Abu Ghraib and the American Way
Best of the Web Today - May 5, 2004
By JAMES TARANTO
President Bush went on Al Arabiya television this morning and strongly denounced the abuse of Iraqi prisoners:
First, I want to tell the people of the Middle East that the practices that took place in that prison are abhorrent and they don't represent America. They represent the actions of a few people. Secondly, it's important for people to understand that in a democracy that there will be a full investigation. In other words, we want to know the truth.
In our country, when there's an allegation of abuse--more than an allegation in this case, actual abuse, we saw the pictures--there will be a full investigation and justice will be delivered. We have a presumption of innocent until you're guilty in our system, but the system will be transparent, it will be open and people will see the results.
This is a serious matter. It's a matter that reflects badly on my country. Our citizens in America are appalled by what they saw, just like people in the Middle East are appalled. We share the same deep concerns. And we will find the truth, we will fully investigate. The world will see the investigation and justice will be served.
NBC News has obtained a copy of the Army's investigation into the abuses, conducted by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba.
Excerpts:
6. I find that the intentional abuse of detainees by military police personnel included the following acts:
a. Punching, slapping, and kicking detainees; jumping on their naked feet;
b. Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees;
c. Forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions for photographing;
d. Forcing detainees to remove their clothing and keeping them naked for several days at a time;
e. Forcing naked male detainees to wear women's underwear;
f. Forcing groups of male detainees to masturbate themselves while being photographed and videotaped;
g. Arranging naked male detainees in a pile and then jumping on them;
h. Positioning a naked detainee on a MRE Box, with a sandbag on his head, and attaching wires to his fingers, toes, and penis to simulate electric torture;
i. Writing "I am a Rapest" (sic) on the leg of a detainee alleged to have forcibly raped a 15-year old fellow detainee, and then photographing him naked;
j. Placing a dog chain or strap around a naked detainee's neck and having a female Soldier pose for a picture;
k. A male MP guard having sex with a female detainee;
l. Using military working dogs (without muzzles) to intimidate and frighten detainees, and in at least one case biting and severely injuring a detainee;
m. Taking photographs of dead Iraqi detainees.
Reuters reports that Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who is in charge of reforming the U.S. military detention system in Iraq, offered both an apology and a promise: "I would like to personally apologize to the people of Iraq for the actions of a small number of leaders and soldiers who have violated our policies," he said. And: "I will personally guarantee that this will not happen again in any of the operations we have for detention and intelligence gathering."
All in all, we'd have to say the American system is working rather well. The abuses have led to a thorough investigation, an apology, a vow from the president himself that justice will be done, and a promise that reforms are in the works so this won't happen again. The New York Times has an interview with Hayder Sabbar Abd, who says he spent six months in U.S.-run prisons. Most soldiers "treated him well and with respect," he says, until November, "when punishment for a prisoner fight at Abu Ghraib degenerated into torture":
That night, he said, he and six other inmates were beaten, stripped naked (a particularly deep humiliation in the Arab world), forced to pile on top of one another, to straddle one another's backs naked, to simulate oral sex. American guards wrote words like "rapist" on their skin with Magic Marker, he said. |
