meta-roj

secretary of defense donald h rumsfeld in testimony before the senate armed services committee, may 7, 2004

We’re functioning in a — with peacetime restraints, with legal requirements in a war-time situation, in the information age, where people are running around with digital cameras and taking these unbelievable photographs and then passing them off, against the law, to the media, to our surprise, when they had not even arrived in the Pentagon.

against the law

faced with a challenge from senator susan m. collins (a republican) to “set matters right and to hold those responsible accountable,” secretary rumsfeld speaks of procedures (or lackthereof) and the actions of those people responsible for making the photos available. it seems clear that rumsfeld’s concept of “holding those responsible” is more focused on preventing further embarassing or scandalous leaks than sexual abuse of prisoners in an occupied land.

as an american, that sickens me.

a nod of praise from the meta-roj blog to all those willing to stand up to atrocity and crime, misbehavior and fraud and all the other failings of humankind, in the face of opposition, under the threat of law, and do the right thing.

sometimes it is hard to know what the right thing is, often it’s a painful option. so thank you to each person involved in the getting these photographs into the light.

i’m just waiting for the push to convict you of something…. have any of you been sailor mongering lately?