Word: ghraib
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Worse War? In his discussion of Ken Burns' documentary The War, James Poniewozik made a ridiculous comparison of the war in Iraq with World War II [Oct. 1]. There have been no beheadings, death marches, starved prisoners or holocausts at Abu Ghraib. There are not millions dying in Iraq. Poniewozik is not subject to rationing or saving tin cans, and the females in his family can get all the pantyhose they want. The U.S. has not even instituted a military draft. By making this absurd comparison, he trivializes the sacrifices and accomplishments of those who lived through or died...
...after the attacks--which, Burns says, reawakened vets' post-Pearl Harbor memories--but before the invasion of Iraq. It's all the more eerie then when Pacific veteran Sam Hynes recalls Japanese atrocities but says he didn't know what Americans might do in similar circumstances, unavoidably conjuring Abu Ghraib. Or when the narrative discusses underequipped soldiers and politicians concerned about upcoming elections--"universal realities of war," Burns stresses, but ones that ring specific today...
ACQUITTED A military court cleared Lieut. Colonel Steven Jordan, 49, the only officer to go to trial for abuses at Abu Ghraib, of all responsibility for the events, leaving the harshest punishments to low-ranking soldiers. The former director of the prison's interrogation center and the last of 12 to be tried, Jordan was found guilty on one count of disobeying an order not to discuss the investigation, for which he faces a maximum of five years in prison. "After today," said Jordan, "I hope the wounds of Abu Ghraib can start to heal...
...total of 11 soldiers have been convicted of crimes at Abu Ghraib, most prominently Pvt. Lynndie England and Spc. Charles Graner Jr., who were both featured in the photos leaked to the media, and were sentenced to three and 10 years in prison, respectively. The prison commander in Iraq at the time, Janis Karpinski, faced administrative action and was demoted from the rank of general but faced no criminal charges...
...other senior officers, the Pentagon has maintained that none did anything wrong. But Stjepan Mestrovic, a Texas sociologist who has testified as an expert witness at several Abu Ghraib trials, calls the Pentagon's attempt to blame the scandal on a few low-ranking "bad apples" little more than "magical thinking...