IMO undue attention to the "deeply disturbing" prison atrocities (which are indeed "deeply disturbing," but far less heinous than imposing a dysfunctional neo-colonial client state) feeds the following sentiment which the US left should obviously vigilantly oppose: that the occupation is a mere policy mistake, horribly bungled by Bush and company. The Abu Ghraib revelations are in fact heaven-sent for the liberal clowns at moveon.org (who are annoyingly pelting my e-mailbox with overwrought appeals to dump Rumsfeld), who can now safely couch their tepid anti-occupation stance in the premise that Bush and company are congenitally incapable of "bringing freedom to the Iraqi people." Said revelations are even more heaven-sent for that weak-kneed segment of the US political class that is now recognizing the inevitability of defeat in Iraq, but can conveniently blame the illegitimacy wrought by a few dozen torturers, rather than the tenacious resistance of the denizens of Fallujah, Najaf, Sadr City, and elsewhere.
Or perhaps I'm just preaching to the choir ...
John Gulick Knoxville, TN
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