Where to start on the U.S. Military's abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison.

WMD being absent, we are in Iraq, the president tells us, to create a free nation, a pro-western democracy. The decision to use this facility, well known throughout Iraq as a place of torture and rape, for the detention by U.S. soldiers is a typical example of horrible judgment by this administration. That the U.S. military and civilian contractors would stoop to such Saddam-like mistreatment is deeply wrong in every sense, and has confirmed the worst views of the U.S. across the world. I'm having difficulty imagining a worse set-back in the "war on terrorism" short of invading all Muslim holy sites and installing Billy Graham as the new director of "faith based" outreach to the Middle East. And the president wont even apologize, let alone fire the uber-incompetent Rumsfeld.

If you have any doubt about the credibility of these allegations (besides from the photos), or the seriousness of them, examine the report of an Army investigation by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, available at MSNBC. The report concludes, "Several US Army Soldiers have committed egregious acts and grave breaches of international law at Abu Ghraib/BCCF and Camp Bucca, Iraq." Some excerpts are below at the end of this entry.

This report came out in February. What has been done? As near as I can tell, until the publicity that came with the photos (which I saw for the first time on the Daily Show, of all places), virtually nothing. One of the civilian contractors closely involved in the abuse (Stephanowicz, see the report below for his role) is STILL WORKING AT THE PRISON.

There are two things I'd like to highlight, which haven't gotten a lot of attention that I've seen. First is the role of civilian contractors. They are not under military control, and are not subject to the Military Code of Justice. (And there is no chance we are going to hand them over to the Iraqi "criminal justice system" for prosecution). I was speaking with my boss, a former federal prosecutor, and he explained they could be prosecuted once they come back home under U.S. civilian law. However, that would require them coming back to the U.S. And clearly, Stephanowicz is staying right where he is. Thus, we have resorted as a nation to using a para-military organization to do our dirty work, and made them beyond the reach of the law.

Second, examine this finding in the report:

-> The various detention facilities operated by the 800th MP Brigade have routinely held persons brought to them by Other Government Agencies (OGAs) without accounting for them, knowing their identities, or even the reason for their detention. The Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center (JIDC) at Abu Ghraib called these detainees "ghost detainees." On at least one occasion, the 320th MP Battalion at Abu Ghraib held a handful of "ghost detainees" (6-8) for OGAs that they moved around within the facility to hide them from a visiting International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) survey team. This maneuver was deceptive, contrary to Army Doctrine, and in violation of international law.

We have U.S. military officials routinely detaining people with no idea of who they are, what they've (allegedly) done wrong, and we are hiding them from the Red Cross? When our officials (or worse, Chalabi and his co-horts) don't like someone, they can have them taken off to prison and held for no reason? This is accountability? This is the U.S. establishing a model of democracy? This is "disappearing" people! This is the worst sort of totalitarian abuse! And we wonder why some Iraqi's are turning against us? I'm simply apoplectic. This is a very dark day.

Here are some excerpts of the report:

-> I find that the intentional abuse of detainees by military police personnel included the following acts:

Punching, slapping, and kicking detainees; jumping on their naked feet;

Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees;

Forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions for photographing;

Forcing detainees to remove their clothing and keeping them naked for several days at a time;

Forcing naked male detainees to wear women's underwear;

Forcing groups of male detainees to masturbate themselves while being photographed and videotaped;

Arranging naked male detainees in a pile and then jumping on them;

Positioning a naked detainee on a MRE Box, with a sandbag on his head, and attaching wires to his fingers, toes, and penis to simulate electric torture;

Writing "I am a Rapest" (sic) on the leg of a detainee alleged to have forcibly raped a 15-year old fellow detainee, and then photographing him naked;

Placing a dog chain or strap around a naked detainee's neck and having a female Soldier pose for a picture;

A male MP guard having sex with a female detainee;

Using military working dogs (without muzzles) to intimidate and frighten detainees, and in at least one case biting and severely injuring a detainee;

Taking photographs of dead Iraqi detainees.

These findings are amply supported by written confessions provided by several of the suspects, written statements provided by detainees, and witness statements.

-> In addition, several detainees also described the following acts of abuse, which under the circumstances, I find credible based on the clarity of their statements and supporting evidence provided by other witnesses (ANNEX 26):

Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees;

Threatening detainees with a charged 9mm pistol;

Pouring cold water on naked detainees;

Beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair;

Threatening male detainees with rape;

Allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell;

Sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick.

Using military working dogs to frighten and intimidate detainees with threats of attack, and in one instance actually biting a detainee.

-> In general, US civilian contract personnel (Titan Corporation, CACI, etc . . . ), third country nationals, and local contractors do not appear to be properly supervised within the detention facility at Abu Ghraib. During our on-site inspection, they wandered about with too much unsupervised free access in the detainee area. Having civilians in various outfits (civilian and DCUs) in and about the detainee area causes confusion and may have contributed to the difficulties in the accountability process and with detecting escapes.

-> Recommendation that Mr. Steven Stephanowicz, Contract US Civilian Interrogator, CACI, 205th Military Intelligence Brigade, be given an Official Reprimand to be placed in his employment file, termination of employment, and generation of a derogatory report to revoke his security clearance for the following acts which have been previously referred to in the aforementioned findings:

Made a false statement to the investigation team regarding the locations of his interrogations, the activities during his interrogations, and his knowledge of abuses.

Allowed and/or instructed MPs, who were not trained in interrogation techniques, to facilitate interrogations by "setting conditions" which were neither authorized and in accordance with applicable regulations/policy. He clearly knew his instructions equated to physical abuse.