57 Iraqis Charged In Abuse At Prison
Published Tue, Nov 7 2006 12:06 AM
Technorati Tags: News and Politics
BAGHDAD, Nov. 6 -- Iraq's Interior Ministry has charged 57 employees, including high-ranking officers, with human rights crimes for their roles in the torture of hundreds of detainees once jailed in a notorious eastern Baghdad prison known as Site 4, officials announced Monday.
...
"Whoever abuses power and authority will be held accountable, regardless of their position or background," Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani told reporters in an opulent room in one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces. "This is giving a lesson for those in our ministry who may want to violate the law."
Source: 57 Iraqis Charged In Abuse At Prison - washingtonpost.com
Good for the Iraqi Interior Ministry!!! This is evidence that they intend to live by the rule of law in Iraq. It's sad that so many people had to be involved in this kind of prisoner abuse, but it's good that Iraq is doing something about it.
I can't help comparing this to how the media and the left handled the reports from Abu Graib. They acted as if they had been the ones to uncover the criminal acts that took place their. The newspapers and nightly news programs were all over that, spinning it as if it were proof that the U.S. military was the epitome of evil in the world.
They pretty much buried the fact that it was the military itself that started the investigation into those acts. In fact, months before those scandals made the headlines, the military had release information about the investigation.
In that case, as well as this one, it showed that the people in positions of authority weren't about to tolerate this sort of abuse. The difference then was that trumpeting the news in the headlines made the U.S. and our soldiers all look bad because of the slant.
This time, the article's spin is more balanced. In some ways the Iraqi Interior Ministry comes away looking like they want to get serious about upholding the law. In others the article gives the impression that it's hopelessly corrupt.
Iraq has a challenge before it as it struggles to bring the rule of law to its people. This is a sign that they're making progress, and that's a good thing.
Update: TexasFred comments on "former" Baathists
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