Lindy England and Abu Ghraib

So now the Lady of the Leash has pleaded guilty. I won't claim to have much sympathy for her, reserving it instead for the men and women she abused at Abu Ghraib and the child she bore in the middle of this mess.

But wait.. that's not quite entirely correct. Ms. England could have gotten through her entire tour of duty in Iraq without having to do what she did. For that, she is very much culpable. Yet there is really little question in thinking people's minds that England wasn't just "one rogue bad apple". The orders for the abuse came from the top, and no one except the sole woman involved with Abu Ghraib (Janice Karpinski) has been charged with anything.

There is no honor at the Pentagon which chose to point fingers at the bottom of the food chain while accessing that they, Rummy and his uniformed cohorts, had no guilt at all. England and her own cohorts represent all of us. But Mr. Rumsfeld himself is directly responsible for them. By coming up with orders that basically told these untrained, not bright soldiers to do whatever they pleased to get the results they wanted, they ensured that an Abu Ghraib would happen.