April 30, 2008
Representatives for film director Errol Morris told me during pre-production that “Standard Operating Procedure” would be the very best documentary on the abuses of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib – the one that would tell the whole truth.
I had pinned great hope on that. It didn’t turn out that way.
13 comments:
Excellent post! I posted it on ttp://freedetainees.org as well.
I'm not surprised, but I am disappointed. What frightens me most is that the three running now - I just don't see how it's going to change much. :-(
I thought the Army Chain of Command was responsible for the abuse of detainees? Now it's CACI running the show at Abu Ghraib? I'm confused.
Provance has some odd ideas on how to run a war! I read a lot of whining but few solutions. I understand he was punished for disobeying a direct order - an order he SIGNED - not for refusing to participate in his invented "cover-up." Most folks read documents before they sign them, especially military orders or contracts.
Thank you, Provance. May your light of truth pierce the darkness.
Provance is a scene right out of "300". A true warrior against the powers that be.
To the cantankerous "anonymous" commentator above, if you are confused, it sounds like you want to be. Sam has said here what he's always been saying. Maybe you are hoping to confuse us?
I am howling with laughter that you would say he "invented" the cover-up. And your direct order comments...sounds like you are running out of excuses for what Sam has to say.
Having followed this story since the beginning it's the first time I've heard Provance claim CACI was running the show at A.G. Previously, it was his leadership that ordered the abuse. The fact is that a SGT has a limited scope of authority and exposure - regardless of their supposed experience. Provance claims to know a lot more than he actually does - he seems to parrot what he reads or hears. Also, if he was the position he was, why did he wait to speak out until after he returned to Germany? He had access to the same stuff SPC Darby did (remember, he's the Soldier that actually DID blow the whistle). He is not a whistle blower - he's covering is behind for his own failure to report what he thought he saw!!! Laugh all you want, but where Provance is concerned, there were never any heroics. I'm waiting for the book deal.
Once again to the cantankerous blogger, if you "followed" him as you claim, you would find he indeed has implicated CACI, as well as the rest of the civilians, so he is reiterating what he has already said (read his testimony for starters). That you don't know that, proves you don't know what you are talking about.
As for Darby, he only turned in photos of pics even the MP's family had, via email. Why not decry them? Provance never seen them according to him.
Provance seems like he's done every bit and more that he can humanly do, to do the right thing--even now, years after leaving the Army. He also downplays the "heroics" you sound so personally jaded about, so there's no point in getting your panties in a bunch.
Book Deal? If that were his plan, I think it´d have been on the shelf a long time ago.
Really, you sound like someone more obsessed with Provance (i.e., "a hater") than knowing or caring anything about him or what he has to say.
All that he could have done??? He could have relayed any of the accusations he now makes to his chain of command, JAG, CID, or any Chaplain, etc. long before he did (read the Fay report, he's Soldier-22). He had ample opportunity to do so. He could have followed the orders given him. He could have STOPPED IT! He uses his own failures to prop himself up to whistleblower status - which he is not. Take away the politics and there is no way he would have been called to testify before Congress. I know for a fact that when he was at Abu Ghraib he thought everything was going smoothly and couldn't understand why his chain of command routinely chastised him and other leaders in his unit for failing to maintain discipline. There is much more to his story before Abu Ghraib than he tells and it's not a shining light over his head. His crusade is a bunch of B.S. as is most stuff coming out of this crowd. Some truth doused with copious amounts of crap. I follow his story from time to time just to see which planet he's on now. You obviously don't know the Provance I know, only the one he shows you.
Back to the canktankerous blooger, all those options you've mentioned (CID, JAG; etc) are commonly self-serving and lie in bed with one another...something Provance has explained in great detail with a host of others since the Army existed. If you think any of them gives a damn past upholding the image of the military, you are more naive than I thought.
Provance never propped himself up to anything. We the people did, and we are proud of him for telling it like it is.
According to Provance's Fay testimony, he does mention why he was chastised--for not doing a warrant officer's laundry! You want to stand behind that, go ahead.
Again, you sound like someone who a) doesn't like Provance on some personal level and b) is envious of a some hairbrained perception about him that doesn't even exist.
Provance presents facts that have been verified and corroborated over and again. Period. Maybe you aren't the insider you claim or think *you* are? Where have you been all this time since you know so much better than all us rubes?
You should be ashamed of yourself, 1stSgt William Palenik. It's been years now and you still don't get it. He needed your help more than others could give, but you sold your soul to the devils.
(from http://www.antiwar.com/orig/galland.php?articleid=3529 ), "Upon this occasion, his first sergeant, 1st Sgt. William Palenik, seized the opportunity to issue stern warnings to soldiers about talking to the press in light of the anticipated release of the Fay report.
Palenik went on to advise the soldiers that Army Public Affairs would be coming to brief soldiers on how they should handle themselves in the eventuality that they may be queried by the press.
Palenik then seized the opportunity to publicly and insultingly paint an analogy of a soldier at Abu Ghraib whose "only duty is to turn screws, and that such a soldier should only, 'talk about screws,'" while indirectly referring to Provance in front of his contemporaries. During the duty day of Aug. 13, numerous other soldiers asked Provance about his "screwing responsibilities."
In view of a command climate rife with liars, self-aggrandizing and self-preserving leaders, Palenik's actions and his smart mouth are censurable at a minimum."
I'm going to have to start looking into this deeper and taking notes. Mind blowing.
Do any of you truly know what happened? The media has portrayed Provance like the victim. He was not the victim. Have any of you ever been in the military? My guess would be "no". As a servicemember, if you are told to not talk to the media, then you don't talk to them and direct them to the Public Affairs Officer. You do as you're told. Period. If you don't, then you are prosecuted since you violated a lawful order.
Has anyone really talked to his chain of command? Doesn't sound like it. So until you know both sides of the story, just shut the hell up.
LOL. It took you *that* long to make that reply? One day it may dawn on you that you've had it wrong all this time, but thus far your pride has kept you from taking an honest look at things--mainly being that it is really you who doesn't know what they are talking about. You weren't there. Even if you were, you don't care about Abu Ghraib or Provance. The only thing that seems to matter to you, for whatever reason, is that Provance is somehow defamed by your internet hobby of continuously slinging mud at him. Sam has spoken in the light, scrutinized by the powers-that-be on down and back up--and he's still walking tall. He *deserves* our respect, no matter which side of the fence you're on.
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