No Blood, No Foul

May 27, 2011 2:30 PM

Inside the Detainee Abuse Task Force
On 28 Jul 2004, the Detainee Abuse Task Force, was formed by USACIDC to investigate all allegations of Iraqi Detainee abuse involving Coalition Forces.
One of the special agents in charge describes the task force as under-resourced and hampered by a bureaucracy unable or unwilling to facilitate its investigations.
PBS and The Nation investigating journalist states “One thing that shocked me was that the ID/DATF agents that I interviewed said there could be hundreds, if not thousands, of allegations of detainee abuse and torture that likely didn’t reach them.”
In 2009 President Obama stated “Individuals who violated standards of behavior in these photos have been investigated and held accountable.” and concluded
"I ran for President because I believe that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together."
posted by adamvasco (9 comments total)

Hope and change whatever.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 2:40 PM on May 27, 2011 [4 favorites]

what's the point of investigative journalism when the crimes were always out in the open?

and Obama already stated his position on these crimes as clearly as any politician could when he said he was looking forwards and not backwards.

it's all out in the open, but everyone is too polite to mention what is going on.
posted by ennui.bz at 2:46 PM on May 27, 2011 [3 favorites]

No, the fact that these kinds of things were done is out in the open. The details - who did them, who authorized them, and how much of them were done - is most definitely not out in the open.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:15 PM on May 27, 2011 [2 favorites]

I firmly believe that those responsible will eventually get prosecuted.
posted by empath at 3:22 PM on May 27, 2011

I believe in unicorns!
posted by furiousxgeorge at 3:30 PM on May 27, 2011

"I firmly believe that those responsible will eventually get prosecuted."
posted by empath

Yeah, on the Day Of Judgement, just after the 2nd Rapture.
posted by marienbad at 4:54 PM on May 27, 2011

I mean, it may take 20 years, and some of them might die of natural causes first. But there will eventually be an accounting for what was done.
posted by empath at 5:09 PM on May 27, 2011

Yes, like when the Supreme Court admitted that it made mistakes in adjudicating the plight of interned Japanese Americans during World War II. Over sixty years after the fact.

When justice takes so long that most of the aggrieved are dead, it's hard to call it just.
posted by JHarris at 6:41 PM on May 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

The problem with our country? Yet another Sarah Palin post gets 90+ comments and this one gets 8. You are the problem MeFi.
posted by runcibleshaw at 9:14 AM on May 28, 2011