Monday, June 20, 2005

NYT: "New Posts Considered for U.S. Commanders After Abuse Case" (Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker)

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is considering new top command assignments that would possibly include promoting Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the former American commander in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, Pentagon and military officials say.
[. . .]
In essence, the personnel moves would put in place a rotation envisioned before the Abu Ghraib scandal, which prompted global outrage, Congressional inquiries, military trials for the American jailers - and offers of resignation by Mr. Rumsfeld to President Bush, twice.
But with the most senior officers cleared of wrongdoing, there is a belief among many at the Pentagon and in the military that the scandal may be receding in the rear-view mirror of public opinion.


What optimists the "many at the Pentagon and in the military" are! The above is from Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker's "New Posts Considered for U.S. Commanders After Abuse Case"
in this morning's New York Times. Joan, Doug, Liang and Lily all e-mailed on it.

We'll note three other items.

First up, Eli e-mailed to note David Johnston's "F.B.I. Counterterror Officials Lack Experience, Lawyer Says:"


A lawyer who interviewed a number of top current and former counterterrorism officials at the F.B.I. in connection with a lawsuit against the bureau has written to three senators saying the officials lacked a detailed understanding of terrorism and had been promoted to top jobs despite having had little experience in the field.
In a 15-page letter, the lawyer, Stephen M. Kohn, wrote that the F.B.I.'s top counterterrorism officials said in sworn depositions that they did not know the relationship between Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah, a South Asia offshoot of the terror network. Nor were they aware of the link between Osama bin Laden and Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, a spiritual adviser to Mr. bin Laden with whom he had been associated since the 1980's.

Reuters announces that the Bully Boy "rejects withdrawl." Bully Boy stands his ground . . . ground? He's standing on the quick sand of a quagmire. And another Reuters story in the Times appears to have had it's headline cut off: "Biden Says He'll Weigh Presidential Run."
I'm sure this is one of those notorious "printer errors" at the Times and that explains why the full headline did not run. In support of accuracy, we'll print it here*: "Biden Says He'll Weigh Presidential Run, America Responds With a Yawn." (Both items are online only. Trevor sent in the first, Lloyd sent in the second.)

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

*Note: The alternate headline was a joke.