The Beginning of the End

The evolving story of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners is like so much else to do with this war, tragic, heartbreaking, disgusting and predictable. Let loose the dogs of war---just what did you think it meant?

A few facts and observations emerging...The prison housed "detainees"---people picked up in sweeps, randomly in some cases, never even suspected of a crime---as well as a range of other kinds of prisoners. One of the official investigations by the military itself said that the prison had no real means of sorting and distinguishing its prisoners. This is one item to keep in mind as the excuse of "tough questioning" of terrorist suspects surfaces, though probably only on Fox news.

The main defense by the military and the Bushies is: a few rotten apples. Haven't we seen enough of blaming the bottom of the chain of command, the most expendable, to know that tactic for what it is? That same investigation saw the problem was structural, i.e. the responsibility of those in charge. The soldier who forced the investigation by turning in these photos said that he was ordered to obey military intelligence and continue these abuses, even after he told superiors about them (contra what the general in charge is now saying.) Seymour Hersh's story in the New Yorker maintains that this torture and these humiliations of prisoners began almost immediately and continued throughout the occupation.

The layers of responsibility---military, military intelligence, and civilian contractors---is just beginning to be scrutinized. But it's worth noting that civilian contractors in Iraq are beyond any law: they are beyond U.S. jurisdiction, yet aren't covered by military law and apparently not by international law.

A panel assembled on Charlie Rose was unanimous in believing that the acts were deliberate tactics, they were intentionally humiliating to Arab sensibilities, that Arabs know this, and that the last hope for an American led transition is gone. It's the My Lai of Iraq. Charlie Rose looked more shaken than we've ever seen him, at not only the enormity of what has happened, but the prospect of what will happen. This, said one panelist, is the tip of the iceberg.

The scrutiny will spread, perhaps even to Guantanamo, perhaps even to the same kind of thinking in the Patriot Act, which always was: you can trust us to know who the bad guys are, so no innocent person need fear these measures.

As for the men and women "grunts" who posed for the pictures: what happened to them, what they became and did, that's also part of the dogs of war. It was surreal seeing all this break just as James Hillman's book, "A Terrible Love of War" was published. It says all too well what this is about.

And it should tangentially put the lie to the idea that war is simply a result of male testosterone. There were women in those photos, smiling and thumbs up. The general in charge of the prison is a woman. (She says she was not permitted to visit the wing of the prison run by military "intel.")

The investigations showed that in addition to the abuse in the photos--male prisoners stripped, piled on each other, attached with electrodes--they were subjected to various forms of sexual intimidation, including forced masturbation. And that guards performed sex with women prisoners (we're not sure that the report actually said rape, but what else could it be.)

As these words hit cyberspace, the first reports are coming in of large explosions in Baghdad in the vicinity of the prison where the photos were taken, the prison where Saddam kept his torture chambers. This story of American torture there breaks as the Marines turned over Faluja to some of Saddam's generals.

It competes with the "feel good" story of the Halliburton employee who escaped his kidnappers, rescued by passing American troops. This young working class man was reportedly in Iraq because he needed the money to pay for medical care for his wife, because his health insurance didn't cover it. That's not the feel good part we don't suppose.

It's worth mentioning as well that the military investigation is months old, that Iraquis have been telling reporters for months of abuses in the prisons but only Arab media has paid any attention.

We are shocked but not surprised by any of this. We are saddened, and we are angry. We are all going to pay for this. There will be young Americans who never thought this was going to happen to them when they joined the national guard, who will die because of this. We will see terror here again, because of this. It's no longer just a matter of a horrendous failure in a faraway country. This is the beginning of the end of Americans in Iraq. What else it becomes remains for us to see.