Let Rumsfeld set the example

At precisely a time when the occupation of Iraq has been turning more bloody and troublesome, President Bush's lofty crusade for freedom and democracy in Iraq, and, indeed, the whole Middle East, is being sabotaged by graphic photos from Saddam Hussein's old torture chambers at Abu Ghraib prison. The surfacing of snapshots of shocking abuses suffered by prisoners at the hands of US captors is delivering a devastating blow to America's dwindling image as a moral force.

Global airwaves are full of condemnations that the US-led force that went into Iraq to free its people of the barbarities of Saddam is now guilty of the same kinds of brutalities - in, no less, the same place.

Yes, it's true that many of the harshest critics are Middle East pundits or politicians whose prisons make Abu Ghraib look like the Hilton. But the shock of those infamous photos has rocked people all over the world.

It turns out that a US military report written in February by Major General Antonio M. Taguba told of them. The international committee of the Red Cross had also repeatedly complained to top administration officials about "widespread" abuses since March 2003, describing some of the interrogation methods as "tantamount to torture". These complaints were ignored for months, apparently because military intelligence wanted more leeway to question prisoners.

The Abu Ghraib prison scandal has smashed into America's Mideast policy with the force of a car bomb. This scandal can't be dismissed as the work of a few rotten apples or "an aberration", as claimed by General Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The responsibility clearly rests with the senior officers, who obliged or allowed military guards without proper training to interrogate prisoners for information with methods opposed by human rights guidelines.

The result is a scandal that appreciably adds to the picture of the wheels coming off the steamroller of President Bush's war. April was the worst month for American deaths in Iraq since the war began. With a fumbled move to put a former Iraqi Republican Guard general in charge of a new brigade in embattled Fallujah, with the President's impetuous support of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza withdrawal plan, and with this public relations fiasco over prisoner abuse, what else can go wrong?

Before the war, there were no known al-Qaeda agents under Saddam's control but now hundreds of jihadis have infiltrated Iraq to fight US forces. Radical Islam, which was repressed under Saddam, has grown roots inside Iraq. Al-Qaeda offshoots have spread around the globe, setting off bombs in Bali, Casablanca, Istanbul, Riyadh and Madrid and recently have been thwarted from setting off huge bombs in Manila, London, Amman and, again, Riyadh.

The fight against jihadis would have been a long struggle even without the Iraq war. But the Bush administration's bungling of post-war planning has made the struggle far more difficult.

Arab satellite channels beam constant scenes of Iraq chaos, such as civilian casualties in Fallujah. Arab TV shots of Iraq are inevitably paired with shots of Israeli military incursions into Gaza.

Last week, a sobering article appeared in the New York Times about the startling increase of militant Muslim groups in Europe. It contained this quote from a European anti-terrorism official: "Iraq dramatically strengthened their recruitment efforts". Some European mosques now display photos of American soldiers fighting in Iraq alongside photos of bombed-out Iraqi neighbourhoods. No doubt, those mosque galleries have now added the notorious snapshots from Abu Ghraib.

The Abu Ghraib scandal feeds the suspicions of every Arab who believes America has dark designs on the region, and makes a mockery of talk about democracy. The impact might not be quite so stunning if America's Arab allies weren't already reeling from President Bush's endorsement of Israel's right to retain many West Bank settlements. Or if the Abu Ghraib photos had not shown a kind of sexual humiliation that is particularly shameful in Arab culture.

Was anyone paying attention? Not Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who famously disparaged the Geneva Conventions when it came to the Guantanamo Bay detention centre. Yes, it's true - as he said in the Senate hearings - that interrogators need information from prisoners in order to prevent attacks on Iraqis or US soldiers. But the prisoners in Abu Ghraib are not Taliban seized from the battlefield. Many were innocent bystanders rounded up in sweeps. Mr Rumsfeld said they are officially entitled to protection under the Geneva Conventions. Yet, they languished for months without charges or visitors - just like the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

How can the United States claim to be promoting democracy in Iraq if it ignores the basic rules of due process when it comes to Iraqi prisoners? What lessons does Mr Rumsfeld think this imparts to Iraqis?

Mr Rumsfeld notes that military investigations are under way and he rightly praises Joseph M. Darby, the soldier whose January protest triggered the inquiries. But the mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib represents a systemic failure not some aberration of a few perverted reservists. If Mr Rumsfeld didn't know about it earlier, he should have. Plenty of information was out there. Clearly, prisoner maltreatment wasn't high on his priority list. Now, allegations of torture in Afghanistan are also surfacing.

"I am accountable," Mr Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee at hearings on the scandal. "I take full responsibility." By that standard, he should certainly resign. Someone at the top must take responsibility for this blot on the honour of America. At the hearings, Mr Rumsfeld urged the world to "judge us by our actions" and to "watch how a democracy deals with the wrongdoing... and the pain of... correcting our own mistakes". Then let him set an example.

Yet, by telling Mr Rumsfeld at the Pentagon: "You are doing a superb job," Mr Bush stuck a thumb in the eye of anyone who is trying to make an honest appraisal of what went so terribly wrong at Abu Ghraib.

Looking ahead, there can be no confidence that Mr Rumsfeld can repair the damage of Abu Ghraib or put American policy in Iraq on a productive track. The Pentagon's lack of planning for the post-war period - for which blame lies at the feet of his top lieutenants, Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith - has led to the current chaos.

The list of errors could go on.