Stunted intelligence

Iraq | Has the reaction to the Abu Ghraib scandal, with its focus on the administration instead of on the role of civilian contractors, disrupted the military effort in Iraq? | John Dawson

FORT HOOD, Texas — In the annals of whodunits, the mystery surrounding Dan Johnson has elicited few proper queries. Even as his name popped up again and again during former Abu Ghraib prison guard Charles Graner's court-martial trial this month, few seized on the extraordinary—if incomplete—testimony about his role in prison abuse.

The role of civilian contractors in encouraging prisoner abuse pales compared to the tales of Pvt. Graner's debased escapades as a night-shift prison guard in Iraq, or his sexual exploits with Pvt. Lynndie England, whose trial—one of three remaining after Pvt. Graner received a 10-year prison sentence—is set to begin next. But an overreliance on contractors is one of the plainer lessons of the scandals that began last spring, and by ignoring that lesson lawmakers and pundits are making it harder for the military to succeed against terrorists in Iraq.