"Pride and Ego Down" refers to methods used to intimidate and break the will of recalcitrant prisoners during interrogation. In a highly controversial September 2003 memorandum authorizing the use of coercive interrogation techniques, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, then the commander of U.S. military forces in Iraq, specifically mentioned "Pride and Ego Down," which he described as "attacking or insulting the ego of a detainee, not beyond the limits that would apply to an EPW [enemy prisoner of war]." (The Sanchez memorandum also offers a pertinent note of caution: "Other nations that believe detainees are entitled to EPW protections may consider this technique inconsistent with the provisions of Geneva.")

Ten days later, the same civilian employee expanded on the first statement with a second deposition at Fort Huachuca, apparently to provide "relevant background information" about the conversation with the Abu Ghraib interrogator.

Again recounting that conversation, the civilian employee explained that they were discussing ideas about "how to get 'these detainees to talk.'" Evidently certain prisoners were believed to know "the source of the incoming mortars" fired by insurgents at Abu Ghraib, but wouldn't reveal anything.

"During the conversation I told [name redacted] about the Interrogation Rules of Engagement to ensure he knew of their existence ... I told him of a story of an interrogator using a Pride and Ego Down approach. The interrogator took a copy of a Koran and threw it on the floor and stepped on the Koran, which resulted in a detainee riot ... I never personally witnessed the above incidents but heard about them from other interrogation facility personnel."

The civilian employee goes on to talk about other methods, including the use of "barking dogs in the prison" and photographs of "what appear to be [military police] in intimidating positions with detainees." But the June 20 statement doesn't clarify the earlier reference to the Quran-desecration incident, nor does it plainly state that such methods violate U.S. and international law.

Scott Horton, the president of the International League for Human Rights, has demanded full accountability for the military and civilian authorities responsible for abuses in U.S. prison facilities abroad. He has interviewed numerous detainees and examined the civilian employee's deposition and other materials obtained by the ACLU.

"The newly released documents give us a deeper glimpse into the confusion created in Iraq when the Pentagon decided to dispense with the long-established approach mandated by the Army Field Manual and began to apply great pressure on the interrogators to get results quickly about the insurgency," he says.

"The sworn statement of one DOD civilian in which desecration of the Koran is presented as a practice under the 'Pride and Ego Down' technique is especially troubling. If this were one isolated incident involving a single mistaken soldier, it wouldn't be quite so bad. But there appear to be dozens of incidents stretching around the world -- Guantánamo, Iraq and Afghanistan. And it fits in too neatly in a palette of techniques designed to use a prisoner's religious beliefs to break him: forced grooming, use of menstrual blood, enforced nudity, use of military dogs, simulated sexual acts, acts of sexual humiliation. All of this suggests very strongly that techniques have been engineered that break the law, undermine our military effort and are at odds with our nation's ethics and traditions."

Individuals and institutions should be held accountable in proportion to their errors. Newsweek mishandled a news item and honestly accepted responsibility. The Bush administration and the Pentagon have made far worse mistakes -- and keep trying to divert responsibility. Still, there's no escaping the fact that by stupidly removing safeguards against the abuse of prisoners in the war on terror, they have done irreparable damage to the reputation of the American military and the international prestige of the United States.

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