Editorial: Wanted - Realism in Iraq

[Kadie]

Editorial: Wanted - Realism in Iraq
Abu Ghraib abuses reveal deep problems

Published 2:15 am PDT Thursday, May 6, 2004
The harm caused by the debacle at Al Ghraib prison west of Baghdad is so massive it's difficult to imagine how the United States can recover.

Despite problems of credibility with Iraqis, Middle Easterners, European allies and the rest of the world, the one thing Americans had going for them was that the brutality of Saddam Hussein was gone - to be replaced by a U.S. commitment to freedom and human rights for Iraqis. Now even that commitment is under question as graphic photographs and videos show American soldiers posing triumphantly while abusing Iraqi prisoners.

The use of the Abu Ghraib prison by American occupying forces in itself shows a stunning lack of sensitivity and common sense. As the site where tens of thousands of Iraqis were tortured and killed during the Saddam era, Abu Ghraib should be the last place for Americans to hold and interrogate Iraqi men, women and teenagers. Now that American abuse at Abu Ghraib has been revealed, the Pentagon has decided to "sharply reduce" the number of prisoners. That prison should be closed.

But events at Abu Ghraib are symptomatic of much larger problems with the U.S. occupation of Iraq and should cause major rethinking.

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http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/9195281p-10120605c.html