by TChris

The Bush administration expected Iraqis to welcome and embrace U.S. soldiers as friendly liberators. The administration had no discernable plan for the country after toppling Hussein, and it didn't consider that a caretaker government really has to be a caretaker if it wants to govern. If the U.S. doesn't accord Iraqis the fundamental human rights that we demand at home, it can't expect Iraqis to accept even temporary U.S. governance.

Physical abuse of prisoners is outrageous, but just as damaging to goodwill is the common knowledge that soldiers can arrest an Iraqi on a whim, causing him to disappear for months, detained without access to family or counsel or independent review.

Problems in the U.S.-run detention system in Iraq extended beyond physical mistreatment in prison cellblocks, involving thousands of arrests without evidence of wrongdoing and abuse of suspects starting from the moment of detention, according to former prisoners, Iraqi lawyers, human rights advocates and the International Committee for the Red Cross.

It's not a question of delays in processing people who are detained on the basis of strong evidence of wrongdoing.

In a report in February, the Red Cross stated that some military intelligence officers estimated that 70 percent to 90 percent of "the persons deprived of their liberty in Iraq had been arrested by mistake." Of the 43,000 Iraqis who have been imprisoned at some point during the occupation, only about 600 have been referred to Iraqi authorities for prosecution, according to U.S. officials.

There is a special court that hears cases against security detainees, but it's only completed 87 investigations so far. A reporter who tried to observe its proceedings was turned away. A secret court, just like Hussein had.

If the Bush administration wanted to devise a plan to alienate as many Iraqis as possible, it couldn't have done a better job. As a caretaker government, it couldn't have done much worse.