An Australian television station is showing new photos of abuse, torture and murder at Abu Ghraib. The Pentagon says it’s already been investigated, and everybody responsible has been brought to justice.  What this means is that the GIs who were identifiable in the published photos were tried for it, along with a few of the low-level people in charge.  That’s it.  This means that we’re supposed to believe that in those photos with fifteen people looking on, none of the others were responsible.  Despite what the Red Cross says, the published photos apparently show every significant incident.

So that’s not a plausible story.  But so what, who cares?  America is now a torture state.  We all know it.  For a few days it will be minor news, with a brief blurb or two on some programs and then on to whatever’s next.

In fact, talking about it is irresponsible and probably unpatriotic because it might upset those irrational Arabs.  “The department believes that the release of all of these images will further inflame and cause unnecessary violence in the world,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman says.

Just don’t think about it too much, and everything will be okay.

Pete DeWan