Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Damning with a weak defense
Spc. Graner's attorney isn't exactly Clarence Darrow. In fact, I don't think he's even Lionel Hutz.
Yeah, those cheerleaders who are forced to form pyramids naked by people who just finished beating them. I'm sure I saw that in a half-time show somewhere...
Bonus points for appealing to the civility of Texas prison procedures.
An important point most people seem to have forgotten is that a large percentage of Abu Ghraib prisoners were innocent bystanders picked up on weak evidence or swept up to meet quotas. They weren't being "corrected", and they hadn't been tried as criminals.
The prosecution showed some of the photos taken at Abu Ghraib in their opening argument, including several of naked Iraqi men piled on each other and another of England holding a crawling naked Iraqi man on a leash.
In his opening arguments, Womack said using a tether was a valid method of controlling detainees, especially those who might be soiled with feces.
“You’re keeping control of them. A tether is a valid control to be used in corrections,” he said. “In Texas we’d lasso them and drag them out of there.” He compared the leash to parents who place tethers on their toddlers while walking in shopping malls.
Referring to stacking the prisoners, Womack said: "Don't cheerleaders all over America form pyramids six to eight times a year? Is that torture?"
Womack also said that Graner was "doing his job, following orders and being praised for it."
Yeah, those cheerleaders who are forced to form pyramids naked by people who just finished beating them. I'm sure I saw that in a half-time show somewhere...
Bonus points for appealing to the civility of Texas prison procedures.
An important point most people seem to have forgotten is that a large percentage of Abu Ghraib prisoners were innocent bystanders picked up on weak evidence or swept up to meet quotas. They weren't being "corrected", and they hadn't been tried as criminals.
