All in all, I think the military is handling this very well. They haven't been making excuses, they've decried the acts categorically. Even when confronted with issues of "following orders," they've said that is no excuse.
This is all good.
The problem is it doesn't matter. If we were honest with ourselves, we probably would have assumed that some amount of ill treatment of Iraqi prisoners was going on. It's a war, and prisoners were probably being beaten up. If someone had asked me, I probably would have guessed that bad things happen.
These acts are worse than anything I would have imagined. Even someone being beaten up is in some way being shown more respect than what these pictures from Abu Ghraib show. They also show, by their mere existence, an astonishing level of stupidity on the part of these soldiers in posing for photographs of themselves committing these acts.
In the end though, regardless of the reaction and hopefully swift justice of our military, the world will see these pictures and we have already lost the battle for hearts and minds. We no longer have any ground to stand on in demanding humane treatment of our prisoners.
For what these soldiers deem "pranks," we will be repaid hundreds of times over.
So, for that, I'd like to say thanks in advance to the cretinous soldiers and contractors who committed these acts. With your sickening actions, you have helped to cement America's place as global pariah. My sympathy to your families, their shame must be unimaginable.
