Medals for atrocities

By Creature

Today the Bush administration is catching flack for allowing a Russian general who is accused of "atrocities against civilians" into the White House for a meeting with the president. According to Think Progress, the White House "had no idea that [the general] was responsible for the brutal killings of civilians."

This claim is hard to swallow. While Think Progress says The Google could have been easily used to illuminate the actions of this Russian general, I point to the last line of this WaPo story to prove that, not only did the White House know of his atrocities, they subsequently copied the Russian modus operandi used to celebrate the general's failure.

Russian troops under Shamanov rampaged through the village of Alkhan-Yurt in December 1999, killing 17 civilians, according to human rights investigations. The soldiers looted homes and shot those who got in the way, including a woman over 100 years old. Shamanov threatened to shoot villagers who pleaded with him to halt the “cleansing operation,” investigators found. Rather than prosecute, the Kremlin gave Shamanov a medal — a medal he appeared to wear to the Oval Office.

Giving medals to those who are culpable. Hmm... sounds familiar. I'm just surprised the president didn't pin a Medal of Freedom on Shamanov himself.

(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)