With leadership like this,

Is it any wonder we have so many cases of abuse and murder being discovered (and who knows how many have been covered up) in our nations war zones and military prisons. We have had 7, 8, 9 investigations by the armed forces. All of these investigations have found no evidence to implicate higher levels of command, either military or political. We have learned that these were all isolated incidents, not a single sign of a systemic trouble.

Listen up, when abhorrent behavior is occurring throughout a system, it is systemic. If you can not find a direct cause, like a written order to violate the Geneva Conventions (filed away neatly, under illegal orders I am sure), then you have to look at the culture, and silent signals that it can produce. Somewhere something went wrong, poor leadership, unreasonable pressure for information, spoiled MREs, something or somethings occurred. Heck, it may be as simple as the training, that has somehow created a subset within the majority that think sadism is acceptable behavior in a time of war. Remember, we have had Marine Corps Lt. General James Mattis assure us it .was a "hell of a hoot" and "a lot of fun." He asserted, "It's fun to shoot some people."

Then again. Maybe they did have orders, at least orders that made it clear that, while the official position was to follow the Geneva conventions and treat people humanly, excesses were acceptable and desirable in the drive to victory, the ends justifying the means.

NEW YORK -- A memo signed by Lieutenant General Ricardo A. Sanchez authorizing 29 interrogation techniques, including 12 which far exceeded limits established by the Army’s own Field Manual, was made public for the first time by the American Civil Liberties Union today.

"General Sanchez authorized interrogation techniques that were in clear violation of the Geneva Conventions and the Army's own standards," said ACLU attorney Amrit Singh. "He and other high-ranking officials who bear responsibility for the widespread abuse of detainees must be held accountable."

This memo, dated September 14, 2003, allows for interrogation techniques involving the use of military dogs specifically to "Exploit(s) Arab fear of dogs," stress positions and isolation. A number of these were outside the bounds of what was allowable by the Geneva standards. If the commanding General is telling the troops that parts of Geneva don't apply, but we will follow the Geneva rules, I can see some confusion arising. Mixed messages have a history of destroying moral and contributing to law breaking, and that appears to apply here.

In addition, it appears the General may have then decided that tap dancing around the truth was worthwhile.

U.S. SENATOR JACK REED (D-RI): General Sanchez, today's USA Today, sir, reported that you ordered or approved the use of sleep deprivation, intimidation by guard dogs, excessive noise and inducing fear as an interrogation method for a prisoner in Abu Ghraib prison. Is that correct?

SANCHEZ: Sir, that may be correct that it's in a news article, but I never approved any of those measures to be used within CJTF-7 at any time in the last year.

No, it appears you may have given those over a year ago, but not in the last year.

The military owes the people of this nation an explanation for the repeated violations of international standards of behavior in conflict. A truthful review of the incidents, the causes and results, and a careful self examination how this type of behavior could spread across the forces.