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Abu Ghraib

Well, by now you’ve either seen the photos or heard about the torture and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of American soldiers at Abu Ghraib (if not, you really should pay more attention to current events). The photos have created a firestorm of anti-American anger in the Arab world and have sparked calls for Donald Rumsfeld to resign.

And it now seems pretty clear that this was not an isolated incident, as the hard-core partisans were trying to spin it (including Bush, who obviously has a lot at stake). Yes, spin, because how would you even know whether it was isolated if you weren’t there? And if you didn’t know, why would you make such a claim unless you were intentionally trying to lessen the political damage? Blatant partisan spin (one of these days I’ll write up a rant on how stupid partisanship is, but for now, check out Antwon’s classic diatribe).

For anyone living under a rock and thus still trying to cling to the notion that this is an isolated incident, please read Hersh’s piece in The New Yorker:

A fifty-three-page report, obtained by The New Yorker, written by Major General Antonio M. Taguba and not meant for public release, was completed in late February. Its conclusions about the institutional failures of the Army prison system were devastating. Specifically, Taguba found that between October and December of 2003 there were numerous instances of “sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses” at Abu Ghraib. This systematic and illegal abuse of detainees, Taguba reported, was perpetrated by soldiers of the 372nd Military Police Company, and also by members of the American intelligence community.

Systemic and illegal abuse were the words Taguba actually used, not systematic.

Taguba also referred to video footage in addition to the photos already shown. In his recent testimony, Rumsfeld has also admitted, “There are a lot more photographs and videos that exist. If these are released to the public, obviously it’s going to make matters worse.” So it seems like we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. And indeed, if it happened all the time and with the military’s blessing, this would certainly explain why the soldiers in the photos don’t seem to be treating it all like a big deal (and didn’t think anything of photographing it). Per Mark Kleiman, the next part of Seymour Hersh’s story is also now available.

Here’s the full Taguba report. Of particular note are the findings of fact in Part One. For people still focussing on the pictures, and which ones are real and which ones are fake, remember that the pictures aren’t the story. They’re just the media’s way (especially the Arab media) of sensationalizing the story. The Taguba report is the real story.

Indeed, even if you believe these people aren’t protected by the Geneva Convention (although, note that a “lack of proper screening also meant that many innocent Iraqis were wrongly being detained—indefinitely”), or that there’s nothing morally wrong with what happened, just look at it purely from a pragmatic standpoint. It should be obvious that, if nothing else, the abuses posed a tremendous risk to our mission in Iraq. A mission that requires, more than anything else, winning the hearts and mind of the Iraqis. We need them to trust us, and right now, they don’t. This lack of trust is exactly why a recent poll of Iraqis indicated that, while most believe they are better off with Saddam removed, 51% oppose the U.S. occupation (39% support it). They want the U.S. to end the occupation immediately, despite the obvious security risks to them that this would entail. This distrust is also probably why the Shiites have demanded a bigger role for the UN in determining the shape and form of the new Iraqi government — cuz they think we’ll just install a pro-U.S. government otherwise.

It might seem a ridiculous notion to us, but presumably, Iraqis remember that the CIA and British intelligence meddled in the internal politics of Iran to engineer a coup (Operation Ajax) to oust the democratically elected Mohammed Mossadegh and reinstall Reza Pahlavi (the Shah), who was more sympathetic to Western interests. Mossadegh was hardly a paragon of human rights, but by most accounts, the Shah was worse (which, of course, was why the Iranians eventually overthrew him). Most Americans may not be aware of examples like this, but the rest of the world is, especially the Arab world, and in that light, mistrust is only to be expected. This means that the highest priority in Iraq was to prove that we have changed since those times, and Abu Ghraib is a huge step back in that department (Update 5/13/04 Indeed, a new survey says, “Four out of five Iraqis report holding a negative view of the U.S. occupation authority and of coalition forces”).

There’s also the issue of whether the videos Rumsfeld refers to should be released. He seems to believe that it would harm America. Personally, I think the damage has been done, and now it’s time to come clean. Trying to cover anything up at this point would just engender even more mistrust. Our mission was endangered when the abuse was committed, not when the photos and Taguba report were leaked. The only difference the leak makes was how long we would have gotten away with it — and how long the coverup would have lasted.

That, plus it forces us to put an immediate stop to it and make sure we hold accountable everybody responsible, no matter how high up, to make sure this never, ever happens again. I would think that one thing we need is more oversight. We just can’t expect to be able to rely upon the military branch to take political considerations into account, even when the safety of the United States is at stake. That’s just not their job, and they don’t really have the expertise for that. Indeed, I would have figured that the military isn’t very suited for nation-building in the first place, so it probably should never have been under their jurisdiction in the first place, but under the State Department.

However, Eugene Volokh has the opposite reaction to this whole mess:

The government’s argument in these cases is that the proper remedy for the abuses is through the political branches, and the military that they control. The military makes its decisions. The Defense Department and ultimately the President can review them. Congress can step in, through its investigative power, its funding power, and its legislative power. …
…
In this respect, the recent prisoner abuse scandal, shocking as it may be, in considerable measure supports the government’s argument. The abuse was investigated by the military. The press got its hand on it. The Executive Branch seems to be willing to try to correct it, and the public and Congress seem to be pressuring the Executive to do so….

So the traditional review process seems to be working. It’s working far, far from perfectly, and certainly quite slowly. But I doubt that the Justices will think that it would have worked better had civilian courts gotten involved.

The process is working? The only reason the press got wind of it was because a whistleblower on the inside leaked the photos and Taguba report. It’s not like the press was allowed inside Abu Ghraib. So I don’t know how can he find this to be any more reassuring than how the whole Enron case proves that we don’t need independent accounting and auditing. Of course, had we never heard about Abu Ghraib or Enron, he might take that to mean the system was working as well.

Also, note that the Taguba report was finished back in February, and it doesn’t seem like the military was moving particularly quickly to address the issues revealed until the leaks. Mark Kleiman has a similar reaction.

I’m not a legal expert, so I don’t know whether involving the civilian courts is the answer or not. Maybe we simply need an executive branch that prioritizes responsibility and transparency more highly, or maybe we need more checks on the executive branch to ensure this. Either way, I don’t think you can pretend that this is an example of the system working as intended. If the system worked properly, this would never have happened in the first place.