What came out clearly enough in the Abi Ghraib coverage was that some of the practices involved were ones used in US jails, where one of the chief accused had worked.

And I remember a piece in a paper saying that, when we saw the coverage from Guantanamo, we should realise that some of the things outsiders found most dusturbing to see weren't special innovations for Guantanamo - they were standard practice in some US jails.

How people are treated in jail is one way of telling a lot about a country. And most countries aren't too impressive in that respect. I can't remember who said it, but seems true - prisons are places where bad people go and are made worse.

And even when they aren't that bad when they go in, or even not bad at all, it almost inevitably makes them worse. And that goes for the guards too, it seems. I know there are exceptions, but it must be hard not getting ground down and dehumanised.