# An Abu Ghraib Offender Heads Back to Iraq **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 3, 2006, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abu-ghraib-offender-heads-back-to-iraq/378975 "2006-11-03T15:25:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abu-ghraib-offender-heads-back-to-iraq/378975/1 "2006-11-03T15:25:01Z")
Remember those photos of dogs being used to terrify prisoners at Abu Ghraib? One of the handlers, Sgt. Santos Cardona, was tried and convicted of dereliction of duty and aggravated assault, served his sentence, and has now been [sent back to Iraq to help train Iraqi police.](http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1554326,00.html) Right. A guy convicted of terrorizing prisoners is being sent to train Iraqis on how to uphold law and order. Yet another mindboggling blunder among a catalog of blunders evoking the stunned observation: “Are they fucking outta their MINDS?” > [@](#): > > “If news of this deployment is accurate, it represents appallingly bad judgment,” says retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who commanded a division in the first Gulf War. “The symbolic message perceived in Iraq will likely be that the U.S. is simply insensitive to the abuse of their prisoners.” Let’s put aside, if we can, for a moment the sterling example we’re setting for Cardona’s pupils. Let’s contemplate the utter imbecility of sending this soldier back into the heartland of those burning with eagerness to exact revenge on him. Did no one involved in sending him back ever think through the implications? > [@](#): > > According to a close friend with whom Cardona spoke just before his departure, the soldier is fearful that he remains a marked man, forever linked to the horrors of Abu Ghraib — he appears in at least one al-Qaeda propaganda video depicting the abuse — and that he and comrades serving with him in Iraq could become targets for terrorists. To make matters worse, his 23rd MP Company has been selected to train Iraqi police, which have been the target of frequent assassination attempts and, according to US intelligence are heavily infiltrated by insurgents. Well! His superiors are right on top of this danger: > [@](#): > > Shortly before he left for Iraq, Cardona told a close friend and family members that he was returning against his will. > > [snip] > > According to this friend, Cardona said he had told at least one of his superiors that he feared for his safety in Iraq, especially because of his presence in the al-Qaeda video, but was told by an officer, “We need bodies [in Iraq]" and that he shouldn’t worry about it. We need bodies? We do? Haven’t we gotten enough already? WHAT THE FUCK??? ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abu-ghraib-offender-heads-back-to-iraq/378975/2 "2006-11-03T15:36:48Z")
Unbelieveable. Just unbelieveable. How the fuck … oh yeah. Rummy’s not in charge. Never was in charge. It’s the generals on the ground. They’re the ones who want him back. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abu-ghraib-offender-heads-back-to-iraq/378975/3 "2006-11-03T15:41:10Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] Unbelieveable. Just unbelieveable. How the fuck … oh yeah. Rummy’s not in charge. Never was in charge. It’s the generals on the ground. They’re the ones who want him back. [/QUOTE] Worth checking out this thread for a more general take on complete [complete asshattery](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=394729) and where I raised this as just another example. And a pretty minor one set against posting instructions on the internet on how to make a nuke and various poison gases. But I repeat the question I ask there. Do you guys want to lose? I’ll add a supplementary. Or are you just plain stoopid? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abu-ghraib-offender-heads-back-to-iraq/378975/4 "2006-11-03T16:09:26Z")
[QUOTE=tagos] But I repeat the question I ask there. Do you guys want to lose? [/QUOTE] Our leaders are doing the **BEST THEY CAN**. It is unfair of you to mock them with questions like this. If the path we are on leads us to hell, it is assuredly **NOT** because of dear leader’s _intentions_. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abu-ghraib-offender-heads-back-to-iraq/378975/5 "2006-11-03T16:21:39Z")
[QUOTE=Squink] Our leaders are doing the **BEST THEY CAN**. It is unfair of you to mock them with questions like this. If the path we are on leads us to hell, it is assuredly **NOT** because of dear leader’s _intentions_. [/QUOTE] I expect [these guys](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/10/iraq/main1789544.shtml) will be sent back to provide protection and security for a women’s refuge once they’ve done served their 30 days (suspended for time served). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abu-ghraib-offender-heads-back-to-iraq/378975/6 "2006-11-03T18:06:09Z")
[Army Stops Deployment of Former Dog Handler Convicted of Iraq Prisoner Abuse](http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2626669) > [@](#): > > Paul Boyce, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon, said the soldier, Spec. Santos A. Cardona, deployed on Monday from Fort Bragg, N.C., with the 23rd Military Police Company. He and his unit were in Kuwait preparing for movement into Iraq when the Army decided that for safety reasons he would not go into Iraq. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abu-ghraib-offender-heads-back-to-iraq/378975/7 "2006-11-03T18:23:49Z")
Why the fuck is he still in the military? Why wasn’t he dishonorably dishcharched? > [@](#): > > “We are extremely concerned, in light of the publicity about his situation, about his personal safety,” Boyce said. “So for the good of the soldier, as well as the situation, he has been stopped in Kuwait pending review by the chain of command.” I am truly floored. It’s HIS safety they’re concerned about? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abu-ghraib-offender-heads-back-to-iraq/378975/8 "2006-11-03T22:17:48Z")
Well, in all fairness, they wouldn’t want to [ruin his career](http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=websanchez02&date=20061102) or anything. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abu-ghraib-offender-heads-back-to-iraq/378975/9 "2006-11-03T22:39:43Z")
[QUOTE=Beadalin] I am truly floored. It’s HIS safety they’re concerned about? [/QUOTE] Let this guy back into Iraq, how long you think he’ll survive? ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abu-ghraib-offender-heads-back-to-iraq/378975/10 "2006-11-03T23:17:50Z")
[**November Off to Bloody Start in Iraq**](http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/93-11022006-736103.html) [**Friday: 88 Iraqis Killed, 14 Wounded**](http://www.antiwar.com/updates/?articleid=9960) [**Thursday: 8 GIs, 60 Iraqis Killed; 98 Iraqis Injured**](http://www.antiwar.com/updates/?articleid=9954) ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2006, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abu-ghraib-offender-heads-back-to-iraq/378975/11 "2006-11-04T02:59:33Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Let this guy back into Iraq, how long you think he’ll survive? [/QUOTE] I have to wonder: If this hadn’t become a headline story, would they have gone ahead and sent him back?