A Reprimand
Lt. Col. Steve Jordan, the only officer charged in the Abu Ghraib scandal, received a formal reprimand today after being convicted on only one of a dozen charges initially filed against him. Though he avoids all jail time, the reprimand, reportedly, enters his permanent record and may pose problems for the Lt. Col. come promotion time.
Irrespective of Jordan’s guilt or innocence, one has to wonder why the military cannot put a satisfactory end to this national shame. There is a heap of evidence suggesting that the abuse we witnessed in those photographs was the logical extension of official military interrogation policy. Yet, nothing—not the Fay or Taguba reports, not the Graner prosecution, and certainly not the Jordan trial—has given the American people the answers that they need and deserve. Let us hope the last word on Abu Ghraib is not “reprimand.”
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