BAGHDAD, 16 May 2004 — If he is lucky, Sgt. Eric Lund gets to talk to his family back home in Tacoma, Wash., a few times each week, and then only for a few minutes at a time.
He wants to talk about home. His parents want to talk about Abu Ghraib.
Already, Lund said he is tired of a scandal in which he is in no way connected. But the abuse of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison affects every American soldier in Iraq.
“It doesn’t matter how bad the bad guys are,’’ said Lund, a 25-year-old army reservist assigned to a security detail in central Baghdad. “We have to be better. If one of our guys messes up, we’re all bad.’’
Lund said that it seems the prison abuse is all anyone is talking about, at least back home. He said that during his last two calls to his parents, “they wanted to talk about Abu Ghraib. I want to talk about what’s happening there, and they want to talk about what’s happening here. They want to talk about the bad stuff.’’ A group of soldiers interviewed this week revealed mixed emotions about the mistreatment of prisoners and the photographs that imprinted the abuse in graphic detail for the world to see.
Some soldiers were indifferent. Others were angry because they said it put them in more danger. One soldier said he had never heard of the case, and then remembered seeing one photo of a female soldier holding a leash attached to a naked prisoner prone on the floor. A friend had e-mailed it to him. Senior military commanders here in Iraq and in Washington have apologized daily for the abuse and announced a series of public military trials, the first of which is scheduled to commence next week at the Baghdad Convention Center.
Some of the most stirring comments came during a news conference Tuesday with Maj. Gen. Martin Dempsey, commander of the 1st Armored Division, which is engaged in heavy fighting across southern Iraq with insurgents opposed to the occupation. He had served in Saudi Arabia beginning in 2001.
“I have spent three years trying to convince Arabs in general, and Muslims in particular, that the United States and Americans were interested in their well-being, wanted to be partners, lived a life of values,’’ he said. “We’re not here to pervert Islam. We’re not here to steal their oil, and that we really meant what we said. ‘’And this undermines that,” Dempsey said. ‘’I mean, it can’t help but undermine the relationship when the values we say we stand for are on display in such a negative way.”
Dempsey said his commanders provide him with what he calls ‘’texture reports” — subjective analysis of how well the troops are liked. It includes whether children wave at soldiers and whether tribal leaders maintain contacts. Before Abu Ghraib, Dempsey said the ‘’we were probably at a seven” — 10 being the highest. ‘’I’d say we’re down to about a five.” He said the prison scandal broke at a particularly bad time — just as the fighting began to subside.
Dempsey said that soldiers must now ‘’consciously try to become more visible and more engaging so that we can try to undo some of the harm that’s been done.”
But soldiers in Baghdad do not have the same interaction with Iraqis as they did in the months after Saddam Hussein’s statue was toppled in the central square in spring of 2003.
Then, soldiers were out in public on patrols, guarding hospitals and gas stations and at many intersections. Now, as attacks have grown more frequent and deadly, soldiers have retreated to eight bases within the city. Only a few are visible at checkpoints. At other locations, armed private contractors provide perimeter protection.
Soldiers on patrol race through streets, often going opposite traffic, as it is dangerous for them to remain stationary. Much interaction with Iraqis is done at staged events, such as refurbishing schools or distributing food to the needy.
