"They have also stated that they were not tortured by their captors."

Yes, of course, being kidnapped and held hostage is mental torture. It is not, however, the kind of torture endured by those at Abu Ghraib.

Nobody is making excuses for anyone. The hostages did not know about the death of their friend. They were not threatened with this knowledge.

Are you making excuses for the torture practices of the U.S. government?

If I had my choice, I'd rather be subjected to the conditions encountered by the hostages than the conditions of those detained by the U.S. government. If you had the choice of captors, who would you choose?