An Honest Mistake

Well it's a good thing that I don't believe in conspiracy theories because otherwise this article from MSNBC might have me asking some dangerous questions. It seems that even before the trial of Lt. Colonel Steven Jordan got underway, the presiding judge dismissed two of the most serious charges against Jordan because the defendant was not read his rights.

In court Monday morning, prosecutor Lt. Col. John P. Tracy announced that an investigator, Maj. Gen. George Fay, had contacted prosecutors Sunday to say that he “misspoke” when he testified during a pretrial hearing that he had advised Jordan of his rights during an interview in 2004.

In that 2004 interview, Jordan had told Fay he never saw detainees being abused and never saw nude detainees.

I fully support the rights of the accused, it's just that this strikes me as all too convenient. Just as the trial of the highest ranking military official implicated in the Abu Ghraib abuse and cover-up gets underway, two of the most serious charges are thrown out due to negligance on the part of the military investigator.

Good grief. Someone is having quite a good laugh at our expense.