Letter: Courts martial can’t be last word

Wednesday, May 19, 2004 | 9:09 a.m.

U.S. Army Spc. Jeremy Sivits was charged with prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and sentenced to a year in prision. An Associated Press article says the speed and location of the trial was because reports of the detainee abuse are a threat to "the U.S. mission and President Bush's re-election chances."

Perception is important propaganda in war time, but if the military wishes to scapegoat a few reservists for our image and to elect President Bush, neither justice nor the public good will be served.

Another AP article quotes a Red Cross representative as saying the abuses of detainees are "not individual acts." They go on to say abuse is systemic and that 70 percent to 90 percent of the people taken prisoner are mistakes.

Then there is the yet-to-be-told story of the corporate intelligence people and what conflicting role of authority they may have had on the military. Our reservists went to Iraq to fight an unlawful war against a regime that was no threat to us. Then they found themselves in a war with the Iraqi people. If all we do is scapegoat a few reservists to save face and elect President Bush, we do not do justice, and we miss a chance to examine where the fear and anger of 9-11 and political deception have taken us.

JERRY BITTS