The story that Donald Vance is telling is a familiar one to people who have paid attention to the way U.S. military personnel all too often have handled their detention duties and responsibilities in Iraq even since the scandal at the Abu Ghraib prison there. It is both a familiar and a simple tale. Detain first, ask too few earnest questions along the way, mistreat in a way that smudges legal and moral lines, grudgingly and belatedly concede the mistake by releasing the prisoner, and then blame it all on the "fog of war," or worse, refuse to take any blame at all.

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"Even after the military learned who Mr. Vance was, they continued to hold him in these abusive conditions for weeks more. He was not allowed to defend himself at the Potemkin hearing held to justify his detention. And that was special treatment. As an American citizen, he was at least allowed to attend his hearing. An Iraqi, or an Afghani, or any other foreigner, would have been barred from the room."

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