Pat-

 Thanks for clarifying your position. It's nice to know you're not a Stepford wife for Sean Hannity.

You sound like you're more pissed off about the fact that someone reported what we did than you are about us doing it. Are you saying that the US media should have withheld the story of the "fraternity hazing" at Abu Ghraib? Are you saying that America's means justify the ends and that no matter what we do it's alright in the name of installing "democracy" in Iraq?

I believe, and hope, that America's goals, ideals, and methods should always stand up to scrutiny; we should be proud of everything we do in the name of making the world a better place. In this instance there is nothing to be proud of and much to regret.

I think that you're missing the symbolism and the "ripple" effect of these photos in the Arab world. These incidents happened at the prison symbolic of Saddam's rule. For US troops to torture Iraqis in the same prison is a lasting image of oppression that will take generations to erase.

I know that you don't think that what happened at Abu Ghraib is torture- that it doesn't compare to the atrocities perpetrated upon the Americans in Fallujah. Tell you what. Re-read my posting of the Major General's report and try & picture yourself or your wife (or anyone you deeply care about) in those circumstances and then come back & tell me that that isn't "torture".