Accountability Schmaccountability

As an appropriate follow-up to Durbin’s apology for calling out the heinous nature of abuses going on at Gitmo, the White House has rejected the proposed creation of an independent commission to investigate abuses of detainees held at Gitmo and elsewhere.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the Pentagon has launched 10 major investigations into allegations of abuse, and that system was working well.

“People are being held to account," he said. "And we think that's the way to go about this."

Oh yeah—like who? Lynndie England? Swell.

Democrats on Capitol Hill have increasingly called for an independent commission to look into detainee abuses. On Tuesday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said a commission is crucial to answering questions about the atmosphere that permitted abuses, troop training and the length of detentions at Guantanamo.

"These questions are important because the safety of our country depends on our reputation and how we are viewed, especially in the Muslim world," she said.

Silly Nancy Pelosi. Apparently, she doesn’t know that it’s not the mistreatment of prisoners that undermines our reputation; it’s the reporting of that mistreatment. It’s not pissing on the Qu’ran; it’s announcing that Qu’rans have been pissed on.

And in case there’s any more confusion, let me also clarify that even if you’re one of the jagoff blowhards who lambastes anyone who has the audacity to suggest that perhaps the treatment of prisoners at Gitmo et. al. might be losing us the PR war in Iraq, you still have absolutely no responsibility not to make a mockery of it. Especially if it makes ya a few bucks.