by hilzoy
From the NYT:
"Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, who commanded detention operations at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and helped organize the interrogation process at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, retired from the military on Monday, Pentagon officials said. (...)At his retirement ceremony Monday, General Miller received the Distinguished Service Medal, which is awarded for exceptionally commendable service in a position of great responsibility, Army officials said."
From the Code of Federal Regulations:
"The Distinguished Service Medal, established by Act of Congress on July 9, 1918, is awarded to any person who, while serving in any capacity with the Army of the United States, shall have distinguished himself or herself by exceptionally meritorious service to the Government in a duty of great responsibility (Fig. 1). The performance must be such as to merit recognition for service which is clearly exceptional. Superior performance of normal duty will not alone justify an award of this decoration."
From Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws, on the corruption of the principle of monarchy, which is honour:
"The principle of monarchy is corrupted when the first dignities are marks of the first servitude...
It is still more corrupted when honour is set up in contradiction to honours, and when men are capable of being loaded at the very same time with infamy and with dignities."
And I thought that the Death Of Irony was Henry Kissinger getting the Nobel Peace Prize!
Posted by: GreginOz | August 02, 2006 at 01:25 AM
I'm.... "exceptionally meritorious service to the Government in a duty of great responsibility"... well, the Bush administration is honest, not hypocritical.
"Decent shame" has meaning.
(BTW, can you possibly put the pics below the fold?)
Posted by: Jesurgislac | August 02, 2006 at 04:39 AM
couldn't they have just given him a medal of freedom? at least that honour has already been debased.
Posted by: snuh | August 02, 2006 at 06:35 AM
A few bad apples, some with medals.
Posted by: Ugh | August 02, 2006 at 08:17 AM
This is the price for our liberty and freedom.
Can't you that!?
Posted by: SomeOtherDude | August 02, 2006 at 08:23 AM
GreginOz,
Hopefully this won't have the same effect as Kissinger's prize did (causing Tom Lehrer to retire, claiming satire was now impossible). It would be a shame if Jon Stewart felt the same in response to this news.
Posted by: Dantheman | August 02, 2006 at 08:25 AM
Distinguished Service Medal Leashes: the new Purple Heart Band Aids. So which party is sapping the morale of the troops again?
Posted by: Mo MacArbie | August 02, 2006 at 09:27 AM
I put the pictures below the fold.
Posted by: hilzoy | August 02, 2006 at 10:01 AM
Wow, thanks for ruining my morning with that news, Hilzoy!
Haven't given up hoping to see Miller behind bars one day ....
Posted by: Anderson | August 02, 2006 at 10:20 AM
At least I got to quote Montesquieu, which I always love to do.
Posted by: hilzoy | August 02, 2006 at 10:34 AM
Perhaps the medal should come with a free trip to The Hague?
One way.
Posted by: lightning | August 02, 2006 at 08:48 PM
Dantheman, well it certainly won't cause Stephen Colbert to retire. Now there is a great interview...Geoffrey Miller & Colbert...BOO HAR...oh the pain, oh the pain..
Posted by: GreginOz | August 03, 2006 at 02:06 AM