Fighting for our values

THE CONVICTION OF Pvt. Lynndie R. England for abusing Iraqi inmates was a foregone conclusion. What remains an open question, unfortunately, is the extent of the damage done to America’s image abroad by the continued allegations of cruelty and mistreatment at the hands of U.S. soldiers.

The pictures of England holding a prisoner on a leash and grinning at naked detainees who were forced to form a pyramid at Abu Ghraib prison were as sickening as they were powerful. England’s conviction Monday on six of seven counts of conspiracy and mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners makes her the ninth reservist to plead guilty or be convicted of crimes at Abu Ghraib. She was sentenced to three years in prison.

Pentagon officials blamed a few rogue soldiers when the pictures were published last year. But the Army has since investigated hundreds of charges of abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. More than a “few bad apples” were involved.

We now know, for example, that Abu Ghraib was not the only venue for mistreating prisoners. Men freed from custody at Guantanamo Bay have provided credible tales of abuse. Last week, Human Rights Watch released a report containing firsthand reports that members of the 82nd Airborne Division routinely tortured detainees in 2003 and early 2004 near the Iraqi city of Fallouja. Capt. Ian Fishback and two sergeants, formerly of the elite 82nd Airborne, said prisoners taken during the hard-fought siege of Fallouja were kicked and beaten, their bones broken and eyes doused with irritants. Equally disturbing, Fishback said his reports of wrongdoing were ignored by higher-ranking officers.

That refusal to act, and the conclusion of an earlier Army inquiry that top generals in Iraq were innocent of leadership lapses that allowed the Abu Ghraib crimes, argue for an independent investigation into the treatment of detainees. Congress should be demanding one, if not conducting one itself.

There are encouraging signs of congressional unease, even within the president’s own party, with the administration’s policies. Several U.S. senators who are military veterans -- including Republicans John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey O. Graham of South Carolina and John W. Warner of Virginia -- understand the damage the detainee abuse charges have caused, especially in the Muslim world.

McCain said Sunday that he and the other two senators support an amendment to a defense bill specifically requiring the military to abide by the Geneva Convention, which outlaws torture. The Bush administration has always said it supports the Geneva Convention, but it has clouded the issue with the appalling claim that the convention does not apply to some prisoners, including the “unlawful combatants” it claims are held at Guantanamo Bay.

The Geneva Convention protects U.S. military men and women when they are captured -- one reason many generals protested the administration’s original rules on the mistreatment of prisoners. There is also a more idealistic reason to oppose the administration’s lax policy on torture: It abrogates American values.

The Abu Ghraib photographs and subsequent detailing of wrongdoing by military and civilian interrogators and guards at Guantanamo and in Iraq and Afghanistan are among the most shameful chapters of this war on terror. Winning this war will require time and perseverance. Success demands clearer rules for prosecution and better training of those we ask to enforce those rules.