I was going to sit down and write a thoughtful longwinded post about the new images of torture from Abu Ghraib.

Yes, I called it torture.

Smeering feeces on someone is torture.

Hooking electrical wires to someone’s naked body is torture.

Beating someone to the extent that is done in these pictures is torture.

Tying people to door handles or to jailcell doors while they squirm in pain and cry in pain is torture.

What we don’t know is when exactly these pictures happened, and who exactly was performing these acts and under what authorization. What we do know is that it’s just as indefensible now as it was when it happened. This is a disgrace, and the people responsible for doing it, authorizing it, and turning a blind eye to it all need to be punished severely.

We don’t sit around when other animals do it to us; we shouldn’t sit around when our animals do it to others no matter who they are.

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