I don't think our soliders are bad people -- I was watching this documentary called "Iraq For Sale" and there is a section where a lot of former POW's talked about how there were two types of people in the prisons, the soliders and the others in civilian clothes (Blackwater mercenaries). And they say that it was the civilians who were giving orders to the soliders and telling them what to do and how to do it etc.

I think this was just a situation wherein there was a massive breakdown in communication and we basically turned our soliders over (in part) to Blackwater.

Their role in all of this has been very underreported, I think.

Buttercup,

I agree with you. I hope this are isolated incidents. I am surprised that they are even pictures of it.

Who took pictures, who give them to the press. All of this is mysterious to me. Are we even being set up.

It is hard to know the reality whitout being there.

In any case to extrapolate from this pictures and generalize that all the soldiers are like this and that America is worse than any body else is just emotional irrationalism.

It is easy to judge everything behind a computer screen. It is world away from the front line.

We can be very arrogant like we know everything.

I have not been on the front line of a war myself. I am careful to judge too quickly our own soldiers

A terrorist is someone who terrorizes or frightens others. I look at these pictures of Americans terrorizing prisoners, smiling, giving 'thumps up', and it makes me sick. Maybe the prisoners are terrorists, and maybe they're not, EITHER WAY they should not be treated like this. Even if torture was absolutely necessary, it should NEVER be done with people smiling and laughing at other peoples pain. We need to be careful in this war against terror, NOT TO BECOME THE TERRORISTS!

Anyone who questions the actions taken by our President during this time of WAR shall be deemed a traitor under the Patriot Act!

For those who have expressed sympthay for innocent Iraqi that have been wrongly interrogated by Blackwater contractors -- you are herewith deemed a security risk!

Please report to your nearest Republican Party headquarters for immediate sodomization and/or a naked pyramid photo-shoot.

Stop laughing! Spending tax payer money so that private Balckwater mercenaries (only scraping by on $80,000 a month salary! Way to save us money Republicans!) can spend their days doing lewd things with innocent Iraqis is not a joke! It's vital to our national security!

Sure....we COULD spend that time, money and manpower beefing our our border security and inspecting 100 percent of the overseas merchandise shipped to our ports (as opposed to the current 5 percent) but where's the fun in that? Sure it's entirely possible to ship weapons or a dirty bomb directly to the US in a cargo container that will never ever be screened...but c'mon! Putting womens panties on some dude head is soooo much more effective, isn't it?

Nope, better to leave our borders open and our cargo uninspected and focus instead on sexually assualt Iraqi POW's who may or may not actually be guilty of anything.

Somebody fetch a car battery and some electrodes! And don't forget the digital camera! We're saving lives here!

Let's see if we can follow Republican logic:

Saddam had "insurgents" in his country that he jailed without charge, held indefinitely and tortured. We have absolute proof that he held innocent people he merely suspected of plotting against him (like students who handed out phamplets on democracy and capitalism) in jail and beat them. Saddam's loyal supporters insisted that everything was perfectly legal, humane and done for the greater "security" of Iraq as a nation. This arguement was used even when Saddam gassed an entire village. "Better that a few innocent might die along with the guilty then let all the guilty go free," so Saddam's Generals explained.

He was labeled a dictator (by Bush!) that must be removed from power.

Bush orders actions nearly identical to Saddam's -- round up everyone, hold them without evidence or charges, torture them, etc -- and those actions are considered perfectly acceptable.

Huh?

This all seem very Orwellian.

"We have always been at war with Oceania..."

Are there be any post on current showing concerns for the thousand of civilians killed by Al Qaeda, any concerns for all those prisonners who had their head cut off by radical islamists.

Why so much bias ? and unbalanced reporting ?

This is awful. However I'm not sure to what extent the laws of war, meant to guide nation's soldiers, apply to contractors legally. all the jus ad bellum laws apply to states so it will be interesting to see how these cases are argued in courts.

i do however think its promising that US based firms are working for these detainees, if only the US government could do a better job ensuring contractors don't act inhumanly. that would require checking themselves first however!

The United States has had standards in the treatment of prisinors held during times of war. What this gulag did was intolerable and with every indication of total disregard for humanity.When did we sink so low?

Wasn't the United State's involvement in Iraq supposed to rid innocent prisoners from these torturous behavior which was present under the Baath party?

"This is all just a big PR game that the United States is loosing. We have to win the hearts and minds of the young Muslim populations of the world by upholding the words of our Constitution and the international agreements we have signed. "

Dude, do you have any concept of the history of the USA?

You guys are the bad guys when it comes to human rights.

"Win the hearts and minds of the young muslin populations"

You could start by stopping killing them, imprisoning them and stealing their national resources.

winning their hearts and minds.....hilarious.

Man are you yanks out of touch....

Abu Ghraib. Guantanamo. Haditha. They are all just easy fodder for fundamentalist recruitment. This is all just a big PR game that the United States is loosing. We have to win the hearts and minds of the young Muslim populations of the world by upholding the words of our Constitution and the international agreements we have signed.

Forceful interrogation never produces the accurate results necessary for justice to be attained. It only perpetuates the whole struggle. If there are people out there who preach an Us vs Them ideology, the worst way to combat that is to reverse the Us vs Them. You gotta convince the masses that we hold the moral high ground. Always.

what the f*ck is wrong with people?!!regardless "who started it" should it continue? The government lies, steals and cheats...y are we surprised for the physical, inhumane acts they put upon people.I pray for them both...the poor detainees, who get the worst torture, and the ignorant soldiers who know no better.

LOL..

Some of these people were innocent but most were pieces of shit that got exactly what they deserved. We have all read the bullshit they have wrote about the Abu-Ghraib catastrophe. Some of these assholes killed soilders and they deserved every beating they got. Some were farmers and deserved nothing but kindnes and respect and its a terrible thing if they suffered. But stop lumping everything into a black and white scenario, and leave the option of a grey area of interrogation.

It's not called flowers and fun its called war!

I'm not sure if you are aware of the article but to say these people deserved what they got is all kinds of ignorant. These people were innocent and abused for no reason. Forced nudity, electrocutions and mock executions... This happened to innocent people, which is why their is a lawsuit. It is a disgrace that this happened. And for you to question what side people are on because they have compassion for these torture victims, brings your ignorance to a whole new level. Americans are outraged when innocent people are tortured and killed. Whether it's Americans or Iraqis. I think you need to put it in perspective.

I'm still embarrassed.

Some of these bastards deserved everything they got.

Although some may deserve an *out of court settlement*

I have one small problem with you supporters of these ass holes. When they cut the heads off of americans or drag our troops through the streets and hang them from bridges. I dont hear you assholes saying anything. But when known terrorist have to stand on a box doing excercises we did in middle school is seen you fuckers go nuts. It makes me wonder which side you really are on. I know you hate GWB but get real.

These assholes show no mercy, if they caught you they would probably F you in the ass and then cut your head off, put it in perspective.

Everyone's gonna hate for saying this, but here it goes...

First off, it truly is embarrassing to many Americans for the whole world to see our soldiers torturing people. However, do we really know anything about the people detained at Abu_Ghraib? As far as I know, they're terrorists. I personally know military personel who aren't allowed to interrogate captured terrorists. All because the media, including current tv, has drawn so much negative attention to our military.

I mean, lets face it, a member of a terrorist group like Al-Queda isn't going to give up information if he's asked nicely. Everyone seems to forget that the terrorists that are being protected from harsh questioning are intent on killing Americans!

So I say, we should do everything neccessary to protect our troops, even if it means torturing suspected terrorists'.

But, we probably don't need to tape it.

why do we torture people so much?

Don't worry, the tax payer will pick up the punitive damages tab.

Torture and Truth, a book by Mark Danner, I recommend it to everyone.

The fact that these are only coming out now shows that there could be many more unreported offences which occurred in Abu-Ghraib.

The images of the abuse by US soldiers are sickening, even more so from a country considered to be the leader of the free world. The US now has a profound responsibility to investigate every charge with complete openness from the military.

The exposure of the Abu Ghraib mess was one of the lowest points in our history. Seeing those photos truly made me embarrassed to be an American.

They shouldn't have any problem winning....but it will take years probably. Its a mess and an embarrassment for the USA. OBAMA for 2008!