The shame of Abu Ghraib stains us all

This is not the column I wanted to write this week. I wanted to write about selfless sacrifice and the galvanizing effect that a true hero like Pat Tillman can have. I wanted to write of the honorable return of another fallen hero, Private Chance Phelps, USMC, and of dignity under the burden of grief (I urge you to seek out that story). Instead I'm forced by events to write of shame.

By now you've heard all about the charges of prisoner abuse leveled against several U.S. Military Police personnel in Iraq, and you've probably seen the appalling images. This is one of those cases where the images speak volumes, and in terms starker and clearer than words ever could. The sickening poses, the bags on the prisoner's heads and the leering grins of the guards say everything.

There is no explaining this away, no getting around it. What happened at Abu Ghraib left an ugly stain on America. The despicable acts of cowardice and brutality committed by those few -- with possible complicity or negligence of others -- brought disgrace upon all of us, both in and out of uniform. As a 21-year military veteran, I am personally outraged. By the inexorable logic of guilt-by-association, my own reputation has been sullied. And as a citizen of this great country, I have somehow been lessened by the warped actions of ignorant, incompetent and inhumane abusers (I refuse to call them soldiers).

As we collectively struggle to come to grips with why this happened, I can sympathize with the families of the accused MPs as they agonize over what their loved ones have done and the disgrace they have brought home. I can grant them the leeway to wallow in justifications. They are in pain.

The rest of us have to face this head-on, however. Various pundits -- typically those who have supported the war thus far -- have tried to offer explanations. Inevitably, though, these come out as feeble justifications -- the "war is hell" excuse, the "following orders" excuse and the "they didn't know better" excuse.

But there is no excuse for such conduct. Don't tell me the interrogators ordered them to do it. They could have refused an obviously illegal order. Don't tell me their officers weren't supervising them closely enough. And don't tell they weren't trained properly! Are you kidding? Did they really need training to know that posing prisoners in sadistic, sexually twisted ways was wrong? Others in the unit knew it was wrong, kept their moral compass and reported the abuses up the chain.

And don't tell me I'm turning these seven troops into scapegoats. I'm all for holding their supervisors and officers accountable, and apparently that is just what is happening. Already the one-star general in charge of U.S. prisons in Iraq has had her career effectively ended for not knowing what was going on. A full Colonel and a Lieutenant Colonel in Army Intelligence now have their heads on the chopping block. They may well face criminal charges as well. Good!

In the wake of Abu Ghraib, the only way for the U.S. military, the Defense Department, the Bush administration and this nation to regain some semblance of self-respect is to aggressively and publicly track this scandal down, identify those guilty of abuses and those who should have been responsible and punish them severely and swiftly.

Now further allegations are surfacing, indicative of a wider problem. There are investigations of reported murders. Abuses at other facilities are also alleged. The huge implications of the crimes at Abu Ghraib are only now becoming apparent. At the very least, they will cost more American lives in Iraq as insurgents are spurred to seek revenge. Combined with the failure to find weapons of mass destruction, increased American casualties, the festering rebellion in Najaf and the muddled response to the Fallujah insurrection, this could be what turns American public opinion -- our true center of gravity -- against the war.

T.T.

©2004 WestRim Digital Arts