corrente

It gets worse.

Add murder to the list
It looks like we can add murder to the list of crimes committed by demoralized US troops, and mercenaries, in Abu Gharaib prison, near Fallujah. The list, already long, includes beating, sexual assault, sodomy, and rape. From the Pulitzer-heavy LA Times:

At least one Iraqi prisoner died after interrogation, some were threatened with attack dogs and others were kept naked in tiny cells without running water or ventilation, according to an account written by a military police sergeant who is one of six U.S. soldiers charged in a growing scandal over prisoner abuse in Iraq.

Relatives of [Staff Sgt. Ivan "Chip"] Frederick, who faces court-martial in connection with the alleged sexual and physical degradation of prisoners in Iraq, gave The Times a copy of the account that they said was handwritten by Frederick shortly after his arrest in January.

[Bill Lawson, Fredericks uncle] said that Frederick had served for 20 years in the National Guard and had worked for six years as a correctional officer before going to Iraq, once receiving a commendation for preventing a prisoner from committing suicide.
(via LA Times)

It's interesting that Abu Gharaib prison, where the torture was photographed, is near Fallujah. Perhaps blowback from torture might explain some ot the difficulties we've been having "pacifying" the city?

"Bad apples" story starts to collapse as role of mercenaries begins to emerge
The "few bad applies" story is starting to fall apart, as we knew it would (see "I don't know whether to puke or go blind", below). The torturers weren't doing it for fun, although clearly some enjoyed their work (pictures). No, they were encouraged by others who were, well, above their pay grade:

Frederick, 37, wrote that U.S. intelligence officers and civilian contractors who were conducting interrogations urged military police at the Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad to take steps to make prisoners more responsive to questioning.

Here are the ranks of the military personnel being courtmartialed: Private, Specialist, Sergeant. What does that tell you? At this point, we don't really know how far up the chain of command the rot goes. However, when you hear a military person, or Bush, talk about the investigation, realize that only torture within the Constitutional chain of command is being investigated. (The next fall guy is an Army Reserves general, but she doesn't like being set up.)

Crucially, the extra-Constitutional chain of command—the one that runs from the mercenaries, to the RNC/CPA, to .... is not being investigated at all. But guess what? The mercenaries were giving the orders!

"Nobody in the chain of command told him what to do or how to do it," said Lawson, an Air Force retiree. "He was just instructed to go down there and do what the civilian contractors told him to do."

No training, understaffing in the overcrowded prison
Of course, since the Iraqis would be throwing roses, there was no need to plan for prisons.

Another soldier in the unit — who is not among those accused — also said there had been a lack of training. He said Iraqi insurgents frequently fired at the prison, which is near the tense city of [Fallujah]. Prisoners were constantly attempting to escape. The prison was dangerously overcrowded.

"There were no [standard operating procedures] at the prison and no training," said the soldier, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The conditions were very bad, and we were grossly undermanned."

The perfect shitstorm
Obviously, having photographs of US personnel torturing Iraqi prisoners is a strategic disaster for the United States. As we surmised (back) Republican loyalist Margaret Tutwiler did indeed resign because the pictures had made her job, public diplomacy to the Arab world, mission impossible.

And the whole fiasco should be laid squarely on Bush's desk because three of his policies came together to create the disaster.

1. Why no planning for prisons? Because Bush bought into neo-con ideology that invading Iraq would be a cakewalk, and decided to rubbish the State Department's long term plans for occupation. People who disagreed (Powell) were, naturally, ignored or forced out.

2. Why was prison staffing too low? Because Bush bought into Rummy's technocratic approach to the war. Iraq would serve as a proof of concept for the "revolution in military affairs," where high-tech weaponry and airpower would substitute for boots on the ground. People who disagreed (Shinseki) were, naturally, ignored or forced out.

3. Why are mercenaries giving US troops orders? Because that's how Bush wants proconsul Bremer at the CPA/RNC to run the war. Ideologically, it fits in perfectly with the administration's push to privatize everything. Pragmatically, mercenaries are outside the Constitutional chain of command, so Bush can do whatever he wants without explaining anything, turning Iraq into a mega-Gitmo. Politically, mercenaries are large contributors to the Republican party.

So three policies vigorously pursued by Bush—no post-war planning, low troop strength, and using mercenaries wherever possible—combined to create the perfect shitstorm at Abu Gharaib. Who will hold him accountable?

NOTE The LA Times story—too bad the Pulitzer-light World's Greatest Newspaper (not!), is working the Inside the Beltway angle instead of, you know, COVERING THE STORY—also supplies a possible reason for the photographs.

The understaffed, untrained, and endangered US troops guarding the prison were put in a truly impossible situation. People who have been tortured stay tortured. And the Iraqis had been tortured under Saddam. So how on earth were the prisoners to be interrogated? Frederick and the rest—isolated, under fire, and under pressure from civilians outside the chain of command—seem to have settled on the photos as the most humane option: torture a few, photograph them, and show the photos to other prisoners, instead of torturing them, too. Who knows? What I am sure of is that Fredericks and the other troops should never have been put in such a position. War is hell, but can be made more or less hellish. The perfect shitstorm created by Bush, Rummy, and the neocons seems to have made hell more hellish. POTL will do that.

NOTE See earlier. "I don't know whether to puke or go blind", as well.

UPDATE Excellent material from the essential Juan Cole at TomDispatch.