The investigation of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners will not be complete without examining the flawed decisions of our political and military leadership.
Published May 6, 2004
The appalling abuse of Iraqi prisoners is not, as some of our political and military leaders have tried to assert, an isolated incident that can be blamed solely on low-level personnel. Instead, it is a predictable result of flawed and arrogant decisions for which many of those same political and military leaders must be held accountable:
Disregard for U.S. law and the Geneva Conventions in setting policy for the treatment of prisoners and so-called "enemy combatants." The resulting mistreatment of prisoners has not been limited to Iraq. Other abuses have been reported in Afghanistan, at Guantanamo and within our own borders. President Bush and other administration officials decreed that the war on terror demanded new rules - or a lack of rules - that would deny many detainees the normal protections of prisoners of war. And through provisions of the Patriot Act, the administration and Congress stripped away safeguards that historically prevented undue government intrusion in the lives of innocent American citizens.
Overreliance on reservists and mercenaries in prosecuting the war in Iraq. The day-to-day operations at Abu Ghraib prison have fallen to reservists who are inadequately trained for the duty. At the same time, the interrogation of prisoners there has been led by intelligence officers and civilian contractors operating outside the normal military chain of command. In each case, the resulting breakdowns in discipline and accountability were all but inevitable.
A failure to understand, and adjust to, the culture of the region we supposedly came to liberate. For example, the prisoners at Abu Ghraib and other U.S.-controlled prisons are a mix of anti-American fighters, common criminals and ordinary Iraqis who found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. Their American captors, almost none of whom speak Arabic or grasp Iraq's complex political and ethnic divisions, seem incapable of determining which are which. At the same time, White House efforts to win popular support in Iraq and neighboring Arab countries have been patronizing and counterproductive. The international uproar over the photographs of abuse at Abu Ghraib has spurred President Bush and other top U.S. officials to speak directly to the Arab world. If we have any hope of preventing this war from inspiring a new generation of anti-American Islamic extremists, those efforts need to be stronger, more frequent and more honest for years to come.
Undue secrecy in dealing with Congress and the American people. Leaders of relevant congressional committees were blindsided by the revelations from Abu Ghraib, because our top political and military officials kept the truth from them for months. That fits the pattern of a secretive war effort in which a small White House clique has kept even major elements of its own administration closed out of the policymaking process. Members of Congress bear part of the blame for failing to press the White House and Pentagon strongly enough on such crucial questions as the cost of the war, the standards of treatment for prisoners and the shifting strategy for exiting Iraq. Perhaps the Abu Ghraib scandal will spur more members of Congress to live up to their constitutional duties.
A smug moralizing that casts the war in Iraq as part of a broader battle between "good" and "evil." That attitude, which emanates from the president, suggests that our troops and political leaders are above having to be subjected to the kinds of standards and safeguards (such as international inspections of prisons under our military control) that apply to lesser societies. It leads to a mind-set in which enemies, or perceived enemies, become less than human. And it leads to a defensiveness that casts any scrutiny or criticism as an assault on the righteousness of the cause.
The Bush administration has taken some proper steps in responding to this scandal. It has launched multiple investigations that could lead to the punishment of those directly responsible for the abuse of Iraqi detainees. The White House also seems to have grasped the importance of speaking directly to the Arab world to deplore these atrocities and commit our troops to higher standards of conduct. But the official response will be inadequate until the president and other top policymakers engage in some genuine self-examination over the failed policies and flawed assumptions that set the stage for these abuses.
