For years now the Left has been deriding and smearing conservatives who have pointed out that abuses at Abu Ghraib constituted an isolated instance of misconduct — that is, a violation of existing policy — which was correctly dealt with as a disciplinary matter. Those on the Right who have been making this argument are accused of peddling “a lie that Abu Ghraib was an exception and not policy,” as the Atlantic’s maternity guru puts it.
But now the president has come forward to say precisely the same thing. Ben Smith reports:
He described abuses “carried out in the past by a small number of individuals.” Those calling for a broader investigation of torture have made the case that the incidents at all levels flowed from policy decisions in the White House and the Pentagon, and suggested that the soldiers charged in abuse were scapegoats. Obama seems determined not to go that route.
So the Left must now argue one of three things: Obama is in on the “cover up“; Obama is a dupe of the Right; or those on the Left were wrong — indeed, hysterical in their allegations — all along. So far it doesn’t look like the third is under serious consideration. But the Left might consider taking a page from the Obama book: it’s never too late to reverse course, especially to preserve one’s intellectual credibility.