Transparency At The Times
We've all seen the picture, the one of a hooded figure balanced atop a box, electrical wires running from its hands which became a symbol of the Abu Ghraib torture scandal. Now, meet the controversy over the identity of the man in the picture. On Saturday's front page, the New York Times reported this:
Almost two years later, Ali Shalal Qaissi's wounds are still raw. There is the mangled hand, an old injury that became infected by the shackles chafing his skin. There is the slight limp, made worse by days tied in uncomfortable positions. And most of all, there are the nightmares of his nearly six-month ordeal at Abu Ghraib prison in 2003 and 2004.Mr. Qaissi claims to be the man in that photograph, even to the extent of including the image on his business cards and the story presents some evidence that supports his claim even while the U.S. military in Iraq refused to comment on the subject. But questions about the story have been raised by Salon, which reports:Mr. Qaissi, 43, was prisoner 151716 of Cellblock 1A. The picture of him standing hooded atop a cardboard box, attached to electrical wires with his arms stretched wide in an eerily prophetic pose, became the indelible symbol of the torture at Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad.
Army documents obtained by Salon contradict the Times' account. An official report by the Army's Criminal Investigation Command (CID) concluded that the photo the Times said showed Qaissi actually showed another detainee, named Saad, whose full name is being withheld by Salon to protect his identity. According to the official report, this second detainee was nicknamed "Gilligan" by military police at Abu Ghraib.In the past, this is where the story itself may have become overshadowed by yet another journalistic misstep, where The Times may have failed to address the criticism or stubbornly stood by its reporting. But in an encouraging sign, the paper reports today that it will "carefully investigate" the issue:
Susan Chira, foreign editor of The Times, said: "We take questions about our reporting very seriously, and we will carefully investigate Salon's findings. We attempted to verify the claims of Mr. Qaissi thoroughly. We spoke with representatives of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, who had interviewed Mr. Qaissi and believed him to be the man in the photographs."The Times acknowledges that the CID was not interviewed in the reporting of the story and quotes the unit's spokesman saying: ""We have had several detainees claim they were the person depicted in the photograph in question. Our investigation indicates that the person you have is not the detainee who was depicted in the photograph released in connection with the Abu Ghraib investigation." And the paper described its reporting trail for the original story:
Amnesty International showed The Times evidence documenting that Mr. Qaissi was incarcerated at Abu Ghraib during the time the photographs were taken. The Times also spoke with his lawyers, who said they had the blanket that had draped him, as shown in the photograph. The Times contacted the military, which said the Geneva Conventions prevented it from commenting about the identity of anyone in a photograph. The Times did not contact the Criminal Investigation Command in the process of reporting the article.There are potential flaws in just about every story, especially one as hard as this is to truly verify. But The Times, which has taken so much criticism for journalistic failings in recent years, should be given credit for the way in which they've chosen to handle this story. When legitimate questions were raised, they didn't run and hide, they didn't try to debunk the concerns, they explained what they relied on for the story and allowed that it might well be flawed. That's a solid step forward.Mr. Qaissi, asked by The Times last night about the challenge to his identity, insisted that he was the man in the photograph. Salon says the hooded man identified in the Criminal Investigation Command documents is another prisoner. Asked about this, Mr. Qaissi said he knew that former prisoner and believed that he was also photographed in that position. Mr. Qaissi's lawyers made a similar assertion.