by Jonathan Steele
Can the American occupation of Iraq be sustained any longer? In the wake of the prison horrors revealed at Abu Ghraib, has the time not come for a serious debate on the immediate withdrawal, not just of British forces, but of the 150,000 US forces as well?
The worldwide shockwaves from the torture pictures are political as well as moral. Outrage is prompting calls for radical change, which Donald Rumsfeld's sudden trip to Baghdad no doubt is intended to block. In the US, Richard Holbrooke, a strong contender to run the state department in a Kerry presidency, calls the scandal "the most serious setback for the American military since Vietnam". Wesley Clark, the former Nato commander who ran in the Democratic party primaries, puts the prospect of pressure leading to an early end to the US mission as "better than 50-50".
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0514-09.htm
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