On the heels of the England trial

From American Progress Report:
Sept. 27th, 2005

More Bad Apples

Yesterday, Private First Class Lyndie England, "a 22-year old Army file clerk," was "found guilty of six counts of abuse and indecent acts" for her complicity in torturous acts at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. England, who faces a jail term of up to 10 years, deserves to be held accountable for her behavior. But the conviction has "failed to clarify an ongoing question that has been at the center of the abuse scandal: were the low-ranking soldiers ordered to abuse detainees as part of an intelligence-gathering effort or were they simply a 'few bad apples' seeking twisted amusement?" In light of new allegations that "systematic abuse of Iraqi detainees" occurred at other facilities in Iraq, the need is clear for both an investigation to examine the role of the White House and senior officials in the Pentagon and for legislative reforms that will reaffirm America's commitment to the Geneva Conventions and the Army Field Manual.



MILITARY CHAIN OF COMMAND PASSES THE BUCK:  England is now the ninth Army reservist convicted of abusing detainees at Abu
Ghraib. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Richard Myers heralded the sentence, saying: "Pfc. England's conviction is just one more example of holding people accountable, because that's who did it." While England did not contest that she participated in abuse, her defense argued that she was following the directions of her lover and commanding military officer, then-Corporal Charles
Graner. Graner, who is serving a 10-year sentence for his role in the abuse, "has maintained that military intelligence interrogators encouraged him to mistreat detainees to get them to talk." And while Army investigative documents have revealed that military intelligence interrogators "were looking to get tough on detainees" around the time that Abu Ghraib abuses were occurring, "none of those leaders has been charged with a crime connected to the abuse." "Despite the prosecution of the reservists, only one senior officer has been reprimanded over the allegations." Gen. Janis
Karpinski, who was in operational command of Abu Ghraib, was reduced in rank to colonel, but she has since said the use of certain abuse tactics was authorized by Gen. Geoffrey Miller, the former commander of the Guantanamo Bay prison.



NEW ALLEGATIONS OF ABUSE: A Human Rights Watch report, first noted by Time magazine this past weekend, detailed allegations of three soldiers -- one officer and two non-commissioned officers -- in the 82nd Airborne who witnessed daily abuse of Iraqi detainees at Camp Mercury from September 2003 to April 2004. "Their description of routine harsh treatment of captives in Iraq parallels the abuse caught in photographs at the Abu Ghraib prison." The allegations come from one of the finest military units with a history of mission preparedness through intensified training programs. Captain Ian Fishback says he was unsuccessful for over 17 months in attempting to get the attention of military superiors. Ultimately, he approached conservative senators, including Bill
Frist, who appears to have ignored him. The types of abuse tactics employed included "severe beatings (in one incident, a soldier reportedly broke a detainee’s leg with a baseball bat), blows and kicks to the face...forced stress positions...the stacking of detainees into human pyramids; and, the withholding of food (beyond crackers) and water." In a letter to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) revealing the abuse, Fishback said the conduct is tarnishing the U.S. image abroad. "We are America," he wrote. "Our actions should be held to a higher standard."



WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE: The prisoner abuse stems from a decision by the Bush administration dating back to the outset of the Afghanistan conflict to throw out rules that soldiers were trained to uphold (embodied in the Geneva Conventions and the U.S. Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogation). Instead, President Bush said only that detainees be treated "humanely," not as a requirement of the law but as policy.
Sens. McCain, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee John Warner (R-VA.), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), another committee member, have proposed an amendment to a defense bill requiring the military to abide by the Geneva dictates. McCain is proposing another amendment that would establish the Army Field Manual as the standard for interrogation of all detainees held in Department of Defense
(DoD) custody. But the "White House [objected] to the amendments, and instructed Senate Majority leader Bill Frist to pull the whole Pentagon spending bill off the Senate floor lest the Senate pass the amendments with the bills." Human Rights Watch recommends not only passing these amendments but also creating a special commission (along the lines of the 9/11 Commission) to fully investigate the issue of detainee abuse.