

The photographs of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers have had a major impact on public opinion in the United States, according to back-to-back national polls that also show continued erosion in support for President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. A...

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Work For the Grossgeneralstab

In 1914, Kaiser Wilhelm II, whom history has underrated, told his Chief of the General Staff, von Moltke the Less, that he wanted to remain on the defensive in the West and take the offensive in the East, against Russia. Such a reversal of the Schlieffen Plan would...

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Parallels, Contrasts and Questions

As revolting images of torture and degradation of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib flooded the media, it was only a matter of time before someone would invoke the comparison with atrocities (allegedly) committed in the Balkans. But unlike the lurid Balkans stories...

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The Coming Backlash Against Outrage

Looking at visual images from U.S.-run prisons in Iraq, news watchers now find themselves in the midst of a jolting experience that roughly resembles a process described by Donald Rumsfeld: "It is the photographs that gives one the vivid realization of what actually...

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