Editorial: Iraq has become America's shame

Words," a senior State Department official observed this week, "cannot argue with photos." It was his way of saying that pictures of naked Iraqi prisoners being humiliated and abused by American soldiers had dented severely, perhaps irretrievably, the United States' reputation, especially in the Muslim world.

For all that President George W. Bush might condemn the mistreatment and vow that those responsible will be punished, the damage has been done. For all that the White House might maintain that these were isolated incidents, the credibility of the US lies in tatters. And rightly so, given the indignities perpetrated on the inmates of the Abu Ghraib prison - and the mounting indication that the abuse was far from isolated.

The Red Cross has intimated as much by revealing it has repeatedly urged the US to take "corrective action" at the jail. Its statement carries particular weight. The Red Cross airs its views only rarely; when it does, an acute frustration over American shortcomings and inactivity can be taken as read. Equally critical has been Amnesty International, which says it has "received frequent reports of torture or ill-treatment by coalition forces during the past year".

The American troops who carried out these outrages have, in time-honoured tradition, claimed they were merely "following orders". That, in itself, suggests the abuse was not isolated. It also points to US military intelligence stooping to a form of mental torture designed to have the maximum impact in a patriachal society such as Iraq.

Nothing could be calculated to humiliate Arab men more than sexual degradation in full view of grinning female soldiers. Effectively, their manhood was being stripped away. Indeed, given Arab sensibilities, a woman should probably never have been appointed to control the Abu Ghraib prison.

Such sadism is, of course, strictly prohibited by international humanitarian law. Yet September 11 appears to have convinced some in the Bush Administration that niceties need no longer apply. To them, the magnitude of al Qaeda's assault made the old rules redundant. Thus hundreds of "detainees" are being held in Iraq, Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay under special "enemy combatant" status, denying them the formal rights of prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention.

Additionally, the White House made it clear in the wake of the Twin Towers outrage that it saw no need to account to either friend or foe for its behaviour. There needed be no giant leap for that bankrupt attitude to find its way down to those who policed the Abu Ghraib prison.

Even now, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is in no mood for making explanations, or for paying heed to Arab sensitivities. Asked early this week whether President Bush should officially apologise - a gesture that would carry weight in Arab societies - he responded: "I haven't focused on the war of ideas, to be honest with you." Yet once the war for hearts and minds is lost, a prospect rendered many times more likely by the pictures from Baghdad, there is little chance of rebuilding Iraq in the American image.

Such blundering has become the hallmark of the US-led occupation. Militarily, it reached its zenith with the siege of Fallujah. That planned demonstration of might succeeded only in illustrating the limitations of American military power. The outcome has fortified popular resistance to an increasingly detested foreign presence.

Battlefield setbacks can be recovered. But the pictures from Abu Ghraib are a different proposition. They make a mockery of all the US preaches. Muslims throughout the world are incensed, so much so that it is difficult to see how the damage can be minimised. The court-martialling of a few of the culprits will cut little ice. Perhaps America's only ally is time - and that is in short supply if anything is to be salvaged from the desolation of Iraq.

Herald Feature: Iraq