T U E S D A Y , A U G U S T 0 9 , 2 0 0 5Who's In Charge Of Military? The Privates OrThe Generals?by Michael in New York on 8/09/2005 03:42:00 PMEach individual soldier is responsible for their own actions. "Iwas just following orders" ended as a reasonable excusesometime around the Nuremberg trials.</p><p> But the soldiers in AbuGhraib and Guantanamo Bay are surely getting a raw dealanyway.</p><p> Some clearly reveled in abusive treatment.</p><p> But storyafter story is making clear that many of them were followingorders, asking repeatedly for guidelines on what wasacceptable and what was safe, many got the run-around fromsuperiors who wanted the prisoners roughed up but didn't wantto get their hands dirty, etc.</p><p> Here's the latest roundup from theNYT:In the first interview granted by any of the accusedsoldiers, a former guard charged with maiming and assaultsaid that he and other reservist military policemenwere specifically instructed at Bagram how to deliverthe type of blows that killed the two detainees, andthat the strikes were commonly used when prisonersresisted being hooded or shackled."I just don't understand how, if we were given training todo this, you can say that we were wrong and should haveknown better," said the soldier, Pvt.</p><p> Willie V.</p><p> Brand, 26, ofCincinnati, a father of four who volunteered for tours inAfghanistan and Kosovo....In recommending the dismissal of an involuntarymanslaughter charge that Army prosecutors initially soughtagainst Private Brand, the investigating officer who oversawhis pretrial inquiry, Col.</p><p> Stephen B.</p><p> Pence, wrote that therewas "no evidence that the accused knew or should haveknown" that the knee strikes could mortally injure adetainee, or that the blows "would be anything other thantemporarily disabling...."In interviews, other former interrogators said she and thestaff sergeant who was her deputy had for monthsbeen seeking clarification from their superiors aboutthe interrogation methods they could use."They asked many, many times," said one formerBagram interrogator who agreed to speak only oncondition of anonymity because of the continuinginvestigation. "The lack of guidance was a source offrustration for them.</p><p> My own feeling is that it wasnever given because nobody wanted to putthemselves on the line."I don't mean to summarily excuse the actions of any soldiers.</p><p> Butisn't it increasingly clear how higher-ups have let them dangle forpractices the people in charge knew about, encouraged but can nowuse plausible denial to keep themselves out of prison? 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