The Billiken's Bluff

Ahh, you just have to love the lessons we learn everyday from our fine government. Lessons like Oh, don’t worry about the silly Geneva Conventions- those guys in Iraq deserve what we do to them. Or Hey, leave my buddy Rumsfeld alone. He’s the “best secretary of defense” Americans could ask for.

WHAT?!

Donald Rumsfeld is either the most oblivious man in the entire universe, or he is the sneakiest one. Isn’t the secretary of defense supposed to, oh I don’t know, DEFEND the United States? Let’s look past the big military intelligence screw up that was September 11th and focus on Abu Ghraib. This is our prison. Rumsfeld has not only been there- he’s met some of the soldiers accused and photographed committing heinous torture. But here we find that abuse has been ongoing, and that Rumsfeld might have known of it for some time.

“These events occurred on my watch," Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "As secretary of defense, I am accountable for them and I take full responsibility... If there's a failure, it's me. It's my failure for not understanding and knowing that there were hundreds [of photographs].”
“I failed to recognize how important it was to elevate a matter of such gravity to the highest levels, including the president and the members of Congress," Rumsfeld said.

The most disturbing thing in all of this (aside from the photographs that continue to be released), is Vice President Cheney’s response to Congress’ desire to question and investigate Rumsfeld. Saturday he climbed out of his cellar long enough to say that he not only supports Rumsfeld, but thinks he is a Sec. of Defense Americans should take pride in. He also not-too-subtly asked Congress to lay off.

Equally appalling is the fact that so many people have no idea what this scandal is all about. As I wandered the halls of my building in a stunned rage, I found that of the 15 people I asked about this scandal, only 2 knew what the hell I was talking about. I can only imagine what the rest of America is like.

At this point, over 275,000 people have signed John Kerry’s petition for the resignation of Rumsfeld, as Bush himself labels the man’s performance “superb.”

What the hell is going in this country?