JOE DARBY DID THE RIGHT THING

This article presents some sad truth about how the whistleblower of the Abu Graib prison abuses has been treated. I found this through Winds of Change, which I recommend wholeheartedly.

...in most of America, the pictures from Abu Ghraib met with instant outrage and contempt, and Joe Darby became a hero. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld praised his actions as "honorable and responsible." The House Armed Services Committee praised him for risking his career in pursuit of "what is right." But inside the little towns of Jenners and Somerset and Windber and Johnstown, many neighbors weren't so quick to celebrate. Abu Ghraib became a litmus test of the American mood; reactions split along political and economic lines. On campuses and in the halls of government, even within the upper echelons of the military command, few would question what Joe had done. But in his own hometown, plenty of people did. Some had seen the face of battle themselves and had made their own moral compromises, which were easier not to remember. Others had family members who served in the first gulf war and had a hard time feeling sorry for Iraqis. Still others had relatives in Iraq this time, some of whom would never come home. So if a few prisoners got beaten up, if they were humiliated or even abused, well, [expletive] happens all the time. War is war. Joe Darby's decision didn't make him honorable; it made him a traitor.

...the people in Somerset County who turned their backs on Joe, well, those people would probably feel very different if they knew the rest of the story. That it really wasn't about softening prisoners, gathering intelligence, or trying to win the war. That it wasn't even about losing control in the heat of the moment. It was about getting up in the middle of the night and going somewhere you weren't supposed to go, then beating and raping people there. It was premeditated violent crime. And as long as that stays hidden, so will Bernadette and Joe, outcasts in their own community, two more victims of Abu Ghraib.

You need to read this entire GQ article.

SOFT MONEY, BABY!

I've been doggedly trying not to bluescreen at all the various eyewitness accounts of actions during Kerry's Vietnam service. I've been trying to give the SwiftVetsferTruth a fair hearing, since I read the Dick Cavett show transcript from long ago when Kerry and John O'Neill (now the leader of the SwiftVets group) went head-to-head, and I do think O'Neill has more than a shred of credibility.

Two things.

For the sake of argument let's say that the substance of the SBVT charges are in large part true. Kerry didn't do any secret mission(s) in Cambodia, didn't save any men from the water under fire, didn't do much of anything valorous, and didn't deserve 2 of his 3 purple hearts. Oh and didn't burn down any civilian villages or participate in other war crimes, as he claimed shortly after his return from Vietnam. The result would be: Kerry served as an officer on a small boat in Vietnam for four months, returned, and slandered his fellow soldiers with an amazingly large but vague broadbrush as bloodthirsty, capricious, brutal oppressors of Vietnamese civilians. But, we already knew that. If he did deserve all his medals, and so far I think he did, he still threw them away, and said at the time that they were empty attempts by the military to make soldiers feel good about cooperating with the bloodthirsty oppression of Vietnam.

About the charge that SBVT is a front organization controlled by the Bush/Cheney campaign... well it is a legal 527 organization. 527 groups can accept any amount of money from anyone. And apparently it is OK for a 527 to express an opinion about a presidential campaign. To wit:

Here is the list of the top 50 527's and their money received to date and spent to date:

1.) Joint Victory Campaign 2004, $41,685,706, $35,780,404

2.) Media Fund, $28,127,488 27,208,905

3.) America Coming Together, $26,905,450, $24,196,532

4.) Service Employees International Union, $16,652,296, $8,808,017

5.) American Fedn of St/Cnty/Munic Employees, $13,658,207, $13,274,331

6.) MoveOn.org, $9,086,102, $17,435,782

7.) New Democrat Network, $7,172,693, $6,970,070

8.) Club for Growth, $4,818,063, $6,610,032

9.) EMILY's List, $4,162,226, $4,070,369

10.) AFL-CIO, $3,750,840, $3,691,832

Of the top ten, nine are decidedly pro-Democrat and anti-Bush, while the tenth, the Club for Growth, is really pro-Conservative (and not necessarily pro-Bush), and has actually run ads against Republicans who they do not believe advocate appropriate tax and spending policies.

A quick tally shows that the Democratic party and John Kerry have at their disposal a sum near $195,186,845.

I believe the SwiftVet guys have received something like $500,000, although clearly they are making money from the O'Neill book also.

Donald Sensing has a lot of analysis of the back-and-forth on the medal incidents, and there appear to be plenty of questions for both sides.

Final thought. I agree that Kerry's service in Vietnam carries with it more honor than serving in the National Guard to avoid going overseas. But after the years-long hammering given to Bush's Guard service, including the continued accusation of desertion, it's a little funny that the Democrats think the SwiftVets' stories are beyond the pale.