Failures at Abu Ghraib Go All The Way to the Top

As a high profile hearing for Pfc= Lynndie England unfolds this week, Bush administration officials continue to deflect blame for Abu Ghraib on to underlings and refuse to accept responsibility for egregious abuses of Iraqi prisoners.

• The Army's internal investigation of military interrogation techniques was a whitewash of serious command failures. According to the New York Times, a 300-page report from the Army's inspector general concluded that there were no "systemic" problems with military treatment of detainees "even though there were 94 documented cases of prisoner abuse, including some 40 deaths, 20 of them homicides; even though only four prisons of the 16 they visited had copies of the Geneva Conventions; even though Abu Ghraib was a cesspool with one shower for every 50 inmates; even though the military police were improperly involved in interrogations; even though young people plucked from civilian life were sent to guard prisoners - 50,000 of them in all - with no training."
• The Pentagon created a permissive environment that allowed torture in Iraq. A commission headed by former Defense Secretary and CIA Director James Schlesinger is set to conclude in mid-August that top Pentagon commanders – up to and including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld – failed to set clear guidelines for interrogations and neglected to thoroughly oversee the process. This failure of command ultimately created the conditions for torture in Iraq.
• President Bush must demand full accountability from everyone who played a role in allowing torture of Iraqi prisoners. Contrition alone will not restore America's reputation or protect our troops. Without full legal accountability for all those – including top ranking officials – who bore responsibility for Iraqi prisoners, America's word remains suspect, and our soldiers are in greater danger of receiving similar treatment at the hands of our enemies.

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