Reply #186: I definitely said "at the risk of oversimplifying" for a reason.

[TahitiNut]

Consider for a moment that, in general, the civilian justice system will forego prosecution of small fry in order to get the big fish. While I oppose exoneration, I understand and won't let the perfect be the enemy of the second best. I would prefer greater penalties for those with greater power and authority, but complicity should always be punishable.

The Military Justice (oxymoron) System is the opposite. The system itself, under the authority of the trial judges, does not accept blame of the command as a defense, nor does it grant immunity in seeking higher culpability. It's a system that's designed to reinforce authority, not make it more honest.

Yes, abu Ghraib is most definitely a combat zone. At the time of these events, the prisoner/guard ratio was probably about 5 times greater than anything permitted by regulations, they got shelled, and the guards/troops were subject to attacks from both outside and inside. More significantly, they were operating under the military's combat "laws" and regulations ... and not in the slightest way subject to any civil authority. None. Nada.

Regarding what constitutes torture - when the administration's most senior legal authorities are promulgating treatments that both I and you would regard as torture, just what burden can be reasonably placed on the back of a PFC to make such a legal judgment? After all, when you're KILLING people, including civilians, it's tough to find a moral compass.

Yes. I think it is. You think it is. I wonder whether we'd risk being fragged, shot, or given an assignment that was certain death for not "going with the flow." The military has some very effective ways of "cleaning out the ranks." And there ain't a GI in a combat zone that doesn't know it. There's REAL enforcement for ya.

In the final analysis, our failure as a nation to justly and fairly prosecute and punish war crimes makes us ALL responsible. Why? The "justice system" is our avatar. That's why the Nuremberg Trials had to be held in the first place.