Too good not to post
Specialist Jeremy C. Sivits has pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty and will serve a year in jail. He failed to stop abuse of Iraqi prisoners that he witnessed at Abu Ghraib prison on Nov. 8.
As it happens, two days before Specialist Sivits witnessed the abuse, the Red Cross issued a report detailing prisoner mistreatment at Abu Ghraib. Staff lawyers for Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the ground commander in Iraq, drafted a response, but General Sanchez was not shown the report until January, when an investigation began.
On Wednesday, General Sanchez's staff lawyer told the Senate that Red Cross reports were handled "in a haphazard manner." Also on Wednesday, Gen. John P. Abizaid, the top commander in the Middle East, told the Senate that the reason for the command failures was that "our doctrine is not right" and cited "breakdowns in procedures."
Legally and morally, it is impossible to understand how if Specialist Sivits is guilty of dereliction of duty, others much above him in the chain of command are not guilty of a greater dereliction of a higher duty.
STEPHEN GILLERS
New York, May 20, 2004
The writer is vice dean of New York University School of Law.
