Enough talk.

Byline: The Register-Guard

After viewing new photos depicting U.S. troops abusing Iraqi prisoners, George W. Bush on Monday once again proclaimed his presidential disgust to the world and, in the words of a spokesman, his `disbelief that anyone who wears our uniform would engage in such shameful and appalling acts.''

Yet earlier in the day, Bush also issued a ringing endorsement of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, whose policies are responsible for the abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison. `You are doing a superb job,' Bush told Rumsfeld.

The disconnect could hardly be more obvious - or more damaging - to the administration's hopes of rebuilding shattered U.S. credibility with Iraqis, Middle Easterners and the rest of the world.

The White House is in full damage-control mode, deploying Rumsfeld, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of State Colin Powell to spread the word that the `system is working' and that the military is bringing offenders to justice and fixing the problem. They insist that the abuses are aberrations, the work of a few renegade troops. And they argue that they are minor-league offenses compared to the unspeakable tortures and mass murders that Saddam Hussein inflicted on his nation.

This sorry hodgepodge of half-truths and rationalizations won't wash in Baghdad, Paris, Eugene or anywhere else. If Bush has any hope of convincing a skeptical world that the United States really did oust Saddam's regime to restore freedom and human rights for Iraqis, then he must do more than publicly profess his disgust.

Bush should, as we've already urged, fire Rumsfeld not only for the prisoner abuse scandal, but also for his failure to plan for post-war occupation. The president should then make an appointment that will send a message to Iraqis, U.S. allies and the United Nations that the United States is serious about recalibrating its disastrous Iraq polices. Bush should order his military to swiftly reform its system of prisoner detention - in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as Guantanamo Bay - so that it fully conforms to the Geneva Conventions and other international standards of human rights.

Bush should also announce the the U.S. military will shut down - and raze - Iraq's infamous Abu Ghraib prison. The symbolism of such a move would be immense to Iraqis. The prison was not only the place where U.S. captors were photographed abusing their prisoners, but it was also where tens of thousands of prisoners were tortured and executed by Saddam.

Bush should also order a full, independent and public inquiry, one that will do more than reprimand and discipline a few officers and soldiers months after the abuses took place. There must be a nonmilitary investigation that will identify not only those who carried out the abuses, but those who directly supervised them and all those up the chain of command who knew of the abuses, including those outlined in repeated Red Cross warnings to the Pentagon, but who failed to act.

Since the invasion, President Bush has repeatedly said that he believes that Iraq can become a beacon of freedom, democracy and human rights in the Middle East. If he truly wants the world to believe that, he must now make certain that the United States demonstrates those very qualities as it deals with the prisoner-abuse scandal.