From mid-Spring to mid-Summer 2003, while three quarters of a million pounds of military grade explosives was likely being looted by former Ba’athists, or terrorists, while no-one was assigned to watch, our military planners’ attention was on finding the nonexistent weapons of mass destruction. Towards that end, by midsummer, they thought this could be achieved by rather unusual means: interrogation methods far exceeding legal standards the civilized world had lived by since World War I.

Trying to get people to talk, the result was torture, rape and murder, committed in our name. And no-one could talk about the WMDs because there had been none for nearly a decade before.

Veteran reporter Seymour Hersh indicates the videotapes America hasn’t seen yet are far worse and are being kept classified to avoid making us look worse to the Iraqi people and the world. Meanwhile, the Taguba report about the abuse at Abu Ghraib and other military prisons has been classified. However, concluding the story at the link above was this:

On September 15, a federal district court judge upheld an ACLU demand for the release of records of prisoner abuse, ordering the Defense Department to produce or identify them by October 15, 2004.

And here’s what the ACLU has received on 10/15 and 10/19, and posted.

Besides numerous details of beatings, deaths, official culpability of a prison commander and more, there’s one titled “CORRUPTION FEDERAL PUBLIC OFFICIAL - EXECUTIVE BRANCH” that has been completely redacted by the FBI, leaving us to wonder which official was investigated and what was found.

Despite all that these documents reveal, a lot more remains secret. What are these secrets the public can’t know?

When executive memos were uncovered that seemed to condone torture, Congress members were shocked. As Virginia Republican Frank Wolf noted in his info request: “The thought of the United States condoning torture is abhorrent. Not only is it inhumane, it jeopardizes the security of U.S. forces and our allies in places such as Iraq and around the globe. The security of civilian contractors and humanitarian aid workers also is threatened.”

And indeed, the ever-increasing attacks on our military and civilians, plus the kidnappings and beheadings that have occurred since some of our torture practices became public knowledge, proves Wolf’s fears were justified.

So beyond the fact that we went to war on flawed intelligence and forged documents, beyond the fact that the UN inspectors and International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors and most former US inspectors were saying no proof of WMDs existed and added time was requested to complete the search, beyond the fact that Hussein was complying and destroying missiles, the war planners rushed to war. Along that way, and after, the planners:

- ignored military plans to eliminate al-Zarqawi - PRIOR to the war - as the political leadership needed him to make the public case that an active terrorist group existed that required war in response.

- rushed troops into battle without proper body armor and properly armored vehicles, some of whom only obtained equipment their families purchased. And it took a year after the war’s inception for all troops to gain that protection.

- failed to protect the largest explosives cache in history that has since likely fallen into enemy hands and equally likely, has contributed to the death of dozens or hundreds of soldiers and civilians.

- oversaw intelligence and military superiors who contributed to prison conditions that led to torture, rape and murder, provoking anti-American and anti-ally sentiments to spread beyond terrorists and Saddam’s old network, to the larger Iraqi population.

With each of these choices, gross planning, execution and oversight errors were made that further destabilized Iraq, that further put soldiers and civilians at risk, that have turned significant parts of the Iraqi population against our troops and against our goals in Iraq, and that likely has added greatly to the fatalities and wounded casualties our troops and the Iraq population has endured.

And that conclusion is easily made without access to much more that remains secret. And what has reached the public in each of these instances, was withheld for weeks and months, possibly for political reasons.

If this is incompetence, it’s criminal incompetence, because of the lives cost, and lives that may be cost for months or years to come. If this is twisting of the truth for political convenience, these are the fatal lies of people deserving prosecution.

How dare they ask our children to die for the errors of officials who still escape responsibility, who still won’t come clean, who have not been punished for this Deathgate they created! When no-one is taken to task for these failures, that responsibility goes back to the man at the top.

The only higher level of responsibility that exists above the commander-in-chief resides with the voters who are evaluating him right now before their decisions are finalized next week. If a majority overlook and condone the incompetence and corruption that has created this Deathgate, may God have mercy on their souls.

Addedndum: the record does seem to support that certain conclusions are justified.