It has now been three months since the appearance of the first pictures of U.S. soldiers humiliating and torturing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Shortly after the photos came out, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell told foreign leaders: "Watch America. Watch how we deal with this. Watch how America will do the right thing."
But America is not doing the right thing. The photos were followed by revelations that the use of illegal, coercive interrogation methods on detainees had been approved at the highest levels of government, and by evidence that abuse of detainees was widespread in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet only a few low-ranking soldiers have been called to account, and the administration is sticking to its line that the Abu Ghraib crimes were the work of a few "bad apples."
If there is no real accountability for the widespread abuses against detainees, all the protestations of disgust and condemnation by President Bush and others will be meaningless. For the next decade, the perpetrators of atrocities around the world will point to Abu Ghraib as a justification or an excuse.
The United States, however, can still demonstrate its repudiation of these crimes by permitting an independent investigation and by prosecuting vigorously all those responsible.
Many important issues remain unanswered. What interrogation techniques were approved for use on detainees? Why were inquiries into the many detainee deaths so lackluster and late? Why were detainees "rendered" to countries such as Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, where torture is regularly practiced? How does the Bush administration justify holding detainees incommunicado in "undisclosed locations" in light of the historical condemnation by the U.S. of "disappearances" in other countries?
The severest abuses at Abu Ghraib occurred in the aftermath of a decision by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to step up the hunt for "actionable intelligence" among Iraqi prisoners. Yet the chain of events remains shrouded in mystery. Who in the Pentagon ordered Army Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, the former commander at Guantanamo, to Abu Ghraib to overhaul interrogation practices, and with what instructions? What were his recommendations? What practices were then approved by Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, then the top U.S. commander in Iraq? Who in the Pentagon knew of the interrogation practices at Abu Ghraib?
