The underlying theme in much that was written after 9/11 was that the world hated the American government but loved its people. The horror of the prisoner abuse at Abu-Ghraib prison in Iraq decimates that sentiment, for the perpetrators of those heinous crimes is not the American government but its people. Your average Joe you may say, or even more revolting, your average Jane, for the most disgusting picture shows an American woman posing with naked prisoners, an ear-to-ear grin plastered on her damned face.

It did not take long for Bush’s veneer to wear thin, for there were no WMDs and the invasion of Iraq had been carefully planned long before its execution. The great Americans were there to export democracy and due process and the Iraqi people would rejoice at being liberated from the torturous yoke of Saddam. Funny but it’s not turning out that way at all.

Whilst the photos of the de-humanizing of Iraqi prisoners sent waves of revulsion across the world, us poor Americans had to cope with seeing Brigadier General Janis Karpinski’s sardonic grin calmly repeating that the blame for all this had been “ill placed and misdirected”. How did she find it in herself to even appear on national television, should actually drown herself several times over. Calls to my mind that great Persian adage “ justifying a sin is worse than the sin itself”.

America is the nation perpetually on the lookout for loopholes. Not just to save some dollars on the tax return, but to use the last and the lamest excuse for getting out of a situation. Rationalizations, ands and buts muddy the concept of due process. Sometimes an unconditional apology is all that is needed. This is one such time and it should issue from the Commander-in-Chief. Bush could not bring himself to apologize though, delegated it to his chief of prisons in Iraq to do. People don’t remember variations on the theme of “do unto others as you would have others do unto you”; a straight sorry would sit better. (The piece was written before President Bush issued his apology. The President’s apology finds mention in the editorial note above. - Editor)

Not only has the damage been done, it is incalculable. In almost an ironic way it exposes America’s hegemonic intent like nothing else could. The lawyers of the perpetrators of the sexual abuse state that they were just following orders. Guy Womack, attorney for Charles Graner said, “The campaign was being coordinated by governmental agencies including the CIA”.

The soldiers say that they have never been given a copy of the Geneva Convention. The armed forces of the only super-power of the world does not teach its soldiers something as basic as the treatment of prisoners? Should that not be Marine Academy 101?

There are some deeply shocking elements in this fiasco. One is that the Pentagon knew of it and was fiddling about with it for months and only after it found out that the media was going to release it that they jumped up and ordered an inquiry. Rumsfeld is quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the “US military authorities have pursued the allegations of abuse at Abu-Ghraib prison since January 14 one day after a soldier brought the matter to a commander’s attention” This is May though. Perhaps the wheels of government move at their own retarded pace even if it is an earth-shattering event.

And insult to injury, “reprimands” have been issued to the perpetrators. Should not swift criminal charges be filed? Another is that some depraved soul photographed all this; God knows how rampant it is, for abuse when there is no fear of accountability, acquires horrific proportions. And reports are surfacing that this treatment of prisoners is widespread and is occurring in Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and the naval brig in South Carolina where terror suspects are held.

In Baghdad, Iraq’s US appointed human rights minister Abdul Basat-al-Turki, resigned in protest not just because he believes in human rights but also because “these methods in the prisons mean that the violations are a common act”. Good extrapolation.

The American public probably is entirely unaware of the justification that the US uses of holding prisoners in Guantanamo Bay without charge, access to lawyers and again insult to injury, in appalling conditions. The technicality that is used is that the prisoners are not held on sovereign US territory and therefore have no rights as prisoners of war. The fact is that Guantanamo Bay was leased from Cuba and the US has full and firm control over all that goes on there. And to think that this nation prides itself on justice being its veritable foundation.

The New York Times wrote an editorial about the fiasco of James Lee the Muslim chaplain in Guantanamo Bay and how his treatment by the government was blatantly based on its antipathy for his religion. Charges of conspiracy and sedition were trumped up and after holding him in solitary confinement in a brig for nine months he was released with some vague charges of possessing pornography and possibly engaging in adultery.

But even the New York Times did not report the accounts of the British-Muslim prisoners released from Guantanamo Bay. The cages that the prisoners are held in, the blackish water (“looked like Coke”) that the prisoners get, the excuse for food given to them, the deprivation of water for ablution, the Mills and Boone romance novels as sole reading material, the constant bright lights, sleep deprivation, disrespect for the Qur’an and being sent to solitary confinement for saying the smallest of things. Limb infections in prisoners are not treated appropriately and later amputations are performed much higher than necessary.

In tune with the sexual preoccupation of the US armed forces is the bringing of prostitutes to the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. Many of the prisoners are men that have seen women either in hijab or very modestly attired. And here are naked women posing and enticing them. And as reported by the British Daily Mirror, the young prisoner that was not enamored and appropriately cooperative was punished with the smearing of menstrual blood on his face.

In Iraq the hooding of prisoners, the standing for days, beatings, the electric currents through bodies and now the sexual abuse are all beyond deplorable. But they seemed to be trailers to the real thing. At the time of this writing the army has come up with 25 cases of death in the prisons of Iraq and Afghanistan that need investigation, out of which two seem to have been murders by the US army. One murder was by a soldier who shot a man who was throwing stones at him and he was convicted of using excessive force and was thrown out of the army but served no jail time. The other murder was committed by one of the contractors who worked for the CIA. It seems that they may just have scratched the surface of a practice that has been condoned by US high command, or dealt with by a slap on the wrist.

Rumsfeld has rejected the suggestion that the Bush administration’s justification for invading Iraq - to remove a ruthless government that tortured its own people - had been undermined by the behavior of US soldiers responsible for detention facilities. “The pattern and practice of the Saddam Hussein regime was to murder and torture, and the killing fields are filled with mass graves. And equating the two, I think, is a fundamental misunderstanding of what took place” at Abu Ghraib, Rumsfeld said. No, Mr. Defense Secretary, the fundamental misunderstanding is yours; Saddam was a psychotic despot and torture and murder is expected from power that is partnered with psychosis. What is our justification? How does a country governed by the executive, the legislative and the judiciary rationalize the invasion, occupation and dehumanizing of a nation under the pathetic pretext of liberating them from his despotism?

“I’m proud to be an American for at least I know I’m free….” And there was a time that I did feel proud to be the citizen of a nation that even practiced justice, defended freedom and catalyzed the pursuit of happiness. But I feel abased now with a very convoluted mix of anger, revulsion, disbelief and a deep sadness.

Rumsfeld condemned the abuse of Iraqi prisoners as “totally unacceptable and un-American”. Really?

(Mahjabeen Islam is a physician practicing in Toledo Ohio. Her email address is mahjabeenislam@hotmail.com)