We have seen the enemy - and they are us!
Could I kill someone? Of course, given the right circumstances.
Could I torture someone? Probably, if I was given the order, and was frightened enough.
What did everyone expect? This is war. Horrible things happen in a war.
Let's not act too shocked.
And does all this make me sick? You betcha. (to paraphrase Rumsfeld) But does it come as a shock? No. I lived thru the Korea and Vietnam wars -- Where we shot and bombed whole villages of women and children. Why? I was given an order by higher command.
So now we have the indelible images of our times with the photographs at the Abu Ghaib.
They may have changed the course of history; Just how much we do not yet know. It is arguable that without them, news of what happened within the walls of that prison would never have emerged from the fog of classified memos. We owe their circulation and perhaps their existence to the popular technology of our day. to digital cameras and JPEG and e-mail.
But we have always made pictures and saved their images of our history, good and bad, and how we in Americaa treat our citizens.
Some Americans may say, we don't seem to have a long tradition of that sort of thing. WRONG!
There have been many atrocity photographs over the years, of course - Here is an example of our past.
Log on to this and click on the "movie" side on the left column.
http://www.musarium.com/withoutsanctuary/main.html
And lest we not forget..