No, there is no excuse for this deplorable behavior at all. Furthermore, saying that this isn't as bad as what Saddam did doesn't make it any better. This is a war for the hearts and minds of the citizens of Iraq - and in those sorts of wars, perception is everything.
If our American armed forces are to act as the policemen of the world, then they'd best as hell follow every single bit of international document and legislation to the T. This is going to go a long way in how other nations think of us. One "aw, trout" erases a hundred "attaboys."
Also, this isn't just a matter of the dozen or so soldiers and contractors working at the prison. This is a failure of a good portion of their chain of command - the leaders who decided to assign inexperienced grunts and civillians to a POW facility. There are military personnel specifically trained for this sort of thing. Hell, even I have more experience with interrogation procedures than these screw-ups.
Anyway, the best thing we can do right now is punish those responsible for this mess, get some new folks in charge of the POW system over there, and carry on with our business despite the international outcry surrounding this atrocious incident.
