Did You Really Expect Anything Else?

These things are so damned predictable.

The Globe and Mail reports:

Rumsfeld cleared in prison abuse scandal; activists decry finding

Actually, the headline says it all, but here's some detail:

By PAUL KORING
Friday, March 11, 2005 Page A12

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon's top brass were exonerated yesterday of accusations that they ordered, or turned a blind eye to, the brutal torture and humiliation of detainees at Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison.

But although Vice-Admiral Albert Church reported no blood on the hands of the U.S. high command, his findings failed to persuade many of those who believe President George W. Bush has set a permissive and extralegal tone for the war on terrorism.

There's no way to finally resolve the questions surrounding the detention and treatment of prisoners. Human Rights activists, articulating an absolute standard against which all activity must be measured, want nothing less than Rumsfeld's, or preferably Bush's, head on a platter and consider anything less a "whitewash." Military people and government administrators, on the other hand, appreciating the complexities of command, see no real fault in the behavior of either man. There are two completely different world views in conflict here and no finding will satisfy both. What makes things difficult is that both views, incommensurate though they may be, are to some extent legitimate. And so the quarrel goes on and on and on....

Meanwhile in a related story it was reported that:

U.S. courts dealt another setback to the administration's handling of detainees on Monday, when a federal judge rejected a government effort to indefinitely imprison a U.S. citizen without charge by claiming that he is an enemy combatant.

The move would be a "betrayal of this nation's commitment to the separation of powers that safeguards our democratic values and individual liberties," U.S. District Judge Henry Floyd ruled. He gave the government 45 days to charge or release Jose Padilla, who is alleged to have plotted to detonate a so-called dirty bomb to spread radioactive debris.

So, the administration wins one and loses one. Padilla will be charged or released, thus preserving the integrity of the judicial process and Rumsfeld and the high command will not be held accountable, thus preserving the integrity of command. Despite the hysterical rhetoric on all sides [inevitable I suppose in this media-driven age] things are working out for the best.

Read the Globe and Mail story here. Note, the story is not objective reporting -- more in the form of an editorial than a news story -- but it does present basic information competently.

AND IN CASE YOU WERE INTERESTED...

John Rosenthal has an excellent article on European perceptions of Secretary Rumsfeld at Transatlantic Intelligencer. Check it out here.