The stand-up folks in the administration appear to be standing up and walking away from getting to the truth on the Abu Ghraib scandal. Previously depicted in the press as a team of people that knew how to take charge and do the right thing are now suddenly the team of the "I didn't do its." What the hell kind of "independent panel" allows someone like Rummy to form the panel? These people look more and more like the Nixon administration ever day.
"Yet no officer above General Fay's rank is likely to have to worry about the conclusions of his investigation. Under military doctrine, Fay, as a two-star general, "can only hold a one-star accountable," says an Army general...
The White House insists the president wants to conduct a "systemwide" probe of the detainee issue. Administration officials point to a new "independent panel" formed by Rumsfeld. A top Bush aide says the panel—consisting of four members of Rumsfeld's Defense Policy Board, including former Defense secretaries James Schlesinger and Harold Brown—will address "the totality" of all the investigations. But Rumsfeld himself, in his letter appointing the panel, indicates that his interest is mainly in looking at future issues like interrogation, force structure and training.
Some senators say the Pentagon has so far obscured two issues: who ordered Miller to Abu Ghraib in the first place, and who in the Pentagon knew of the interrogation practices put in place there.
Even Bush's Republican allies, like Armed Services Committee chair John Warner, want to know more. And now the White House seems to be constructing a legal moat around the president." - Newsweek
