Aiding and Abetting the Enemy -- Catch 86!

Lt. Col. William H. Steele is up on serious charges from his time as commandant of Camp Cropper in Baghdad where Iraqi prisoners were kept.

All I can say is that it is about time!

You remember Abu Ghraib in Iraq and Bagram in Afghanistan? You also remember Hotel Gitmo and places of which we have never learned their locations, let alone names, places where Abu Ghraib-ic things have been and certainly are still going on?

You also remember that nobody has been held to any kind of account or reckoning?

True, a few noncommissioned "bad apples" are now doing hard time. But, they were only doing what they had been told or led to believe they were supposed to do. They mistreated, abused, humiliated, beat up [tortured] prisoners in their care and got carried away a bit -- worst of all, they took pictures...

But nobody further up the food chain was ever charged with anything really serious let alone convicted and/or punished. Well, a few reprimands were dealt out to lower officers. A reprimand can stand in the way of promotions and therefore these unfortunates must be suffering absolute anguish!

But at long last there may be a chance for real justice!

A Lt. Col. and former commandant of Camp Cropper is facing very serious charges, the worst of which is "aiding and abetting the enemy".

What? Aiding and Abetting the Enemy? Shit! Where did all the torture go?

A few words about what kind of officer Lt. Col. Steele is:

Steele was described as a "person of unquestioned integrity," he was credited with maintaining "strict discipline and order" at Camp Cropper and showed "zero tolerance of prisoner abuse." Another said he was "a person with a conscience." One described how he intervened directly to protect a prisoner who had been mistreated by interrogators. He insisted that those serving under him treat the detainees "like human beings." He "was a constant target of those who like to use rough stuff."

Ah -- that's it! The poor guy was doing his job in accordance with his conscience as a human being -- how silly of him!

If a Joseph Heller was writing about Iraq, he'd have Lt. Col. Steele crossing Catch 22 -- except that here it would be violating Catch 86.
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For the opportunity to experience more outrage and disgust, go read more at the link at the beginning of the post. Also, I couldn't find a picture of Col. Steele, so I used one of Gen. Smedley Butler -- I hope Col. Steele takes it as the honor it was meant as!