Thanks, Gareth. I find it useful to sift through this "Iraq adventure" from a broader perspective, being an ex-Peace Corps volunteer myself in Ethiopia from 1965-68.

However, I will note that Rumsfeld's testimony at the Senate hearing yesterday is even more damning as he acknowledges being aware of even more photo images and videos of Iraqi prisoners being tortured and humiliated.

And it seems we are close to learning what general was responsible for encouraging the MP's in charge of those cell blocks to "soften up" their prisoners before interrogation. He appears to be Major General Geoffrey Miller, commadant of the Guantanamo Bay prison complex, who in the fall of 2003 "conducted an inquiry on interrogation and detention procedures in Iraq and suggested that prison guards could help set conditions for the interrogation of prisoners"; this is according to an initial report this spring by Major General Antonio Taguba. I find this information particularly damning, and it reinforces my concerns about the probable mistreatment of the prisoners in limbo at Guantanamo Bay itself.

Anyone want to draw parallels with the treatment of prisoners by Nazi guards? Probably the Reader's Digest will pass on "Lynndie England" as a story of patriotism and courage, and I doubt that we will see a NBC special equivalent to the "Jessica Lynch Story."

We've got a lot of work to do in this country to succeed in undoing the damage we have created with this Iraq adventure. It's even beginning to overshadow the evil that Saddam and his coherts committed.

Charley Noble