The pictures of the abused prisoners demonstrate demeaning and uncivilised scenes. The images seem to give sadistic pleasure to the smirking US male and female soldiers in the suffering of Iraqi prisoners of war. It reminds of images of prisoners under Nero regime in Rome. On May 7th, the Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, while testifying before the US Armed Services Committee, said : "There are other photos that depict incidents of physical violence toward prisoners, acts that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhuman."

Abuses on Iraqi prisoners of war
The torture and gross abuses were divulged on May 3rd by Seymour Hersh for the New Yorker Magazine. (The same man broke the news of My Lai massacre in March 1968 in Vietnam where 347 unarmed Vietnamese, mostly women and children were killed). Images of atrocity of prisoners were shown on the CBS 60 Minutes II programme. On May 6th, a new batch of photographs by the Washington Post included more graphic images of apparent Iraqi prisoners. It is further reported that Pentagon has about 60 photographs from Abu Ghraib jail depicting abuse more violent than already revealed.

In Iraqi culture, the most humiliating is to be naked in presence of others and in particular, in presence of women. Hyder Sabbar (36, married with five children), one of the Iraqis abused by US troops, revealed to the media that "after about two hours of beatings and writing on the detainees' bodies with marking pens, the soldiers forced the Iraqis to pile, naked and hooded, on top of each other in human pyramids."

A picture shows a woman US soldier, grinning cockily at the camera, a cigarette dangling from her mouth, as she points in mockery at a group of naked Iraqi prisoners. The Washington Post's picture again shows the same female soldier holding the leash wrapped around the prisoner's neck and dragging him like a dog (dog in Iraqi culture is one of the vilest creatures on the earth).

Some other graphic details of abuse have been reported in the media. One Iraqi teenage boy was allegedly raped and photograph was taken. A 24-year old Iraqi prisoner said that the US interrogator pulled his hair and peeled back his eye lids saying: "Do not ever imagine you will manage to get out of this; forget about your Jazeera; forget your future." Another incident involved a man and his son. They were both hooded and they were stripped naked and after that they were allowed to see each other. Then the son was given female underwear. Another incident was that a prisoner's head was bashed against a wall until he fell unconscious. The prisoners are now telling their grim stories to the media.

Similar abuses occurred in Basra under the British troops. On May 5th, 14 Iraqi families lodged a legal suit for compensation in the High Court in London for unlawful deaths of their relatives at the hands of the British troops. London's Daily Mirror stood by the truth of the pictures and the story, although attempt was made to doubt the images by Ministry of Defence. The newspaper stated that it received the photos from two soldiers in the Queen's Lancashire Regiment who witnessed an eight-hour beating and torture session of the unidentified Iraqi. Tony Blair's high moral ground for going to war seems to have been severely tarnished.

One fact that needs to be noted that credit must go to a section of media, both in the US and Britain, to expose the abuse with vivid photographs so that the authorities may not be able to cover up the atrocities. Credit also should be extended to the US reservist in the 327 Military Police Company, reportedly named as John Darby, who with a sworn statement first sounded the alarm on abuse of Iraqi prisoners in Baghdad. Darby's family spokesman said to media that : "I'm sure he wrestled with himself and decided to take the high road."

Abuses are reportedly widespread
Reports suggest that the abuse and torture are not isolated incidents. They are reportedly widespread and systematic to "soften" the prisoners. It seems that they were the norms, and not isolated incidents. These abuses do not seem to be aberration given the reports in the media within the US. It is reported that two prisoners were murdered, one for throwing rocks at a US soldier. The two incidents were among 10 deaths in US military custody in Iraq investigated since December 2002.

It has now been revealed that contractors were hired from the US to interrogate Iraqi prisoners to save costs. No one knew that contractors were used by the US military to do this kind of sensitive tasks that ordinary falls within the duties of military personnel. The perpetrators reportedly told the media that they were told by the military intelligence unit to adopt these abusive tactics to extricate confessions from Iraqi prisoners.

The Geneva-based International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) representative, Antonelle Notari told the BBC on May 6th that ICRC reported these abuses more than six months ago to the US authorities for corrective action. The ICRC's report, reportedly leaked to the Wall Street Journal, says the ill-treatment of Iraqi prisoners went beyond exceptional cases -- it was a practice widely tolerated. Amnesty International also cried foul of the treatment of Iraqi prisoners from day one of the US occupation.

Gross contravention of international law
The Defence Secretary in the TV interview on May 5th attempted to clumsily defend that these abuses were not "torture" under the definition of the 1984 UN Convention against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Under Article 1 of the 1984 Convention, Torture has been defined as "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or confession." If these pictures of abuses were not considered as "torture" what kind of abuses would amount to "torture" is indeed mystifying. The ICRC in its report indicated that in some cases the abuses were "tantamount to torture."

The US and Britain are signatories to the UN Convention on Torture and is well aware of the prohibitions involved under the Convention. Rumsfeld's explanation not to consider these abuses as torture or cruel degrading treatment within the definition of the Convention is strange, to say the least. Furthermore, these abuses are in gross contravention of the 1949 Geneva Convention for Occupying Powers.

Trial in US: A problem
The commanders and the US soldiers have committed "war crimes" under international law. Since the Bush administration has withdrawn from The Hague-based International Criminal Court, the suspected US troops and commanders will not face trial by international judges. Although the suspected US soldiers and commanders may face trial in the US under the military court system, the potential problem is that the President, as Commander-in-Chief and the Defence Secretary, may end up reviewing the charges against them. As a result, some lawyers suspect that many of them may not finally be charged.

Damage control actions
The Bush administration scrambled to try to stem the erosion of US credibility caused by the abuse of prisoners and to limit any further political damage to President Bush. All the high officials are now put on high gear for damage control.

On May 5th, media-shy President Bush had to appear on Arabic TV to quell the rage among Arabs. He did not apologise but said the picture were "abhorrent" and "do not represent America that I know." The President missed an opportunity by not apologising during the interview to repair the damage in the Arab World. A former Jordanian Foreign Minister, Jawad al-Anani, reportedly said: "This is not going to wash with the Arab audience. It's a good gesture but he should have publicly apologised." However, on May 6th, the President said "sorry" to King Abdullah of Jordan when they met in Washington

Rumsfeld said to the Senate Armed Services Committee that he became aware of the abuses "about 13-14 January." He apologised to Iraqi prisoners mistreated by US troops. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice told Arabiya TV that the US was "deeply sorry" for the abuses. The US Major-General Geoffrey Miller, presently in charge of the Abu Ghraib prison, personally apologised for the abuse of the soldiers.

Suspected culprits are still in office
Despite all the apologies from the highest political office, it is intriguing to learn from reports that Colonel Thomas Papas, the head of the military intelligence unit in Baghdad allegedly responsible for the abuses, is still in the job, although he was reprimanded by the Pentagon. The private defence contractor who worked as an interrogator with the intelligence at the Abu Ghraib prison, Steven Stephanowicz, has not been removed from the job. Furthermore, the company CACI which appointed Stephanowicz has reportedly won more contracts with the Pentagon including one worth US$ 600 million. All these facts raise doubt about any swift action on the high ladder of the troops, although a few at the bottom ladder have been charged for the abuse.

The continuation of the suspected culprits demonstrates "business as usual" in Iraq and a palpable gap between action and words of the administration.

Who is accountable?
Rumsfeld visited Iraq at least twice. It is surprising that he did not know of the abuse that was taking place in the Abu Ghraib prison. Even more surprising is that Rumsfeld and Myers failed to realise the incalculable adverse impact of the abuses on Iraqi people and on the stated US mission in that country. They failed to recall that that the Bush administration argued that the purpose of waging a war in Iraq was to liberate Iraqis from the tyrannical rule of Saddam Hussein. These pictures show exactly the opposite of the stated purpose of the US.

Reports indicate that Washington is abuzz with questions on "who knew what and when." The US high command including the Defence Secretary admitted at the hearing that he knew of the gross abuses in January and a report of internal military investigations carried out by Major-General Antonio Taguba was submitted a 53-page report to the Defence Secretary Rumsfeld and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers. They did not even bother to read the report until the pictures were shown on TV in the US. Rumsfeld provided a strange excuse not to read the report as he complained to Matt Lauer that the report is "awfully thick." Their attitude seems to be that these things occur in war and could be either kept secret or sidelined.

The President said in the interview at the Arabic channel that first time "I saw or heard about pictures was on TV." At the Senate hearing, Rumsfeld acknowledged that "I failed to recognise how important it was to elevate a matter of such gravity to the highest levels, including to the President and members of the Congress."

Now Washington insiders are asking how high the blame will reach. With outrage growing over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, accountability is the key issue. There are noises that the Defence Secretary Rumsfeld should resign. However, Rumsfeld said at the Senate hearing that "Needless to say, if I thought I could not be effective, I would resign in a minute." The President has said his Defence Secretary is an important part of the Cabinet and will remain in his post.

Some observers believe that it would be a wise gesture for Rumsfeld to resign after he took responsibility for the absolute mess. He is one of the neo-conservatives who has masterminded the Iraqi war. Another fact is noted that hawkish Republican and President's mentor, Vice-President Dick Cheney, did not conspicuously say a single word until the time of writing. Why does he keep silent? He is the one who reportedly was the driving force in persuading malleable President Bush to go to war in Iraq.

Mid-level military officers implicated in the case are accusing superiors of trying to avoid responsibility. A Democrat Senator Robert Byrd, a member of the armed services committee said: "It is not clear at this point who should be held to account. No one has stepped forward to take responsibility for the conditions in Iraqi prisons. Instead, fingers are being pointed in every direction. With whom does this buck stop?"

Conclusion
Many Arab observers believe that the statements from the US leaders and commanders are too little and too late. The pictures raise many questions about how the US-British strategy is being applied in Iraq. Many Arabs believe that Washington preaches a contradiction, calling for freedom from tyranny but on the other hand, abuses and tortures Iraqi prisoners.

The political cost for the Bush administration both in the US and abroad is enormous and some say this stain will take decades to wipe it out from the memory of Arabs. Furthermore war on global terror seems to have been seriously compromised by the Bush administration by being complacent to the atrocity of Iraqi prisoners.

The images are likely to strengthen the view of many in the Arab and Muslim world that US and Britain's real agenda in Iraq is humiliation of Arabs. Some even say Osama Bin Laden must be laughing in his hiding place somewhere in Afghanistan because he does not need to do anything now because spontaneous anger and humiliation among Arabs due to images of Iraqi prisoners may likely induce many of them to join Al-Quaeda network that will continue and spread further.

Barrister Harun ur Rashid is a former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.