The White House announced its plans for the 4th of July holiday--another photo-op with soldiers and flags in the background at Ft. Bragg, NC--home of the 82nd Airborne and and Special Operations.
But the staff support on the choice of location must have been a little weak--maybe Tony Snow's new staff hasn't learned to "Google-search" enough about their photo-ops as yet.
So, below the fold, there is a nice hard-ball question that the main-stream media (MSM) could be asking, which would make a nice return volley to the Repub assault on the New York Times, and by extension, to try to intimidate the press in general. Let's see if it comes up in the press gaggle (continued)
As everybody knows by now, the US Supreme Court's recent decision on the torture cases went against the Bush administration. Ft. Bragg, NC, has a link to the torture policy.
Go to Wikipedia, and search the words "Abu Ghraib torture," and you'll should be able to verify the following:
* The unit who helped usher in the changes in interrogation techniques that helped cause the Abu Ghraib scandal was the 519th Military Intelligence Brigade. Some of the controversial "9 interrogation techniques" that were brought in were used by the unit in Baghram, Afghanistan, under then Cpt. Carolyn Wood. The techniques were not approved by military doctrine, and violated the Geneva conventions. When the unit was transferred to Abu Ghraib, she changed the interrogation rules at the prison in Iraq.
So one question for the press to pursue is this: In light of the Supreme Court decision on the torture case, will the 9 techniques used by the 519th be stricken officially from Pentagon policy? Why not ask, as the press will be right there?
While we're at it, there's another question begging to be asked: Will Bush pardon Pvt. Armin Cruz? Cruz was a member of the 325th Military Intelligence, home based at Ft. Benning, and gave crucial testimony about the Abu Ghraib torture and abuse cases against fellow servicemembers. His reward: a bad conduct discharge, 8 months confinement, ended around August 2005, and a reduction in rank from specialist (E-4) to private. If Bush were serious about trying to change the climate on torture, one way to show it would be to reward whistleblowers. This becomes more relevant as it seems the US is being forced to consider amnesty for Iraqis who have actually killed US servicemen and women. Kind of an explosive issue, especially on a military base that has sacrificed a lot of its comrades-in-arms for Bush's Iraqi military adventure.
Another pressing question: what will happen to the authors of the so-called independent investigation of a panel appointed by the Defense Dept. on Abu Ghraib which, depending on your point of view, either cleared all higher-ups of responsibility or whitewashed the scandal. Now, in light of the Supreme Court decision, the panels findings must be viewed as a whitewash. Are the panelists now war criminals as well, for covering up a crime in violation of the Geneva convention? The chain of responsibility reaches at least directly to Lt. General Sanchez, by official reports.
Ft. Benning is home to the 525th (Airborne MI bde), which does a lot of training of other Army Reserve and National Guard units. If the Bush Administration wanted to send a clear signal that torture will not be tolerated, there's a concept called command emphasis, which can be as simple as having the commander tell everyone loudly, and publicly, in no uncertain terms, what his/her priorities are.
Predictably, the Repubs are telegraphing their strategy by rushing to the defense of a torture doctrine, in defiance of international law, the Geneva Convention, and now a very occasionally lucid Supreme Court--at least until the poison of the neocon appointments finally but fatally attacks the central nervous system of the system of checks and balances. The 4th of July photo-op is also a good point to ask if the administration will finally close the "School of the Americas," under whatever name they choose to call it. SOA has trained more than 10,000 Latin American officers and enlisted in "interrogation techniques."
Military lawyers have opposed the torture policy. The Administration has a chance to publicly state that it will finally come into compliance with the law, not just the letter but also the spirit. I'm not holding my breath. But I'd like to see the press corps ask the tough questions.