Cover-up? Prison Abuse Scandal was Widely Reported in March

News that U.S. soldiers had been implicated and charged in the Iraqi prison abuse scandal was announced by the U.S. military and widely reported a full seven weeks ago, despite claims from Democrats and their media water-carriers of a Bush administration "cover-up" that lasted until last week.

Though Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is now on the hotseat for not telling Congress and President Bush about the mistreatment of prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib facility, the most widely read newspaper in Washington carried a detailed report on the scandal nearly two months ago.

The early and ample coverage of the story proves that the only people in official Washington who didn't know about the scandal simply didn't care enough to read the Washington Post's coverage of the military's announcement.

The Post headlined its March 21 coverage unambiguously, "U.S. Soldiers Charged in Abuse of Iraqis."

"Six U.S. soldiers were criminally charged Saturday in the abuse and mistreatment of about 20 Iraqis at a military jail west of Baghdad," the paper reported. "The charges, which include assault and sexual abuse, are among the most serious involving military detainees since the start of the war in Iraq one year ago......

"The criminal charges announced Saturday resulted from an investigation into abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison ordered by [Gen. Ricardo] Sanchez on Jan. 14.

"The sprawling compound," the Post continued, "which was the most notorious prison in Iraq during the regime of Saddam Hussein, holds about 1,425 of the roughly 9,500 Iraqis confined by the U.S. military. Human rights advocates have complained about harsh treatment of the detainees, who are suspected of supporting terrorism or insurgency.

"In January, Sanchez put 17 members of a military police unit at Abu Ghraib on paid leave pending separate criminal and administrative investigations. The soldiers, who included the six charged on Saturday, were given different assignments but remained in Iraq.

"The criminal charges are conspiracy, dereliction of duty, cruelty and maltreatment, assault and indecent acts with another, the military's term for sexual abuse," the Post said.

The announcement covered by the Post and dozens of other media outlets came from the military's own March 20 press briefing on the episode.

A transcript can still be found on the web site of the Coalition Provisional Authority at: http://www.cpa-iraq.org/transcripts/20040320_Mar20_KimmittSenor.html

Editor's note: