Talk:Christian Hernandez

questionable edits...
Assume good faith -- I am going to assume these edits that concerned me were made by someone who thought they were complying with policy, and improving the article -- but who didn't check other sources, and didn't realize they were eroding the accuracy, credibility, and overall value of this article. Geo Swan (talk) 12:41, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

"accused of playing a role?"
In this edit I reverse a change someone made to the article. Originally the article said Hernandez played a role in Hatab's death. Someone changed this to say he was merely ACCUSED of playing a role in Hatab's death. I dispute this change complies with policy. What the sources make clear is that whether Hernandez played a role in his death was not what was in dispute. What was in dispute was whether Hernandez was culpable for the role he played. The military decided he wasn't culpable. Geo Swan (talk) 12:41, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

"abduction" or "rape and torture"?
In this edit I reverse a change someone made to the article. At the time of Hatab's death DoD spokesmen were pushing the account that Jessica Lynch had been subjected to torture and rape. In her book Lynch accepted the view of the medical examiners, in Germany, weeks after her capture, that she had been raped -- but had no memory of it. No one claims she was tortured -- now. But GIs believed it then. Hatab is not the only captive the record shows was abused becaus GIs were outraged over Lynch's torture and rape. It is not the place of wikipedia contributors to sanitize the historical record. Geo Swan (talk) 12:41, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

"beatings"? Or "arbitrary beatings"?
Originally the article said Hatab had been subjected to "arbitrary beatings". Someone changed it to simply "beatings". I've changed it back.

No one disputes that prison guards are authorized to use measured force, when a prisoner is unruly, violent, or tries to escape. Prison guards use of force is supposed to be proportional to whatever breach the prisoner is committing. Hatab was beaten by guards who were not honoring their duty to be professional and confine their use of force to a measured, proportional reaction to a current misconduct.

Prison guards are not supposed to be violent with prisoners to punish them for their crimes. Deciding on a punishment is the role of judges who sentence convicts -- not the prisoner's guards. Even the prisoner who is convicted of the worst possible crimes should be able to escape corporal punishment, if they comply with the prison's rules. Except, of course, prisoners under the jurisdiction of an authority that sentences prisoners to corporal punishment.

Sergeant Gary Pittman hauled off and drop-kicked Hatab, when Hatab was hooded and had his hands bound behind his back. Perhaps someone can find a better way to express this.

I am concerned that merely saying he was "beaten" allows room for readers to think the use of force against Hatab had initially been authorized because Hatab had tried to break the rules. Geo Swan (talk) 12:41, 19 March 2008 (UTC)


 * P.S. Pittman, like Charles Graner and Ivan Frederick at the center of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse, was a reservist who was an actual prison guard in his civilian life.