Another Bushed Up Investigation

How can an investigator come to any conclusions without talking to the alleged victims? That’s like a doctor making a diagnosis without examining the patient. Well, your tax dollars funded a U.S. military investigation into prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay after several guards bragged about beating inmates to a young lady at a bar.

An Army officer who investigated possible abuse at Guantanamo Bay after some guards purportedly bragged about beating detainees found no evidence they mistreated the prisoners - although he did not interview any of the alleged victims, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

Col. Richard Bassett, the chief investigator, recommended no disciplinary action against the Navy guards named by Marine Sgt. Heather Cerveny, who had said that during a conversation in September they described beating detainees as common practice.

This fits with the pattern of Bush non-investigations as our nation’s CEO. The shining example of our President’s investigative incompetence is his Lessons Learned report post Hurricane Katrina.

How many saw hospital staff waving white sheets out of broken windows in the storm’s aftermath? The White House Lessons Learned report fails to mention who was responsible for evacuating these patients from dead facilities, how they performed and what should be done next time to reduce loss of life.

Two notable absences exist in his report. One, the group that conducted the evacuations, the Louisiana Hospital Association got not one mention. And two, the hospital with the largest number of patient deaths, LifeCare also warranted not one word in the President’s review. LifeCare had been in the Carlyle Group fold only weeks when Katrina struck. The hospitals attorneys likely appreciate their absence in Bush’s Lessons Learned report as they head into civil court to defend wrongful death lawsuits.

The traditional Bush defense of not investigating when criminal charges are involved should not apply here as the report mentions a nursing home where 6 or 7 patients died.

This administration isn’t interested in the truth. Whether we can handle it or not, remains to be seen, but the American people deserve it…