The Bushies Hope Note!
By Brad Friedman on 8/28/2004, 10:34am PT  

(Blogged by Brad from the road...)

If you only listen to Talk Radio (and occassionally catch a snippet of Fox News), you'd think the fact that the Bush campaign has finally found their very own "Willie Horton" distraction (Swifties for Bush) is the only news worth reporting.

I've been away from newspapers and other sources of real news for a while, so imagine my surprise when I learned there actually were newsworthy items, that have to do with Americans today, but that seem to be getting little coverage from the Rightwing Extremist Media.

Thursday's USA Today was kind enough to summarize the latest report on the horrors of Abu Ghraib. You recall that place, right? The place where the America managed to create thousands of new terrorists?

It looks like at least 30 more Americans, above and beyond the 7 "bad apples", have now been implicated. And even Don Rumsfeld has been taken to task. And mind you, this is a report by the Army investigating itself. So you can imagine how horrific and far reaching the real story actually is.

I have a feeling this story, below the fold in Thursday's USA Today didn't get the coverage that it might have had only John Kerry not been such a dangerous, lying, evil, traitorous, Communist, America hater.

So, here's a few items from the report that actually matter and that you may have missed:

A long-awaited Army report released Wednesday implicates 27 members of a military intelligence unit in the alleged abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, well beyond the seven reservist military police already charged.

...

[O]fficials did say Col. Thomas Pappas, who was the commander of the 205th Intelligence Brigade, could face criminal action.

[Lead investigator, Gen. Paul] Kern said four officers “above the rank of colonel” face discipline for command failures at Abu Ghraib.

[T]he number of abuse incidents — they cited 44 cases — and types of abuse were greater than previously believed.

Among the incidents: Guards and interrogators competed with dog teams to see which could more quickly make naked teenage prisoners lose control of their bowels and bladders.

Military leaders, while “not directly responsible” for the abuses, bear responsibility, Lt. Gen. Anthony Jones said.

In addition to the abuse cases, Kern said investigators found eight cases in which prisoners were hidden from the International Red Cross, which monitored prison conditions. “We can't tell you why,” he said.

A sharply worded report issued Tuesday blamed top Pentagon officials, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, for creating conditions that led to abuse at the prison.

Okay. Now go back to fighting over whether it was shrapnel or bullets that punctured the flesh of John Kerry 35 years ago while he volunteered to risk his life for our country.

Bush/Cheney '04: Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

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