Court Martial

The first court martial trial in the Iraqi abuse scandal is scheduled to begin shortly (May 19th). But, while the trial is open, it isn't going to be televised and there seems some uproar about that.

Thing is, court martials aren't typically televised. Rumsfeld last week testified that he's got files just right now on more than 3,000 people up for such trials (obviously, not all related to the abuse scandal, one hopes).

I'm not certain what immediate purpose it would serve to televise this one lone person's trial than could not be served by other means: reporting from the courtroom, etc. Well, there is one immediate purpose it would serve. It would allow those who choose to focus on "these few bad apples" blow the court martial trial out of proportion and pretend that through the process - which I'm sure probably won't examine how far up the chain of command the orders went on this - we've kissed it and made it all better.

NBC News tonight had a former contractor/interrogator who quit early this year telling tonight that a lot was going on wrong in that prison, and that contract companies were so desperate for results, they were very willing to break rules.

What these men and women appear to be doing is heinous. But I want this fully investigated. I don't simply want to hang these men and women out to dry if the problem didn't stop with them.