Opinion

SOLDIERS AREN'T ONLY ONES RESPONSIBLE FOR ABU GHRAIB SCANDAL

News Tribune (Tacoma, WA)
June 11, 2004

http://www.tribnet.com/opinion/story/5179315p-5112038c.html

If the Bush administration has nothing to hide in the Abu Ghraib scandal, it should stop acting like it does.

Attorney General John Ashcroft tried his best Tuesday to assure the Senate Judiciary Committee that the administration didn't condone the abuse and torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and other military prisons. However, Ashcroft wouldn't agree to release administration memos and legal opinions pertaining to interrogation techniques That's not good enough.

Releasing these documents won't jeopardize national security. But they could answer a pressing question: Who should ultimately be held accountable?

What's known so far is disturbing. A handful of recently leaked documents shows that administration attorneys established the legal groundwork for abuse.

A 2003 Justice Department memo, prepared for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, forcefully argued that the U.S. military's treatment of prisoners wasn't bound by international treaty or federal law. The memo also claimed that those who violated most of the normal rules of prisoner treatment -- or officials who authorized such conduct -- couldn't be prosecuted. That's because President Bush, as commander-in-chief, had the legal authority to approve any interrogation technique needed to protect the nation.

Although some low-ranking prison guards and interrogators who mistreated Iraqi prisoners are being prosecuted for their actions, they aren't the only ones responsible. The brutal treatment of prisoners didn't happen in isolation.

The message sent down the chain of command was a clear signal to prison guards, intelligence officers and their supervisors that in conducting the war on terror, the end justified the means. The only thing that really mattered was results -- in this case acquiring militarily useful information. Soldiers who ignored normal standards of conduct and abused prisoners got the idea they would suffer no consequences.

But damage has been done, and not just to the soldiers accused of abusing prisoners. Since the scandal became public in April, America's image and credibility have taken a beating not only in Iraq but throughout the Middle East and the rest of the world. Photos of abused, humiliated prisoners have undoubtedly become an effective recruitment tool for Muslim extremist groups.

The appalling rationale for abuse contained in the leaked documents could have been written by any number of dictatorial and rogue regimes; they shouldn't have emerged in the government of the world's greatest democracy. The use of torture is a perversion of core American values.

If the administration refuses to release the documents, Congress should convene an investigative panel with subpoena powers to get to the bottom of the scandal. The truth isn't likely to be pretty, but Americans deserve to know what the truth is.