corrente

Hey, I guess that means we can't raze it, huh. Gee, another forgettable Bush idea!

But The Fog Machine continues to work unquestioned:

A U.S. Army judge on Monday accepted a request by attorneys of soldiers accused of abusing detainees to question the commander of U.S. military forces in the Middle East as well as top commanders in Iraq and their subordinates.

The order effectively compels Gen. John P. Abizaid, head of the U.S. Central Command, Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the top U.S. general in Iraq, and their subordinates to participate in a deposition with defense attorneys and Army prosecutors unless they invoke their rights against self-incrimination. Among the other top officers named in court as affected by the order were Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz, the U.S. deputy commander in Iraq; Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, the officer in charge of US. military detention centers in the country; and Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast, the chief of U.S. military intelligence in Iraq.

The judge, Col. James Pohl, rejected defense requests for memos between Justice Department attorneys, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other Pentagon officials regarding the use of interrogation tactics.

"Quite frankly what they do in Washington, D.C., you have to connect it," Pohl said.

The whole point of The Fog Machine was and is to confuse the chain of command so that those responsible for the torture are not held accountable. Pohl's faith that the defense can, in fact, "connect," is touching, but probably not justified.

Pohl also ordered that the Abu Ghraib prison, where the abuse occurred, be preserved as a crime scene, and he rejected defense requests to move the proceedings out of Iraq.
(via WaPo)

Still, it seems like the military justice system has not yet been utterly corrupted. Too bad Pohl thinks The Fog Machine guys play by the rules.