Torture pics hurt US credibility

WASHINGTON – Shocking photographs of Iraqi prisoners naked, hooded and humiliated, taken as trophies by United States forces holding them and shown via news outlets around the world, have damaged US credibility and may pose political problems for the Bush administration, analysts have said.

“I’m afraid that this is, in a sense, the last nail in the coffin in the raft of arguments for the Iraq war,” said Rashid Khalidi, director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University. “We started with nuclear weapons, then democratisation, then de-Baathification, then to stopping torture and really, in the matter of a few months, every one of these has fallen away.”The United States looks increasingly foolish,” he said.But Robert Leiber, professor of government and foreign service at Georgetown University said that he hoped the abuse by US forces would be kept in perspective.”The photographs and, more importantly, the acts themselves are harmful to the cause of helping the Iraqis form a stable and democratic country,” Leiber said, but he noted that such treatment is contrary to US policy.”We must keep in mind that, although this has been an ugly business, it pales in comparison to what Saddam (Hussein) did to his own people over 30 years,” he said.”This is vastly different than Saddam’s murder of millions of his own people, including “feeding people into plastic shredders and torturing children in front of their parents.”US and international media last week showed pictures of Iraqi prisoners being mistreated at Abu Gharib, a prison outside Baghdad where former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime tortured and executed opponents.One photograph showed a prisoner standing on a box with a hood over his head and wires attached to his hands.CBS news, which first showed the pictures, said he had been told he would be electrocuted if he fell off.Other pictures showed nude prisoners stacked on each other and simulating sex acts as smiling US troops pointed and laughed.Khalidi said US credibility had already been damaged with the invasion and occupation of Iraq and that the scandal about prison mistreatment was just “sort of icing on the cake.””I think the United States is less respected at the end of these 13 months than it has ever been,” he said.”Never has a country with such unlimited power been so pitifully unable to affect outcomes.Ruthless, murderous terrorists can strike at will in the United States and the US can’t take Fallujah?” The mistreatment earned sharp responses from US officials, with Secretary of State Colin Powell Monday calling them “despicable acts,” that do not “reflect on all of our troops.”On Friday, President George Bush said he shared “a deep disgust that those prisoners were treated the way they were treated.””Their treatment does not reflect the nature of the American people,” he said.”That’s not the way we do things in America.There will be an investigation and they’ll be taken care of.”But on Sunday, Senator Joe Biden, the senior democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee called for a stronger response.”Everybody understands the phenomenal damage this accusation has caused in that part of the world,” he said.He urged a “much higher profile, in terms of the indignation, anger, and an explanation of the process that’s under way,” in order to temper the “rage” sparked by international media coverage.Khalidi said there may be domestic political consequences for such abuses under Bush’s watch.- Nampa-AFP”We started with nuclear weapons, then democratisation, then de-Baathification, then to stopping torture and really, in the matter of a few months, every one of these has fallen away.”The United States looks increasingly foolish,” he said.But Robert Leiber, professor of government and foreign service at Georgetown University said that he hoped the abuse by US forces would be kept in perspective.”The photographs and, more importantly, the acts themselves are harmful to the cause of helping the Iraqis form a stable and democratic country,” Leiber said, but he noted that such treatment is contrary to US policy.”We must keep in mind that, although this has been an ugly business, it pales in comparison to what Saddam (Hussein) did to his own people over 30 years,” he said.”This is vastly different than Saddam’s murder of millions of his own people, including “feeding people into plastic shredders and torturing children in front of their parents.”US and international media last week showed pictures of Iraqi prisoners being mistreated at Abu Gharib, a prison outside Baghdad where former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime tortured and executed opponents.One photograph showed a prisoner standing on a box with a hood over his head and wires attached to his hands.CBS news, which first showed the pictures, said he had been told he would be electrocuted if he fell off.Other pictures showed nude prisoners stacked on each other and simulating sex acts as smiling US troops pointed and laughed.Khalidi said US credibility had already been damaged with the invasion and occupation of Iraq and that the scandal about prison mistreatment was just “sort of icing on the cake.””I think the United States is less respected at the end of these 13 months than it has ever been,” he said.”Never has a country with such unlimited power been so pitifully unable to affect outcomes.Ruthless, murderous terrorists can strike at will in the United States and the US can’t take Fallujah?” The mistreatment earned sharp responses from US officials, with Secretary of State Colin Powell Monday calling them “despicable acts,” that do not “reflect on all of our troops.”On Friday, President George Bush said he shared “a deep disgust that those prisoners were treated the way they were treated.””Their treatment does not reflect the nature of the American people,” he said.”That’s not the way we do things in America.There will be an investigation and they’ll be taken care of.”But on Sunday, Senator Joe Biden, the senior democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee called for a stronger response.”Everybody understands the phenomenal damage this accusation has caused in that part of the world,” he said.He urged a “much higher profile, in terms of the indignation, anger, and an explanation of the process that’s under way,” in order to temper the “rage” sparked by international media coverage.Khalidi said there may be domestic political consequences for such abuses under Bush’s watch.- Nampa-AFP