The Messenger Remains the Unsung Hero

Major General Antonio Taguba was assigned to investigate Abu Ghraib in Iraq by General Sanchez. He also visited two other prisons housing suspected terrorists in Iraq. Only Abu Ghraib was listed as a facility abusing prisoners to such an extent that Taguba would claim the MP’s within the prison showed: “Lack of discipline, no training whatsoever and a lack of leadership presence.” 

The messenger is rarely ever praised. Most of the time he is ignored, humiliated, or exiled.(Plato’s cave)  Taguba's mindset of morality became a light for those encased in the hell of Abu Ghraib. Some leaders and congressional listeners would crawl out of the Miller slime invested hole and stand strong with Taguba during the investigation. Will he remain an unsung hero, whose voice still is championing for the underdog even in retirement? Probably so. 

Those who do the right thing for the right reason do not need the pat on the back from the like’s of Rumsfeld, Miller, or administrations. They hold to core principles that promote the dignity of the human person and lift up those that cannot speak for themselves. This was the American soldier the world respected and admired at one time. WWll saw GI’s giving out chocolate bars to German prisoners. A human connection was still present even in times of war. Those GI’s saw Dachau and Auschwitz and still treated the enemy with some semblance of sane compassion. 

Taguba reached several conclusions in his investigation. All lead to the fact that Rumsfeld, Bush, Miller, Krapinski, and the MI’s all played a major role in the eventual degradation at Abu Ghraib. All but Krapinski wanted enhanced techniques of interrogation. All were negligent in their duty to uphold the Geneva Convention articles. All needed to be held responsible if the soldiers were to be held responsible for their parts in this grotesque play. Krapinski most assuredly was derelict in her role as the leader in charge of the functioning of the prison. Miller, Yoo, Rumsfeld, Sanchez, Bush, and the MI’s all led America down a very slippery slope into an abyss that we may never come out of again. Janis Krapinski was not there to see what was going on, nor was she present to make sure her troops were being trained properly. Her escapism and negligence warranted more than a reduction in rank.