Pfc. England, Thy Name is Whitewash No surprise that Lynddie England received a light sentence for her role in the Abu Ghraid prison abuse scandal.

No surprise, because a)its difficult to send an undereducated redneck to the dock for a total breakdown in militray command, control and discipline, and b) I'm sure the powers that be are eager for this whole sordid chapter to fade into the background.

Understandably, Iraqis are furious at this apparent slap on the wrist. They want some justice for what was done to their countrymen. For that, however, they've got to go a lot further than a bunch of noncoms and private soldiers. I think the real tragedy here is how nobody with any authority has been brought to trial for Abu Ghraib. In Sy Hersh's excellent book, Chain of Command he outlines a very clear trail of responsibility that stretches right into the comfy Pentagon digs of Donald Rumsfeld, and perhaps even the President of the United States.

In other words, Lynddie's conviction and sentence is merely the tip of a large and very upsetting iceberg. And while the murky depths of this scandal have been explored, precious few seem interested in holding the folks in power to account. Besides the Iraqis, of course. I hope they'll translate Hersh's work and get to work on asking the right questions and getting some real justice.  ¶ 12:42 p.m.