SPC Neil A Wallin, 109th Area Support Medical Battalion, a medic testified that: “Cell 1A was used to house high priority detainees and cell 1B was used to house the high risk or trouble making detainees. During my tour at the prison I observed that when the male detainees were first brought to the facility, some of them were made to wear female underwear, which I think was to somehow break them down.”

In some parts of the city men wearing women’s underwear is considered a good Saturday night - talk about a culture clash.

The link takes you directly to the full ARTICLE 15-6 INVESTIGATION OF THE 800th MILITARY POLICE BRIGADE.

This is the investigation undertaken by the military after learning of prisoner abuse, it seems quite thorough - surprise, surprise.

This link will take you to a timeline of the events that led up to the investigation. Again, there doesn’t seem to have been any foot dragging about conducting an investigation once the information about abuse was brought to light.

Is it bad press?

Certainly.

Does it help our country in its foreign policy goals in the Middle East?

No, it does not.

Maybe, we should just round up this bunch of soldiers who are responsible for these abuses and just hang them. Plain and simple, just throw a rope over a tree and be done with it. Let’s forego any investigation and just allow ourselves to be swept up in the moment. The pictures speak volumes about the horrors endured by these prisoners. It’s just something we really can’t be expected to discuss. It’s just a reflection on how this administration has failed us in so many ways - how could the chief executive allow something like this to happen? The indignity!

Oh, please.

I’m not about to put myself in the position of being an apologist for the current administration but, neither am I going to give myself over to the ‘chicken little’ frenzy of the moment. Something bad happened, it came to light and it is in the process of getting fixed.

It proves a point.

Think if something like this happened before Iraq was invaded it would get this kind of press? Think there would be the level of outcry? How likely would it be that there would be any kind of change after the fact and the abuse would stop?

Ask yourselves those questions before allowing yourself to be carried away in your moral indignation. Be thankful you are living in a society where although something like this can happen, there is still the opportunity to bring it to light and effect some kind of change so it is less likely to happen going forward.

Republicans or democrats, you are not the enemy. You are the opposition and there is a difference. Even as both major parties move closer to the center, people should recognize vilifying the opposition does nothing to enhance your argument. There are real issues the current administration can be taken to task on. Issues that affect the lives and future of every citizen. Set out your argument in a logical fashion and you will stand a much better chance of swaying opinion.

In the meantime, let’s not forget we bombed and destroyed a Chinese embassy on the watch of the previous administration. Nobody was out in front of Congress offering up their job on that one and believe me the consequences could have been a lot worse from that gaff.

Jamey Hill, a local postal worker, said the photos of naked prisoners in sexual positions, in a pile or on a leash, were nothing compared to the images of murdered Americans dangling from a bridge in the town of Falluja in March.

“I’m not happy about it (the prison abuse). I’m not very happy about having the pictures of us on the bridge either,” Hill said.

Tanya Vargas, 29, who said she knew two of the soldiers linked to the scandal, said it had been hard to believe her friends were involved.

“What were they thinking to do this, and then to take pictures of it?” she said. “When they come home, it’s not going to be the welcome home the soldiers usually get,” she said.

These are your fellow citizens! While I am not in agreement with what happened and recognize something went wrong, pause before giving yourself over to hysteria of the moment.

Prison life was punctuated by riots and guards’ shootings of inmates. The few soldiers who had worked in civilian prisons in the United States taught the others what they knew, the report says.

Karpinski, a Gulf War (news - web sites) veteran and a business consultant in civilian life, is faulted for much that went wrong. But her job was never going to be easy.

Last June, Karpinski took command of the 800th MP Brigade, a unit led to believe it was going home shortly after major combat ended May 1, 2003.

Instead, it got a new mission: running the entire U.S. prison system across Iraq — 12 camps and jails.

“Morale suffered, and over the next few months there did not appear to have been any attempt by the command to mitigate this morale problem,” the Taguba report says.

Those sent to Abu Ghraib found themselves living in one of Iraq’s toughest regions — the Sunni Muslim rebel stronghold west of Baghdad. The prison, which also houses the base, became a target for guerrilla mortar barrages that killed dozens, mainly prisoners.