Nightline 5/3: Prisoners of War

[Bozita]

Nightline Daily E-Mail
May 3, 2004


TONIGHT'S FOCUS: The pictures of Iraqi prisoners being abused by American soldiers continue to reverberate around the world. The investigation continues, but the impact of these incidents may go far beyond a criminal investigation.

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I'm sure that most of you, by now, have seen or heard of these pictures. One of the most troubling images may be the smiles on the faces of some of the Americans. How could they do this? That's an easy question to ask from here. Some have said that the guards were not trained for the job. But did they need to be trained that these actions were wrong? But how could anything like this happen without more people, specifically the people in charge, knowing about it? And if it was ordered by their superiors, or simply encouraged, or something in between, who's responsible then? "I was following orders" does not apply, in fact the military makes it clear that a soldier has the responsibility of refusing an illegal order. But in the real world, that may be tougher than it sounds. What really happened over there? The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs was on This Week yesterday. He said that he has still not seen the report on all this, even though that report was completed in February. How could that be? Would anything have happened if someone hadn't wanted to take pictures?

Clearly bad things happen in war. That's been true as long as there have been wars. But it's always a shock when something like this happens. We're not supposed to do this. This is the kind of thing that Saddam and his thugs would have done. And that's the reaction any time that Americans are accused of something like this. That's not what this country stands for. And that's an especially important issue when the U.S. is saying that we want to spread democracy throughout the Middle East. We're shocked by these pictures. Unfortunately, whatever ultimately comes out in the investigations, these pictures provide more ammunition for those who would say that America is no different than anyone else. And that may be the real harm that comes from this. It's a difficult issue, that comes at a particularly difficult time. And so that's what we'll look at tonight. ABC National Security correspondent Martha Raddatz will bring us up to date on the investigation. Nightline correspondent John Donvan will report on the reaction, and repercussions around the world. Chris Bury will anchor. I hope you'll join us.

Leroy Seivers and the Nightline Staff
Nightline Offices
ABCNEWS Washington D.C.

[alcuno]

1. It's a disaster.

We are now disgraced at a whole new level.

[MikeG]

2. Ted's gonna make Bush beg him to read the names of the dead.

[madmax]

3. My first thought, exactly.

On CNN someone at the Pentagon stated if we have any friends left in the Middle East I'd be surprised. Seems like everything bush touches turns to shit. Just like his businesses.

[slinkerwink]

4. Bush has the FECAL MIDAS touch...ewww.