Not just a few eminently qualified bad apples

When I first posted about the torture at Abu Ghraib, I made a snide remark that one of those involved was a prison guard in civilian life, so it was hardly surprising. The mainstream US media is finally exploring this angle, with a New York Times story (mirrored here) pointing out that:

Physical and sexual abuse of prisoners, similar to what has been uncovered in Iraq, takes place in American prisons with little public knowledge or concern, according to corrections officials, inmates and human rights advocates.

There's a catalogue of abuses, and you can find more on the web if you have the stomach to look. Beatings, sexual abuse of female prisoners by guards, chronic misuse of electroshock belts, cattle prods and restraint chairs as instruments of torture... many of the MPs at Abu Ghraib worked as prison guards, and they may have brought their bad habits with them. The man brought in to set up the prison in the ruins of Saddam's torture chambers and train the guards was himself a prison officer, who had previously been forced to resign from one job after

an inmate died while shackled to a restraining chair for 16 hours. The inmate, who suffered from schizophrenia, was kept naked the whole time.

I guess he was eminently qualified for the job at Abu Ghraib.

And OTOH, this reinforces the "few bad apples" narrative - which is false. The abuses and torture at Abu Ghraib were not random acts of sadism by a few individuals, but organised, systematic, encouraged, if not ordered by the military intelligence interrogators. This comes out again and again in the stories of those now coming forward, in the witness statements in the Taguba report, and in interviews with those currently facing charges:

"They would bring in one to several prisoners at a time already hooded and cuffed," Harman said by e-mail this week from Baghdad. "The job of the MP was to keep them awake, make it hell so they would talk."

[...]

"The person who brought them in would set the standards on whether or not to 'be nice,' " she said. "If the prisoner was cooperating, then the prisoner was able to keep his jumpsuit, mattress, and was allowed cigarettes on request or even hot food. But if the prisoner didn't give what they wanted, it was all taken away until [military intelligence] decided. Sleep, food, clothes, mattresses, cigarettes were all privileges and were granted with information received."

That's a long way from what the photos show, but it's easy to see how this can escalate. And it is obvious from one of the more recent photos that the abuses pictured are completely normal and accepted - there's something like eight guards in it, standing around as if nothing unusual was happening.

(I think its also important to note that even the relatively "mild" treatment Spec. Harman talks of violates the Geneva Convention - see Articles 13 ("prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated"), 14 ("prisoners of war are entitled in all circumstances to respect for their persons and their honour"), 26 (they must be provided with adequate food...), and 27 (...and clothing)).

Major General Miller, the new commander of Abu Ghraib, was up on the podium last night trying to deny his own words - he had previously recommended in a report on methods to extract information from detainees that

the 'guard force' [should] be actively engaged in setting the conditions for successful exploitation of the internees

(emphesis added). He wasn't very convincing.