You had a bunch of guys forced to do stuff that's on the same level as what fraternity pledges do willingly.... Massaged in that way, the question becomes, "Should American troops and Iraqi civilians have to suffer and die because we feel a little queasy about making enemy combatants lie on top of one another naked?"

This was the standard deflection of what happened at Abu Ghraib, most famously by Rush Limbaugh, but it's dangerously false.

Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC), after seeing the full evidence (not all of which has ever been released): "The American public needs to understand we're talking about rape and murder here."

Salon published 279 photographs earlier this year if you want to review the Army's evidence for yourself. Note especially Chapter 5, which details a prisoner who was brought in helpless and beaten to death. (The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology ruled it a homicide by blunt trauma to the torso.) Not all of the photographs have been released-- one source claimed over 1,000 exist.

Anyway, not even close to "fraternity pledges".

valguarnera@carrionfields.com