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This item was originally posted 2006.08.03.05:44.

Mad Jack merely slandered a SSgt of the US Marines.  The New York Times, far more powerful and influential than a mere Congressman, shoulders the burden of slandering a retired Major General of the United States Army.  The excerpt below is copied from the print version of today's editorial.

What happens to a general who turns a military detention camp into a center for the torment of prisoners, and then keeps exporting those vile practices to other U.S. prisons until their exposure sickens the world? If the general works under President Bush, he is whitewashed of any blame, protected from even the mildest reprimand, and, finally, retires honorably with the military’s highest noncombat medal pinned to his chest.

By now, we shouldn’t be all that surprised at the treatment of Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, the Guantánamo Bay commandant who helped organize interrogation centers in Afghanistan and at Abu Ghraib.

After all, Mr. Bush has promoted the civilians who formulated the policies behind illegal detention and  prisoner abuse. And he awarded the highest civilian honor to George Tenet, who either bungled the intelligence on Iraq or helped the White House hype it, and Paul Bremer, whose post-invasion mismanagement helped foment the bloody chaos in Iraq.

There are only three aspects of this comtemptible screed that merit attention.  Consider first the allegation that General Miller turned Guantanamo into "a center for the torment of prisoners."  A Club Méditerranée ® for jihadis would be more like it.  Some prisoners at Guantanamo are so taken with their conditions of detention that they plead not to be returned to their home countries.

Secondly, when the "newspaper of record" alleges that General Miller exported "vile practices to other US prisons" it overloads its manure shovel. True, there have been abuses in Afghanistan and Iraq, most notably at Abu Ghraib.  If the Times has any factual basis for attributing these failings to the general, why haven't they presented the evidence?  All they have is an unfounded inference based on ignorance and anti-military prejudice.  Consider the Abu Ghraib affair. Charles Graner and his bevy of sluts made porn movies in Kuwait, weeks before they arrived in Iraq.  That's their specialty.

The third paragraph speaks to motive. The editorialists turn their gothic fantasies into a club to batter President Bush.  Just one more drubbing in the relentless Bush-bashing crusade they have pursued since well before the 2004 elections. "Nothing personal, you understand, General.  Just politics."

It is probably foolish to imagine that General Miller would follow the lead of SSgt Wuterich and sue. There is plenty of malice to go around, but it is directed upwards.  Besides, his attorneys would have a hard time trying to prove damage.  In today's rotten climate of opinion, thanks to Big Media, what would the reputation of a general for honor and integrity be worth?  Bupkes.

Once slimed by The New York Times, where do you go to get your honor back?

Contributed by John Werntz on August 5, 2006 at 01:29 PM in Best of Old War Dogs, Current Affairs, John "72nd TCS" Werntz | Permalink

Comments

Posted by: Gray Dog

This was written with the exceptional flair I have come to expect from this author. I would hope that it would be directed as a letter to the editors at NYT, albeit with little hope of being printed.

Good job!

Posted by: Gray Dog | Aug 3, 2006 7:57:05 AM

Posted by: Rurik

Get his honor back? It has increased by a magnitude. A man's honor is not defined only by the friends he keeps, but by the enemies he makes. In this light, General Miller's stature has grown. "Slimed by The Times", is an honor surpassed by few military awards.

Posted by: Rurik | Aug 3, 2006 11:17:41 AM

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