Iraqi Prison Abuse

Properly, the Bush administration is moving to punish officers who supervised the abuse and humiliation at Abu Ghraib detention center, west of Baghdad, the place where not long ago many thousands of Iraqis were taken during the rule of Saddam Hussein and never seen again. But it should further keep its investigation open because news reports indicate the abusive treatment was more widespread than suggested last week. Given the high level of suspicion over U.S. motives in Iraq, this is a case where a more thorough review is warranted.

President Bush’s “deep disgust” last week over these events going back to November set the proper public tone, but there is more to be done. Six enlisted soldiers were criminally charged in March for the physical and sexual abuse of about 20 prisoners; yesterday, the nation’s top commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, recommended six officers or sergeants be reprimanded so that, according to news reports, their careers will be effectively ended. The torture became news recently because of broadcasts last week by CBS showing at Abu Ghraib a prisoner with wires attached to his genitals. Another image shows naked prisoners being forced to simulate sex acts and, in another, a female soldier simulates holding a gun and pointing at a naked Iraqi’s genitals.

But the problem doesn’t necessarily end there. British troops in Basra are being investigated after photographs showed them beating a hooded Iraqi prisoner with rifle butts and urinating on him. The Washington Post reported accounts of other Iraqis taken prisoner, beaten, starved and deprived of sleep and humiliated. Between 2,500 and 7,000 Iraqis were placed in this prison system and interrogated in part in the search for weapons of mass destruction.

No one needs to be reminded how thoroughly wrong and counterproductive these actions are to a peaceful exit from Iraq. The Bush administration seems to understand this well. The president can take further steps by bringing in military legal personnel to advise active and reserve troops about what is permissible and what will happen to them if they break the rules. Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who oversaw the prison and is among those charged, said Army intelligence and the CIA had control over the cellblock in which the interrogations took place. That should be followed further and made public. The International Committee of the Red Cross should be given freer access to prisoners.

And Iraqis, who have been looking at the same pictures that horrified Americans, should be assured, again and again through whatever means the administration thinks will best reach them, that the mistreatment does not represent American values and will not be tolerated.