On the same day the 9/11 Commission released its long-anticipated report, another government commission quietly released the results of its study. Whereas the 9/11 report is widely praised for its openness and fairness, the U.S. Army's investigation of military treatment of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan appears to be a whitewash.

Critics rightly questioned whether the Army report was released the same day as the 9/11 commission report so it wouldn't get the careful media attention it deserved. The Army investigation concluded the abuse of prisoners was an aberration and that the blame was squarely on the shoulders of the few soldiers who engaged in the abuse. In his testimony on Capitol Hill, Lt. Gen. Paul Mikolashek defended the military and downplayed any abuse.

Even the numbers the Army released were downplayed to minimize the problems. For instance, the report pointed to 94 cases of abuse, counting the entire Abu Ghraib scandal as one abuse. That's ridiculous. The Army's conclusions contrast with conclusions made by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who pointed to systemic problems, and not just to "unauthorized actions taken by a few individuals."

During a heated exchange on Capitol Hill on Thursday, senators pointed to a report by the International Committee of the Red Cross that also found the problems to be systemic, according to the New York Times. Several senators, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., actively disputed accounts in the Army's new report.

It's far too self-serving for the Army to blame Abu Ghraib and many other instances of abuse on a handful of bad actors at the lowest-possible levels. Once the smoke of the 9/11 Commission clears, Congress needs to do its job and look more closely at the problem.