In short, over at the torture and rape chambers of Abu Ghraib, it is business as usual. For torture apologists and emotional cripples such as Rush Limbuagh, this endless violence and abuse is simply “our troops” blowing off a little steam. Most Americans, thanks to the corporate media—more interested in the fate of a white girl such as Natalee Holloway and unconcerned about Arab Iraqis under the burden of American occupation—are blissfully unaware of what the Pentagon, CIA, and “military contractors” are doing in their name.

If not for the grisly and inhumane nature of the “interrogation” (of mostly innocent victims) at Abu Ghraib, the Pentagon’s response to criticism would be almost amusing. “A federal judge in New York, responding to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, ruled Thursday [87 photographs and four videotapes made by guards] should be made public. But the Defense Department was expected to appeal, arguing such a release would fuel anti-American propaganda and help recruit new Islamic extremists in Iraq and elsewhere.” Of course, for Iraqis joining the resistance, Abu Ghraib is but one small instance of abuse and humiliation—in fact, much of the country is Abu Ghraib on steroids, a hell-hole of polluted drinking water, destroyed hospitals, intermittent electricity, sectarian violence, and Israeli-styled checkpoints situated on a landscape polluted with depleted uranium. Simply existing on a day-to-day basis in post-invasion Iraq is more than enough to “recruit new Islamic extremists” and others determined to get rid of the Americans.

Lynndie England’s latest revelations are simply confirmation of what many of us already know—the United States is engaged in wholesale abuse and “acts of brutality and purposeless sadism” (as Major General George Fay revealed) not only at Abu Ghraib but all across Iraq. Additional photographs and videotapes are not required to arrive at the obvious conclusion—the United States is waging a depraved “clash of civilizations” war against not only the Iraqi people, but Islamic society and culture at large. Under such horrific conditions, it should not be surprising Iraqis are treated as less than human, thus motivating “extremists in Iraq and elsewhere” to fight back. It is, however, truly remarkable more Iraqis—many who have lost mothers, fathers, children, and other relatives and friends to “acts of brutality and purposeless sadism”—have not taken the war to America. But then maybe Iraqis possess something a lot of Americans apparently lack—compassion and a sense of right and wrong.