Horton: Hanging Good!
Scott Horton on a high horse at Balkanization and Huffpo, makes the case for drumhead trials and summary executions of unlawful combatants … although that isn’t exactly what he intended to do.
Horton, in a lofty, principled but accuracy challenged* review of “The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib,” gets all George Washington on George Bush. He is immediately smacked down by his first commenter, mountain-climbing, soldiering lawyer Bart DePalma.
Horton:
Following the Battle of Trenton in 1776, Washington set firm rules for the treatment of prisoners in American custody. “Treat them with humanity, and let them have no reason to complain of our copying the brutal example of the British Army in their treatment of our unfortunate brethren who have fallen into their hands,” he wrote.
DePalma:
“On September 29, 1780, Major John Andre, Adjutant-General to the British Army, was tried by a ‘Board of General Officers’ appointed by General Washington, on a charge that he had come within the lines for an interview with General Benedict Arnold and had been captured while in disguise and traveling under an assumed name. The Board found that the facts charged were true, and that when captured Major Andre had in his possession papers containing intelligence for the enemy, and reported their conclusion that ‘Major Andre . . . ought to be considered as a Spy from the enemy, and that agreeably to the law and usage of nations . . . he ought to suffer death.’ Major Andre was hanged on October 2, 1780.”
Apparently, when it came to unlawful combatants, the George Washington standard was closer to Ahmadinejad than Bush. Hey, maybe Horton’s right. We should revert to Washington’s great historical precedents. Drumhead trials and summary executions all around! We could empty the hated Crusader gulag at Guantanamo and shut it down tomorrow.
Ha! Dan Riehlly knows his historical contradictions! George Washington, the Whiskey Rebellion and the suspension of civil rights! Hey, according to the Horton Standard we should do this. too.
* In addition to misrepresenting policies re prisoners past and present, Horton includes this Bush-league error “a later George W, one who knew no military service …” Horton also sees the consequences of the scandals at Abu Ghraib as “shame, disgrace and ruin,” which is an excessive, one might say kangaroo-court judgment on the successful application of the American system of justice as well as investigative, bureaucratic and political processes that worked exactly as they are intended to deal with the grossly exaggerated misdeeds of Abu Ghraib.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:30 am on Tuesday, February 20, 2007
One Response to “Horton: Hanging Good!”
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February 21st, 2007 at 11:56 am
Rory Kennedy’s documentary The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib.
I’m guessing Ms. Kennedy doesn’t spend a lot of time going over the Saddam period - like Uncle Teddy said old torture chamber under new mgmt - but they support the troops!