Abu Ghraib II: The Medical Files

Time Magazine claims to have the scoop on another dimension of the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. First, were the sins of commission - the active humiliation and torture that went on there. Now, they are talking about sins of omission - a perhaps criminal lack of proper medical attention for prisoners there.

As uncovered by legal scholars M. Gregg Bloche and Jonathan Marks, who conducted an inquiry published by the New England Journal of Medicine, not only were some military doctors at Abu Ghraib enlisted to help inflict distress on the prisoners, but also the scarcity of basic medical care was at times so severe that it created another kind of torture. Medical personnel and others who worked at the prison tell TIME that, with straitjackets unavailable, tethers--like the leash on Gus--were put to use at Abu Ghraib to control unruly or mentally disturbed detainees, sometimes with the concurrence of a doctor...Although the prison was at times crowded with as many as 7,000 detainees, no U.S. doctor was in residence for most of 2003. Military officials say a few Iraqi doctors saw to minor illnesses but not major traumas. In a statement obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union, an Army medic based at Abu Ghraib spoke of examining from 800 to 900 detainees daily as they were admitted. If he worked a 12-hour day, that gave him less than a minute for each exam.

Taking prisoners implies the obligation to provide for them a minimum level of care - no doubt about that. But I have to be honest. This seems as much like an attempt to recycle an old scandal in the light of the recent good news out of the Iraqi elections. We need to keep an eye on this one to see where it goes. But I suspect this one is more of a rehash than a scoop.