The End Result of Too Much Discretion

For the past two years, human rights organizations have requested the guidelines used to govern interrogation, the results of investigations of alleged instances of torture or mistreatment, information on individuals transferred to third countries for interrogation, and -- most important -- access to the detainees and their medical records to ascertain whether they have been abused. The administration either denied or failed even to acknowledge many of these requests, including those concerning findings of the investigation of the case of two detainees who died in custody more than a year ago. As for combatants sent to third countries, among them countries with a record of torture, the administration claimed to have obtained assurances that the countries do not torture detained combatants.

- Stopping the Abuse of Detainees

The End Result of Too Much Discretion: The mistreatment, including by disgusting sexual ways in some cases involving women soldiers (though there are now some staged pictures of Iraqi women having sex with service personnel, the report does make mention of some improper sexual contact and photographing of nude women prisoners), of prisoners in Abu Ghraib [former torture station for Saddam Hussein] is now well known. The problem was under investigation for months, though only became known to the wider public with the release of the now infamous photos on 60 Minutes and a New Yorker article by Sy Hersh. Mark Kleiman has an excellent set of insights about the matter. The troubling issue of military contractors, and how hard it is legally and in practice to punish them for wrongdoing, is discussed here.

It is comforting to view this incident as a single unfortunate case of a few bad seeds, but realistic people know differently. As one person told me, it is far from surprising that soldiers would be tempted to mistreat those they fight and believe (with reason, though the internal army report notes sixty percent of the detainees appear to be innocent Update: see comments) are guilty of some nasty things. A bit more insight and research will show how deep the problem truly is. There is the lack of proper training and oversight (the fact military contractors currently exist in a sort of de facto lawless zone is shocking and shockingly ignored) as well as the realization that this is not an isolated incident.

I recently had a debate with someone who wanted me to give the government some slack in the Padilla case given the stakes. I too care about the stakes -- this is what happens when there is not enough oversight, when we leave it up to the executive to ensure our prisoners are properly cared for, and the sad results (including the backlash, poisoning of the well, and even greater mistrust). Do you think there is not a possibility that domestic "enemy combatants" of the Padilla sort will not be treated in such a matter? Many of whom that very well might be innocent? I question it when even top members of the Justice Department feel our standards are currently too low, while other leading figures in the government have even a few days ago claimed not to even read the report on abuses -- one out there for months.

Anyway, the photos and behavior was shocking, but sadly, one must ask: just how much? I bet domestic prison guards are not the only ones saying, "sadly, not enough."

Update: I added a link to the Hersh piece and noted that the abuses were done in the same center where Saddam Hussein's forces tortured prisoners. Slate has some good coverage on this whole issue as well, including this excellent selection of quotes about how our invasion ended this sort of thing. Fred Kaplan also suggests why the President didn't say he was sorry. Is he a fan of the movie Love Story?