Comments on: Don't Ask Don't Tell

Don't Ask Don't Tell

CameraObscura — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 12:12:29 -0800

US Army clears itself of abuse in Gitmo An Army officer who investigated possible abuse at Guantanamo Bay after some guards purportedly bragged about beating detainees found no evidence they mistreated the prisoners — although he did not interview any of the alleged victims.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 12:18:34 -0800

Smart.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 12:20:13 -0800

I heard that the CIA once cleared itself of crack cocaine conspiracy charges. It's nice to be in charge of any investigation into your own affairs.

By: nkyad

nkyad — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 12:20:45 -0800

The guards are Americans, the detainees are nationless "enemy combatants" of a awfully brown color. What other conclusion could a self-investigation reach?

By: rockabilly_pete

rockabilly_pete — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 12:21:09 -0800

So, they investigate one rumor of alleged abuse, interview only those who might have committed or enabled the abuse, and in finding nothing, clear the entire Gitmo operation of abuse? Or is it just a badly worded headline?

By: phaedon

phaedon — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 12:24:07 -0800

Heather Cerveny has man arms.

By: edgeways

edgeways — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 12:26:50 -0800

After extensive review I hereby clear myself of any and all real or perceived wrongdoings of any kind... including that incident in Topeka. ---- I've always been a little pissed that the "government" can do things like run huge deficits, kill people and investigate itself, things that would land you or I in jail.

By: Benny Andajetz

Benny Andajetz — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 12:27:14 -0800

Meanwile, in other news, the Cat says he believes the mice left town in the middle of the night, The Fox says he believes the chickens accompanied the mice, and the public continues to slumber.

By: ninjew

ninjew — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 12:38:07 -0800

Why not interview the 'alleged' victims? If past behavior is any indication, you could just beat them until they give you the statements you're looking for anyways.

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 12:38:46 -0800

Well, then. I'm glad that's settled.

By: CameraObscura

CameraObscura — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 12:50:43 -0800

Inspired by the US Army, I just cleared myself of all alleged wrongdoing this morning. Being an American, rocks!

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 12:55:20 -0800

7 posts tagged with up.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 12:55:44 -0800

I hereby clear myself of all charges of self-abuse.

By: clevershark

clevershark — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 12:57:55 -0800

Well it's good that, having made no effort to investigate wrongdoing, the US military did not in fact find any evidence thereof. Actually it's a bit like a 10 year old kid not doing any work for a class presentation, and then obviously ad-libbing his way through a sermon about the importance of hard work and being prepared, á la Bart Simpson... except that a 10 year old would actually suffer more consequences then the people involved in that situation.

By: Nelson

Nelson — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 12:59:10 -0800

he did not interview any of the alleged victims. Why would he want to interview terrorists?

By: jefbla

jefbla — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 13:00:08 -0800

I'm sorry officer, but after an independent review conducted by myself, it was found that I was not speeding.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 13:01:19 -0800

Finally. Justice has been served?

By: cog_nate

cog_nate — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 13:05:04 -0800

What utter bullshit. This has to be due to some sort of UCMJ procedural issue where they're not required to interview the detainees, but still. (Oh, and edgeways, self-exoneration is all well and good for you, but some people are still upset at you for making the statue atop the capitol look like a Tootsie Pop wrapper. It's probably best if you steer clear of T-town for a while yet.)

By: IronLizard

IronLizard — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 13:08:13 -0800

nate, you broke something

By: keswick

keswick — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 13:11:13 -0800

THERE'S MY TRIFECTA! Thanks for not disappointing, MeFi!

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 13:13:10 -0800

"I'm shocked--shocked!--to find that there's abuse going on here!" It's nice to be in charge of any investigation into your own affairs. Unless you're that dude in No Way Out. That seemed pretty stressful.

By: Dillenger69

Dillenger69 — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 13:15:49 -0800

Nothing to see here. Move along.

By: cog_nate

cog_nate — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 13:22:26 -0800

Well, shit. Thanks, IronLizard. Here, try this.

By: Dolukhanova

Dolukhanova — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 13:47:10 -0800

I'm curious -- who were the alleged victims? I mean, if Cerveny overheard people bragging about a "common practice" in a bar, it's not likely they named victims. I suppose one could interview all detainees, or all detainees with whom the named suspects had contact. The thing is, this may or may not be a shoddy investigation, but depending on the specific claims made, there are all sorts of ways in which the truth or falsehood of the allegations could be determined without interviewing the alleged victims. And what if he had interviewed the alleged victims and found that they were not credible? Would anyone here seriously be more accepting of his conclusions?

By: amberglow

amberglow — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 14:20:41 -0800

Doluk, wouldn't a soldier have to name or identify his victims given an order to testify by a superior in an investigation like this? This is the legacy of this administration--no responsibility for anything at any time in any place by anybody.

By: 2sheets

2sheets — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 14:34:04 -0800

BREAKING: WASHINGTON CLEARED OF WRONG-DOING IN CHERRY TREE CHARGES blames environmentalists, british for leaks

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 14:41:55 -0800

The Army can investigate itself because it's been taking Substance D.

By: nj_subgenius

nj_subgenius — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 15:44:08 -0800

Ceverny may get charged with filing a false statement on top of this all. Cui bono? Not her certainly. Frickin amazing.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 16:06:58 -0800

I don't see that the investigation was conducted by the IG, only that the report was filed to the IG's office. suspect: "Man, I totally tortured the crap out of that guy!" investigator: "Did you?" suspect: "....uh...no." investigator: "Okay then"

By: Lucie

Lucie — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 16:38:36 -0800

Well, victims are so unreliable, being all traumatised and that!

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 17:04:02 -0800

nkyad: "The guards are Americans, the detainees are nationless "enemy combatants" of a awfully brown color. What other conclusion could a self-investigation reach?" Exactly. Although I bet those combatants thank Allah that their guards weren't French, eh?

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 17:12:59 -0800

the detainees are nationless "enemy combatants" of a awfully brown color. Not David Hicks. [warning: sickening web design]

By: tehloki

tehloki — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 17:43:05 -0800

Wow, and I thought the Nixon Pardon was hypocritical.

By: zoogleplex

zoogleplex — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 18:01:34 -0800

Same old shit. And almost nobody cares.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 18:14:32 -0800

"Finally. Justice has been served?" Dude, justice got pwned.

By: pjern

pjern — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 18:35:36 -0800

Someone add the EvilFuckery tag to this post.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 19:22:37 -0800

Quite the contrast to how Canada handled the recent allegations that our soldiers beat up some Taliban. Several levels of independent military investigation indicate nothing particularly untoward happened, yet we're still worried that someone might have been kicked during a scuffle.

By: bhouston

bhouston — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 19:24:31 -0800

There is an evilfuckery tag? Got to go check that one out... damn, found nothing. Could only find evil and fuck tags...

By: dreamsign

dreamsign — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 21:57:03 -0800

I no longer have to join the Scientologists to clear myself? Sweet. That should save me a bundle.

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 01:36:57 -0800

So the soldiers that did go to jail must feel like suckers now.

By: pax digita

pax digita — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 04:47:14 -0800

I dunno about man-arms -- maybe she's just on the short side, so her forearms look sorta brawny -- but SGT Cerveny's got the pi$$ed-off-girl jaw-clench thing going on that pretty kisser of hers, for sure -- cute when she's mad. See what happens when you blow the whistle in the military? She'll be lucky if those guards don't tie her shoelaces together. Or something.

By: nofundy

nofundy — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 09:34:01 -0800

I hereby absolve myself for not inhaling.

By: unSane

unSane — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 19:41:27 -0800

I once investigated a psychiatric hospital where 600 allegations of staff-on-patient abuse had been investigated by the hospital, and not one had been upheld. The reason was quite simple -- because the patients were mentally ill, they were considered unreliable witnesses and in every instance the staff members' word was taken over theirs. In one case a ward full of patients witnessed a staff member hit a mentally handicapped patient over the head with a pool cue. The patient died in isolation 24 hours or so later. No disciplinary action was taken. It all seemed to make perfect sense to the hospital administrators, whom I spoke to directly. After our film, there was a year-long public inquiry into the hospital which led to wholescale reform.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 13:00:24 -0800

Assigned to defend a Guantánamo detainee, jag lawyer Charles Swift joined up with legal scholar Neal Katyal and sued the president and secretary of defense over the new military-tribunal system. With their 2006 Supreme Court victory overridden by the Republican Congress, and Swift's navy career at an end, they are fighting on.