Now that the widespread abuses at Abu Ghraib prison and elsewhere in Iraq have come to light, the only way the United States can begin to repair its credibility throughout the world is to undertake a thorough investigation of the scandal — including actors up and down the chain of command — and appropriately punish all those responsible. Yet, despite President Bush’s assurance of a “full accounting’’ in a “transparent process,’’ the initial signs are not promising.
For example, the charges against one of the soldiers, Jeremy Sivits, have been referred to a special, as opposed to general, court-martial. As a result, Sivits is subject to a maximum penalty of one-year imprisonment and will not face the prospect of being dishonorably discharged.
And just as important, a general court-martial would have yielded a far more thorough investigation because a preliminary hearing, known as an Article 32 hearing, must be held before a case can be tried. Under a special court-martial, no such hearing is necessary. Such a truncated proceeding reflects the administration’s insistence that the abuse was merely the work of a small group of “bad apples,’’ and that the appropriate response is therefore simply to root out those individuals and punish them as swiftly as possible.
Low-level actors should be held to account, but it is not surprising that they and their families are outraged beyond imagining that all of this is being blamed on them. As the Army Times noted in an editorial, “This was not just a failure of leadership at the local command level. ... This was a failure that ran straight to the top.’’ Thus, the investigations cannot stop at the bottom of the chain of command. Those who allowed a culture of abuse and promulgated policies that demeaned adherence to international law must also be exposed and punished. Anything less will signal to the world that the United States does not take this incident seriously enough.
Indeed, a report by the International Committee of the Red Cross — given to the Defense Department three months ago — makes clear that the abuses at Abu Ghraib were not isolated events. The report confirms that “methods of physical and psychological coercion used by the interrogators appeared to be part of the standard operating procedures by military intelligence personnel to obtain confessions and extract information.’’
In addition, the Red Cross states that, according to some military intelligence officers, as many as 70 percent to 90 percent of those deprived of their liberty in Iraq have been arrested by mistake.
If the administration is unwilling to undertake a broader investigation, then Congress must do so. After all, it was Congress — through its repeated refusal to reign in the administration’s claims of nearly unlimited executive authority — that helped create an atmosphere in which abuses became nearly inevitable.
If Congress balks, the matter could be turned over to the UN high commissioner for human rights, thereby lending international credibility to the process.
Make no mistake: We have severely undermined our ability to bring democracy to Iraq, compromised our standing in the world and endangered our security because this abuse encourages our enemies, gives carte blanche to dictators around the world and undermines the work of moderate reformers. Indeed, violence will be made worse in Iraq and elsewhere because of the substantial aid these acts of torture have given to our enemies in this war. Only a full accounting of these abuses — and the policies that made them possible, up and down the chain of command — can begin to address the colossal damage that has been done.
— Laura A. Dickinson is an associate professor at University of Connecticut School of Law, where she teaches international human-rights law.
