The folks who are running the Iraq War from the White House are constantly claiming that critics "hurt national security." This was the claim when reporters started reporting on Abu Gharaib. It is the claim from the Intelligence services as their systematic use of renderings, secret prisons, and torture was revealed, and as they now seek to prosecute those responsible -- for revealing the crimes. It is now the claim of some complaining about the press reporting of the killing spree that some freaked out Marines went on. While there is no excuse for those Marines, there is even less excuse that the military only admitted these things after the broader world brought them to light. As their Commandant is saying to them, there is a code of honor in the military and a proud history of following that code of honor, and that code of honor includes not coverying up crimes. It is equally criminal that anyone should have buried those crimes after the soldiers tried to commit them.
But of course that is a pattern of criminality in this administration. It's not the crimes, abu Gharaib, this recent attrocity, others, but the pattern of covering them up, attacking those who first report them, and never conceding that these actions represent the responsibility of the administration. No one of any real rank was ever punished about Abu Gharaib. The spooks involved were promoted and the theories involved have been modified but are still being justified.
There is no excuse for the soldiers who tortured, went on killing sprees, or in the case of abu Gharaib followed perverse military orders, but there is even less excuse for the Administration that has given orders that have thoroughly demoralized and criminalized the military, punished anyone who spoke up, and made it a crime to do so. That Abu Gharaib at least represents the influence of the top of the military chain of command was demonstrated long ago with the Torture Memos, and the fact tha the people directing the worst of the abuse were under direct orders from the Pentagon to "gitmoize" Abu Gharaib. Abu Gharaib represented high crimes and misdemeaners not mere low crimes and stupid people with too much time on their hands. But the low level people who carried out these orders are still being punished and the rest of the story is still being repressed. It's a shame.
And when the press, congressmen such as Murtha, or anyone else complains about these things, they get accused of "damaging national security." The criminals blame the reporters, not themselves. Abu Gharaib damaged national security, and would have even if its reporting had been restricted to the Iraqi rumor mill and never been broadcast in the form of sickening pictures. The acts of torture and repression damaged our credibility with potential friends, the Iraqi people, and made them our sworn enemies. Nobody wins a war when they are perceived as torturers, as murderers, as callous people with no self control or honor. By resorting to torture and kidnappings (arrests without charges, disapearances, can only be considered kidnappings), we set a precedent that is now being followed by our Shiite Students (as if we needed to teach them!). We lost the "war" for democracy and now must watch while the Iraqi people duke it out among themselves. The damage to National Security takes the form of loss of intelligence possibilities, cooperation from ordinary Iraqis, reputation among allies and enemies, and trust. Along with the other deceptions and lies, we have managed to make the Chinese and Russians look honest by comparison.
So nothing has damaged our National Security more than the twits who thought that violating the Geneva convention would buy them a few confessions and maybe the location of a fall guy or two. This has demoralized the troops far more than anything the enemy could have done. Our troops have always conducted themselves with the highest standards. As Murtha says:
"I will not excuse murder, and this is what happened," Murtha said. "This investigation should have been over two or three weeks afterward and it should have been made public and people should have been held responsible for it."
And likewise with Abu Gharaib, and Guantanamo, and the men who should have been held responsible for those attrocities should have been the people handlers, not the dog handlers, the people who wrote those memos jusfifying breaking years of Army doctrine. This means the President and his "In"justice secretary on down. These are the people damaging national security. These are the people who have intentionally damaged the CIA in order to prevent their cooked intelligence about Iraq from coming to light, and who appear to be bstructed justice and in the process besmirching the name of the United States.
I can't believe the damage done to national security here. I have people telling me "we don't live in a free country anymore. -- That is real damage. I am ashamed.