This from a Reuters article posted on the NYT site:
"[Kerry] blamed 'grievous' errors by the Bush administration and lax oversight up and down the chain of command for the scandal.
With that, his most stinging assessment yet of the Republican administration, Kerry made clear he would not back down in the face of charges by President Bush's campaign that he was politicizing the war and prison abuses.
Wow!
Kerry went back to the Capitol to view the photos, then gave an interview to Fox. Here's some more from the
wire story:
"This administration has made a grievous error in the laxity of command control," Kerry told the Fox News Channel in an interview. "And I am convinced this didn't happen just because six or seven people decided to make it happen in a prison. It happened as a matter of what was going on in terms of interrogation and the laxity of command up and down."
Choosing Fox News to deliver the attack made it all the more pointed. The station is a favorite of conservatives.
Kerry blamed Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for first casting doubt on the protections afforded prisoners by denying detainees from Afghanistan formal standing under the Geneva Conventions.
"I would never have thrown out the door or window, the obligations of the Geneva Conventions. Why? Because I know as a former combatant, that had I been captured, I would have wanted our moral high ground, with respect to those Geneva Conventions, to be in place," Kerry said.
"By being selective and saying they (the Geneva Conventions) apply here, then they don't apply here, and so forth, we invite others to be equally as selective and it puts American troops in greater danger."
Ok, I like Kerry. But I am still impressed. He gave the Dear Leader some rope to hang himself with...waits for Rummy to go off on his victory tour to Iraq...and just as the true, systemic nastiness of this is coming out, he speaks. Hope it makes the cycle tomorrow.
I wonder what their polling says about this. I seriously wonder if they are betting that attacks like the one from Raciot are/will backfire?