Graham Cracker

Micheal Graham seems bothered by this cartoon from the Washington Post's Tom Toles, which portrays Iraq as an naked Abu Ghraib prisoner in a dog collar with President Bush holding the leash.

GRAHAM: If Tom Toles is saying that President Bush is responsible for the bad behavior of the prison guards, his cartoon is merely ridiculous and partisan.

But if, as it appears, Toles is saying that the people of Iraq are victims of abuse as a people at the hands of President Bush, then Toles' cartoon is disgusting and outrageous.

As to the second charge, I think Graham is reading a little too far into the cartoon for the purpose of making it fit his own "ridiculous and partisan" charges.

As to the first charge, that Bush is at least partially responsible for the Abu Ghraib scandal, where could Toles possibly get an idea like that?

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said yesterday that he and other top officials kept President Bush "fully informed ... in general terms" about complaints made by the Red Cross and others over ill-treatment of detainees in U.S. custody.

Powell's statement suggests Bush may have known earlier than the White House has acknowledged about complaints raised by the International Committee of the Red Cross and human rights groups regarding abuse of detainees in Iraq.

...

A Powell aide said he couldn't pinpoint when the secretary first spoke with Bush about detainees in Iraq but said Powell told the president of receiving complaints about detainees generally - in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, "at various times throughout this period - the last year or more."

- The Baltimore Sun 05.12.2004