Time to Investigate Abu Ghraib

We're now a year out from the shocking revelations of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, a year in which more allegations of abuse have continued to emanate from our detention camps in Iraq and at Guantanamo. These scandals, at Abu Ghraib and since, have done immense damage to our already-fragile image in the rest of the world, and have served to inflame the insurgency in Iraq and only provided more fodder for the rantings of radical clerics and terrorist leaders.

The fact that these abuses happened at all is a horrifying stain on the record of the brave men and women of our armed forces, whose service and heroism I hold in the highest regard. The fact that a year has passed without a comprehensive independent or Congressional investigation into the abuses is an embarrassment. Sure, a few of the guards directly responsible for the most grievous (and photographed) incidents have been court-martialed and sentenced to prison; sure, Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski was relieved of command and "reprimanded in writing." But where is the accountability for those who gave the orders?

As the New York Times reported earlier this week, an internal investigation conducted by the Army has "cleared four of the five top Army officers overseeing prison policies and operations in Iraq of responsibility for the abuse of detainees there." Karpinski is the fifth officer. Those cleared include top Iraq commander Ricardo Sanchez, even after "an independent panel led by former Defense Secretary James R. Schlesinger concluded last August that General Sanchez had failed to make sure that his staff was dealing with Abu Ghraib's problems," and another Army investigation "found that at one point General Sanchez approved the use of severe interrogation practices that led indirectly to some of the abuses."

Another of the cleared officers, Maj. Gen. Walter Wojdakowski, "failed to act quickly enough to make urgent requests to higher levels for more troops at the understaffed prison," according to the earlier investigation. Allegations against the third and fourth officers, Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast and Col. Marc Warren, Abu Ghraib's top intelligence and legal officers, were determined "unsubstantiated." The earlier report had concluded "Colonel Warren had failed to report prisoner abuses witnessed by the Red Cross to his boss for more than a month, and that General Fast had failed to advise General Sanchez properly about the management of interrogations at the prison."

Senator John Warner, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, has "signaled he would call a hearing on senior officer accountability in the detainee abuse scandal." He's previously said that he will hold more hearings "until he is satisfied that the proper people are held accountable," according to a Washington Post article.

I today join my allies over at The Yellow Line in calling for a full, fair and bipartisan Congressional investigation into the abuses at Abu Ghraib and at other detention centers around the world. There is no excuse for abuses like this, and there can be no excuses made for not uncovering the full truth and holding to account those who are responsible. It is the right thing to do.

For further reading:
- New York Times reports this morning that the Army will soon issue a new "interrogations manual" "that expressly bars the harsh techniques disclosed in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, and incorporates safeguards devised to prevent such misconduct at military prison camps in the future."

- Also in the Times, Bob Herbert opines on this topic, also calling for an independent investigation into the abuses: "If the president made it clear that men and women up and down the chain of command would be held responsible for the abuses that occur on their watch, the abuses would plummet. Instead, the message the administration has sent is that its demands for accountability will be limited to a few hapless, ill-trained grunts. The big shots who presided over behavior that has shamed America in the eyes of the world can count on this president's embrace." I hope that he's not proven correct.

- This USA Today piece has several good graphics on the prison scandals and their impact.