Questions Worth Asking

I learned something disturbing the other day. It doesn't sit well with me, and I want to pass it on to you.

My nephew is on active duty in the Reserves, and when I explained how pleased I was with the Operation Truth website, he frowned and said that from boot camp on he has been explicitly taught that you are not to speak *at all* about military life in Iraq or Afghanistan. Not just logistical locations or technical details, but about *anything*. The military reasoning is that you never know what the enemy will glean from what you say.

I disagree. While sensitivity to location and logistics can be essential, without the photos of Abu Ghraib, the American public would not have begun probing into how badly this Administration advocates violating the Geneva Conventions. Certainly enough evidence is coming to light that the Administration was well aware of what was happening in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and actively encouraged it.

While secrecy can be essential for an effective military campaign, it was not a campaign that Rumsfeld was defending when he banned digital cameras, camcorders, and cameras with cell phones. He was protecting himself and the Administration.

As the public is learning, the Administration was well aware that what they were doing was wrong, which is why they consulted with White House counsel Alberto Gonzales over two years ago about it.

It is never appropriate to torture another human being, however much one may feel the prisoner deserves it. To do so lowers them to their opponents level. We as a civilized nation have held ourselves to a higher code of ethics, and rightfully so. When we violate our own standards, all bets become off as to how our own American POWs are treated. What right have we to demand American POWs be treated better than their Iraqi counterparts? While the Bush Administration pushes for 'Do as I say, not as I do', the rest of the world (and the American public) isn't buying it.

The public still does not see its returning soldiers' flag covered caskets, not out of respect as the Department of Defense would lead you to believe, but because the Bush Administration knows that in order to hold public opinion, they need to keep the cost of war away from public scrutiny. I say that the Bush Administration cannot pass "The Dover Test", which is why they elect to bypass it altogether.

I too believe we need to look at the war in Iraq with clear eyes and understand the cost our soldiers pay for this Administration's decisions. Our government knows that photos can sway public opinion, for good or ill, which is why they don't want you to see what is really happening overseas. While I applaud my nephew's patriotic defense of the military's policies, I can't help but fear it is a harbinger of far more sinister things to come. After all, who is minding the minders?