Officer's Road Led Him Outside Army

Officer's Road Led Him Outside Army

Capt. Ian Fishback repeatedly voiced his concern about prisoner abuse in Iraq to his superiors, but felt he was being brushed off.

WASHINGTON — When Army Capt. Ian Fishback told his company and battalion commanders that soldiers were abusing Iraqi prisoners in violation of the Geneva Convention, he says, they told him those rules were easily skirted.

When he wrote a memo saying Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was wrong in telling Congress that the Army follows the Geneva dictates, his lieutenant colonel responded only: "I am aware of Fishback's concerns."

And when Fishback found himself in the same room as Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey at Ft. Benning, Ga., he again complained about prisoner abuse. He said Harvey told him that "corrective action was already taken."

This story encapsulates for me the very reason I am convinced we have already lost this war.

When our leadership, bellowing a chorus of 'American values' to justify this war, begins to punish the very troops who actually believe in those values. You can call this game over!

Mod Edit: Reduced Large Quote From Linked Source

[edit on 25/9/2005 by Mirthful Me]