Failures of Imagination

Eric Umansky

...And when the record on torture coverage is examined in detail, an ambiguous picture emerges: in the post-9/11 days, some reporters offered detailed accusations and reports of abuse and torture, only to be met with skepticism by their own editors. Stories were buried, played down, or ignored — a reluctance that is much diminished but still bubbles up with regard to the culpability of policymakers (...) Carlotta Gall, the Times reporter who uncovered the two homicides at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan in early 2003, was struck at the time by "the reluctance to believe bad acts of American troops when we’re at war."...

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