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May 9, 2004
The pictures from the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq have effectively challenged the imperial presidency's narrative of liberating, civilising mission of the US. The US Congress knows that the 'democracy flowering in Iraq' narrative has been effectively undermined.
So do the Arab commentators in the Middle East:
Nasser Al-Ja'afari, Alquds, 5/2/04. Quiet: Iraqis are being trained in US-UK "Democracy" in Abu Ghraib Prison
The pictures show American soldiers willingly engaged in torture, whilst the report of abuse made by Maj Gen. Antonio Taguba shows that the torture is systemic.
A key point from this is that the problem exposed at Abu Ghraib is illustrative of a standard operating procedure of the military body, from the Secretary of Defense (Rumsfeld) to the lowly foot soldier. Abu Ghraib is not an exception. Throughout the prison system for the war on terror (eg., Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo. etc) prisoners have been “softened up” for interrogation so they would talk, with clear directives all the way up the chain of command.
What we are now seeing is the imperial Bush administration, and its loyal allies here in Australia, trying to disguise what’s really going on. The script is that they never knew what was going on; the incidents of torture are an aberration;and the demeaning behavior of the few rogue agents will be duly punished. The crimes at Abu Ghraib were a big mistake; an oversight that can be fixed by slapping a few rogue low-level (churchgoing) soldiers on the wrist.
Who taught these grinning low-level soldiers the refined techniques of torture to soften up" the detainees so as to prepare them for the interrogation. it would appear to be contracted interrogators from the Rumsfeld testimony at the Senate hearings.
I didn't see the hearings. So I'm reading the transcript.
So who trained the privates in the softening up techniques? And who was in charge of the trainers? Was it the civilian interrogators who were responsible to military intelligence. The latter hired the civlian interrorgators and had the responsibility for supervising them.
It was the public relations spin we heard most of last week. What we did not hear much about was the racism about getting rid of the snakes", and "draining the swamps" in the "uncivilised parts of the world".
Bush said that what happened in the Abu Ghraib prison did not represent the compassionate, freedom-loving America he knew. We should remember that torture is also an integral part of the operating procedure of both the CIA and the US prison system. Tough-on-crime Texas is as good a place to start as any.
So there is good reason for many in the Middle East to understand the symbol of America not to be the Statue of Liberty. It's the prisoner standing on a box wearing a dark cape and a dark hood on his head, wires attached to his body, afraid that he's going to be electrocuted. That image has become an iconic portrait of imperial US power.
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Eh, Gary:
How can you say that torture was "systemic" when it is the U.S. Army system that began investigating reports of abuse long before this story ever broke in the public eye? The U.S. Army ordered an General Taguba to investigate back in January, and his report was submitted back in March. It was a no holds barred condemnation of excesses and abuses committed by one MP unit. The perpetrators will be prosecuted and imprisoned. The careers of highers up who bear ministerial responsibility already have been ended by fatal letters of reprimand.
Seems to me that the military justice system is doing what it is supposed to do - find soldiers who violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice, prosecute them and send them to the slammer.
It's worthwhile noting that the term - systemic - in the New Yorker article is Seymour Hersh's word, it is not a quotation from the Taguba report.
The word "systemic" means that it is a system-wide phenomenon, something that these abuses clearly were not. These were abuses committed by some out of control soldiers who belonged to an out of control unit.
Those responsible are going to end up on the other side of the bars. As well they should.
Their illegal and immoral actions tarnished the honour of the American military, and they'll do some serious time as a result.
While this is a terrible way to teach a lesson in democracy, I think the way the American authorities have handled this issue does teach the principle of accountability and that no one is above the law. The Iraqi people will see these people being court martialled and imprisoned, as opposed to promoted and rewarded under Saddam.