On this article on Drudge, Ted Kennedy continues to play the blame game on the current adminstration:

These images are seared into our collective memory. The reports of widespread abuse by U.S. personnel were initially met with disbelief, then incomprehension. They stand in sharp contrast to the values America has always stood for-our belief in the dignity and worth of all people-our unequivocal stance against torture and abuse — our commitment to the rule of law. The images horrified us and severely damaged our reputation in the Middle East and around the world.

On December 4, 2003, President Bush had proclaimed to the world that the capture of Saddam Hussein brought “further assurance that the torture chambers and the secret police are gone forever.” The photos of Abu Ghraib made all too clear that torture continued in occupied Iraq.

Where are we a year later? Has this problem been resolved? Has the moral authority of the U.S. been restored? Have we recovered from what is perhaps the steepest and deepest fall from grace in our history?

Sadly, the answer is no, because at every opportunity, the Administration has tried to minimize the problem and avoid responsibility for it.

The conservative senator from Massachusetts, maybe because he’s been drinking again, fails to note that the Bush Adminstration has made every effort to bring to justice those responsible for these horrific acts. In fact, Secretary Rumsfeld offered to resgin twice: “I submitted my resignation to President Bush twice during that period and told him that … I felt that he ought to make the decision as to whether or not I stayed on. And he made that decision and said he did want me to stay on … These events occurred on my watch … As secretary of defense, I am accountable for them and I take full responsibility.”

President Bush chose to keep Rumsfeld on as he knew we can’t afford to hire someone knew in the midst of a war. Quite frankly, I think Rumsfeld has been a poor secretary of defense, not only in this regard, but because he CLEARLY didn’t send in enough ground troops into Iraq to begin with and we could’ve certainly prevented insurgents from taking over places like Fallujah, Mosul, Baghdad and other areas within the Sunni Triangle. Senator John McCain even publicly expressed this problem, saying he had no confidence in Rumsfeld, and that if he were president we wouldn’t have been seeing the problems we were seeing.

As for Abu Ghraib, we have taken punative action against those responsible:

The report by Antonio M. Taguba lists six suspects: Staff Sergeant Ivan (Chip) Frederick II, Specialist Charles A. Graner, Sergeant Javal Davis, Specialist Megan Ambuhl, Specialist Sabrina Harman, and Jeremy Sivits (now demoted to Private). A seventh suspect is Private Lynndie England, who became pregnant and was reassigned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The six are facing charges that include conspiracy, dereliction of duty, cruelty toward prisoners, maltreatment, assault, and indecent acts.

On May 19, 2004, a special court-martial (less severe than “general”; confinement sentence limited to one year) sentenced Sivits to this maximum sentence, in addition to being discharged for bad conduct and demoted, upon his plea of guilty.

On September 11, 2004, Specialist Armin Cruz of the 325th Military Intelligence Battalion was sentenced to eight months confinement, reduction in rank to private and a bad conduct discharge in exchange for his testimony against other soldiers.

Spec. Roman Krol, and Spec. Israel Rivera who were present during abuse on October 25 are under investigation but have not been charged and have testified against other soldiers.

On October 20, 2004, Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick pled guilty to conspiracy, dereliction of duty, maltreatment of detainees, assault and committing an indecent act in exchange for other charges being dropped. His abuses included making three prisoners masturbate. He also punched one prisoner so hard in the chest that he needed resuscitation. He was sentenced to eight years in prison, forfeiture of pay, a dishonorable discharge and a reduction in rank to private. [3] (http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=939300&tw=wn_wire_story)

Ambuhl was convicted on October 30, 2004, of dereliction of duty and sentenced to reduction in rank to private and loss of a half-month’s pay.

On January 14, 2005, Graner was found guilty of all charges, including conspiracy to maltreat detainees, failing to protect detainees from abuse, cruelty, and maltreatment, as well as charges of assault, indecency, adultery, and obstruction of justice. On January 15, 2005, he was sentenced to ten years in federal prison.

The arraignments of Javal Davis and Ivan Frederick were postponed until June 21. They are expected to face general courts-martial. Charles Graner is to stand trial January 7.

The others, the three women, are awaiting arraignment.

There are still more cases to be tried and more dishonerable servicemembers to be brought to justice. This is only the beginning. Ted Kennedy talks of how we narrowly defined torture but fails to acknowledge that some forms of torture, including sleep deprivation, are perfectly legal as the Geneva Conventions should not apply to terrorists, not representing a nation-state, who deliberatly target civilians. I made clear in a California Patriot Article in December’s Print Issue. Sexual abuse, however, is not merely a violation of international law. It is an outrage, and like I said, we need to prosecute those behind such embarassing acts.

And besides on a more humerous note, as Jon Stewart said on a Daily Show episode on Abu Ghraib that I can’t link, what’s happened over there isn’t all that bad considering the fact that “All they do in American prisons is TOSS SALAD!”