Nathan Newman on Abu Ghraib, government employees, and civil liberties: This is the best argument against giving officials discretion over our rights. It's not that they will violate them out of viciousness-- although they may -- but because sacrificing those rights may just be seen as a way to protect their career to avoid blame. Which is why civil liberties are so useful. As long as the standards are tough and inflexible, officials cannot be blamed if they follow such standards and release people when they have no proof of their guilt. Discretion creates a chance to blame such officials, so therefore endangers innocent people deeply, since officials then have to fear for their careers if they, by their own discretion, release a person who later turns out to be guilty, even if there was no real evidence at the time to hold them.