Greetings. Photos such as those below, broadcast by CBS and showing prisoner abuse in Iraq at the hands of U.S. forces, have triggered outrage around the world. This BBC article provides a good deal of detail.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect is the excuse being heard -- that U.S. personnel supposedly weren't given adequate training on the appropriate ways to treat prisoners. Training is important, but it shouldn't require any explicit training for adults to understand the difference between liberation and obscene humiliation or torture.

Regardless of how limited or widespread such abuse may be, the damage it does not only to the victims, but also in the hearts and minds of Iraqi and other observers, is both incalculable and inexcusable.

--Lauren--