I saw Secretary Rumsfeld's response on tonight's news; frankly, it was the best response yet delivered by one of the 'big-wigs' in this situation. He also apologised for the actions of those men, something that even President Bush didn't do. I'm hoping Rumsfeld won't be made the whipping-boy for this situation... which is actually getting worse by the minute.
New photos and film have been released to the top-ranking military, allegedly showing the rape of a female prisoner, further fatal and near-fatal beatings, and images of US soldiers watching Iraqi detainees raping children. Apparently, some of the soldiers were under orders to "soften up" the prisoners for interrogation... and this is their idea of how to accomplish that.

I shudder to think at how widespread and systematic this abuse has become, but a US general was appalled to realise that the actions of the soldiers in the photos seemed to indicate it was nothing unusual, just "another day at the office" rather than an alarming event. I could see what he means, too - in a number of those pictures, uninvolved soldiders are just casually strolling by without batting an eyelid. It seems this might've been going on even longer than it appeared.

How many of those prisoners are genuinely guilty of crimes, and how many were implicated after simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time? It's bad enough that legitimate captives should receive this kind of treatment, but for it to happen to complete innocents as well is beyond unthinkable.