Iraq: The Scandal's Growing Stain

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Nothing the Bush Administration said or did could contain the damage. The President, who says he first learned of the existence of the photographs when they were aired two weeks ago on CBS's 60 Minutes II, went on Arab television to proclaim the abusive treatment "abhorrent" behavior that "does not represent the America that I know." His words weren't enough to dent the outrage of Muslims who wondered why he failed to apologize. A day later Bush finally said he was sorry, but America's image in much of the Arab world may well be irredeemable. U.S. officials tried to portray the sordid scenes as the isolated acts of a few low-ranking soldiers who were violating U.S. policy. The military, they pointed out, has already rooted out the offenders and is disciplining them. "Please don't for a moment think that's the entire U.S. military, because it's not," said Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, spokesman for coalition forces in Iraq.

But the horror stories keep coming. An Army investigation of conditions at Abu Ghraib concluded that prison guards had carried out "numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant and wanton abuse" for months. The Army is investigating reports of crimes committed at other detention facilities in Iraq. Testifying before the Senate last Friday, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said the Pentagon has obtained more photos and video footage that show U.S. troops engaged in even worse behavior. "We're not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience," Senator Lindsey Graham said. "We're talking about rape and murder and some very serious charges." A senior Pentagon official tells TIME that the Pentagon is considering the possibility of showing the unseen material to members of Congress.

The scandal has metastasized into a full-blown political crisis as Washington tries to figure out who to blame. The seven reservists involved in the photographed abuses have been charged with conspiracy, maltreatment and indecent acts, and six additional soldiers up the chain of command have been severely reprimanded and one was admonished. But many are looking for accountability higher up. Rumsfeld took most of the fire after the White House put out word he had been chastised by Bush for not reporting how bad the allegations were or warning that the photos were about to break on 60 Minutes II. Called on the carpet by furious members of Congress, Rumsfeld conceded, "I failed to identify the catastrophic damage that the allegations of abuse could do to our operations in the theater, to the safety of our troops in the field, to the cause to which we are committed."