Who’s bright idea was this (Time)?
As if the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal weren’t bad enough for America’s image in the Middle East, now it may appear to much of the world that one of the men implicated in the scandal is returning to the scene of the crime.
The U.S. military tells TIME that one of the soldiers convicted for his role in Abu Ghraib, having served his sentence, has just been sent back to serve in Iraq.
And where are they planning to place this resource? Why… with the rest of his former unit, of course, who are on their way back to Iraq to help train the country’s police.
This is… um… dumb!
Not only does it send a terrible message to the Iraqis about our lack of understanding and sensitivity, it puts this soldier at a much higher risk than others in his cohort:
According to [a] friend, Cardona said he had told at least one of his superiors that he feared for his safety in Iraq, especially because of his presence in the al-Qaeda video, but was told by an officer, “We need bodies [in Iraq]” and that he shouldn’t worry about it.
Cardona’s fears may be well founded. The Abu Ghraib scandal is still a fresh subject in Iraq and elsewhere in the Muslim world. The episode is still used in Jihadi propaganda, and is featured on Islamist websites. As for Cardona, his name can be referenced almost instantly on the Internet, along with news of his conviction and photos of him holding his large tan Belgian Malinois dog, as an Iraqi prisoner cowers against a concrete wall at Abu Ghraib prison. Dogs, which are considered unclean by many Muslims, have been used in U.S. detention facilities in both Iraq and Guantanamo to intimidate prisoners.
Are we really so short on people that they couldn’t find this guy an assignment in a supportive desk-job somewhere — anywhere — else?
C’mon, now. Don’t make me start thinking we don’t know what we’re doing in Iraq… k?
Update: From CNN (my emphasis):
The U.S. Army dog handler who was convicted of abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad will not be redeployed to Iraq, an Army spokesman said Friday.
Although Sgt. Santos Cardona left Monday for Iraq with his unit — the 23rd Military Police Company — from Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, he will remain in Kuwait.
“It would not be prudent” to allow him to be sent on to Iraq, the spokesman said.
*snort*
Ya think?
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