Word: ghraib
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...objective of the Bush administration this week, in numerous interviews by the president and other top officials in the Arab media, and in the congressional testimony by Secretary Rumsfeld and some senior military officers, has been to paint the Abu Ghraib abuses as an abhorrent and unacceptable aberration, the work of a few bad apples who have sullied their uniform and endangered the overall U.S. mission. Both the president and his defense secretary have made clear that the very process of inquiry now must serve as an exemplar to the Iraqis and the Arab world more generally of America...
...Still, in answering questions from Rhode Island Democratic senator Jack Reed about whether instructions may have been issued to "soften up" detainees for interrogation, Rumsfeld made what may be the central point of the events at Abu Ghraib. Interrogation of suspects, he explained, was an essential part of protecting U.S. soldiers in Iraq. And that brings several unresolved issues squarely into focus...
...defense secretary's vulnerability is less on the specific instances, than on the question of oversight. He struggled, for example, to answer questions from Arizona Republican senator John McCain over who was in charge of the interrogation process at Abu Ghraib, and whether they had issued any instructions to the guards that might pertain to treatment of the detainees ahead of interrogations. Oversight issues were also at the center of questions over the handling of complaints from the International Committee for the Red Cross, and how President Bush was informed of the abuses...
...problem is obviously far greater than abuses by freelancers, and some of those soldiers currently bearing the blame are suggesting that responsibility for the abuses at Abu Ghraib lies much higher up the chain, with U.S. military intelligence. Unfortunately, while the various inquiries may hold Americans' attention for some time to come, however, for Iraqis and much of the wider international community they are but footnotes...
...fallout from Abu Ghraib looks set to challenge Washington's grip on Iraq, by turning more Iraqis and more Arabs against the occupation. The Bush administration - and, indeed, the Democrats - remain committed to "stay the course" in Iraq. But once a majority of Iraqis don't want them there, it becomes unclear where exactly "the course" leads...