Editorial: Tarnished

Editorial: Tarnished - for years

Impact of prisoner abuse will linger

Published 2:15 am PDT Friday, May 27, 2005

Appalling as some of the details are, there's little that's surprising in a New York Times report about the abuse of prisoners, two of whom died, by American interrogators at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. This and other reports that continue to surface add to a litany that challenges official claims that this or that tale of abuse - in Iraq, in Afghanistan, at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba - reflects the behavior of a few "rogue" members of the U.S. military.

How many rogues does it take to make a pattern?

A sad irony is that the abuses reported so far apparently took place some time ago, mostly in 2002 and 2003. Conceivably, they ended after an embattled Pentagon issued new guidelines for the treatment of prisoners. How unfortunate that such reminders are necessary.

As the list of grisly accounts accumulates, it seems unlikely that the loss of respect for and condemnation of America abroad will reverse itself anytime soon. Each revelation, each light sentence - or lack of any punishment at all - adds to the resentment. So does the exoneration of nearly all senior officers and officials, and the White House's refusal to name an independent body with authority to recommend serious corrective measures.

It's not surprising, given the White House's arms-length response to reports of abuse, that President Bush brushed off Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who asked, in the wake of the latest reports, that his government be allowed to take control of prisoners and have more say about the conduct of military operations against rebel groups. Such operations have brought accusations by Afghan civilians of rough and insensitive treatment by U.S. troops.

One telling example of the official mind-set was contained in the nearly 2,000-page confidential file about the Army's investigation that the Times obtained: Even after military coroners had labeled as homicide the deaths of two prisoners (one of whom interrogators had concluded was innocent), the U.S. commander in Afghanistan said that - quoting the Times - "he had no indication that abuse by the \ soldiers had contributed to the two deaths." Only after senior Army officials took the case away from Army field investigators were charges filed against seven alleged abusers; there may be more charges to come.

The administration's decision to fix the blame at low levels, and its apparent determination to immunize those higher up, fuels suspicion, justified or not, of a cover-up. And it reinforces an already strong sense in the Middle East that Bush's campaign to spread democracy there is as self-serving as his administration's stonewalling in the face of the growing list of abuse reports.

Success against terrorism, and in fostering democratic evolution in the Middle East, will come only - if ever - long after Bush has left office. Whoever succeeds him will have to work hard to repair the damage by ensuring that "rogue" behavior ends at all levels and, in the process, to earn again the respect for this country that has been so badly eroded.