Looking backward | An astonishing lack of awareness of the costs of the war in Iraq
COMMENTARY
Michael Massing thinks the American public needs to know a lot more about what the war meant to Iraqi civilians – and particularly how many Iraqis were killed or injured by our troops during the occupation. That's because Americans needs to better understand that when we do go to war, there is a great toll not only our own people but on the population that we're supposedly going to help. Ninth in a series of articles calling attention to the things we still need to know about torture and other abuses committed by the Bush administration after 9/11.

Looking backward | Establishing the connection between the Bush White House and Abu Ghraib COMMENTARY Denying that White House policy was directly responsible for the vile abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib has been the central goal of a five-year disinformation campaign by Bush officials. 'Torture Team' author Philippe Sands argues that newly-disclosed records show how blatantly Bush officials were willing to lie in order to lead reporters away from the truth. Eighth in a series of articles calling attention to the things we still need to know about torture and other abuses committed by the Bush administration after 9/11.

Looking backward | Would a better prepared U.S. have used torture?
COMMENTARY
Did a lack of trained interrogators with appropriate language proficiency lead Bush administration officials to embrace torture as a 'short cut'? A former dean at the Defense Language Institute writes that America was unprepared to wage a patient and savvy war of counterintelligence against Al Qaeda – which may have made less humane and less effective methods seem like an attractive option. Seventh in a series of articles calling attention to the things we still need to know about torture and other abuses committed by the Bush administration after 9/11.

Looking backward | Don't forget the cover-ups
COMMENTARY
As a lot of public officials in Washington have learned over the years, sometimes it's not the crime, it's the cover-up. Investigative reporter Murray Waas thinks any investigation of the Bush years should examine the efforts by top officials to shield their behavior from scrutiny.

Looking backward | Following the paper trail to the top
COMMENTARY| May 06, 2009
We're learning more about the decisions that were made by the last administration, but we still don't know nearly enough about how they were made and who exactly made them, says Caroline Fredrickson of the ACLU. If you really believe in the rule of law – and that no one is above the law -- then you've got to bring accountability to the top of the chain of command.

Searching for truth | Almost everyone remains anonymous
COMMENTARY
We still don't know the answer to some of the most basic questions about Bush's detainee legacy, writes the founder of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. Who were the prisoners? Who were the torturers? And who authorized the program?

Investigating the Bush years | To look forward, you have to look back
COMMENTARY| April 22, 2009
Eric Stover, a professor who investigates human rights abuses, wants to focus on what our national security response should be to terrorism going forward -- but in doing so, he poses some disturbing questions about what we did.

An obligation to look back | Is there a price for departing from our values?
COMMENTARY
Fritz Schwarz, who helped lead the Church Committee's investigation into intelligence abuses more than 30 years ago, writes that we need to further explore whether our conduct helped al Qaeda's recruitment efforts, and how much excessive secrecy and a complaisant Congress were to blame.

An obligation to look back | So much we still need to know COMMENTARY| April 20, 2009 NiemanWatchdog.org is publishing a series of articles calling attention to the things we still need to know about torture and other abuses committed by the Bush administration after 9/11. Why the focus on what we don't know? Because when you think about how much remains hidden, how many issues are still unresolved, how many injustices have never been redressed, and how little accountability there has been, it's hard to make the argument that we're ready to move on.

An obligation to look back | How many detainees were wronged?
COMMENTARY
McClatchy Foreign Editor Roy Gutman argues that we won't genuinely understand the scope of Bush's detainee program until we fully document each detainee's experience and make amends to those who were wrongly held and mistreated.