I don't believe for a minute that a couple of lowly soldiers did this all on their own this goes futher up the the totem pole than that.

The problem here is that this war was sold, in part, as a morally just cause to liberate oppressed people. We were going to show the people in Iraq how to set up a humane and just society. This is big time egg on our faces and there's no way around it.

The actions of a few do not make the rest of us immoral, unjust, or bad.  If a cop gets caught illegally beating a suspect or taking bribes, does it mean we have no better a police force than North Korea, where such stuff is routine?  Does it mean no cops are good? Perspective, people, perspective.

"don't justify bad behavior by pointing out worse behavior"

What's good for the goose.....

We Americans are making the comparison that one is not as bad as the other in a vacuum - we aren't taking the differences in the cultures into account. Granted, nude pictures are not the same as beheading, in our point of view. In the Muslim culture, those nude pictures are serious offenses, and therefore equal to beheading.

They think that being forced to be naked is disrespectful and sinful and is deeply offensive to their religious core and therefore a beheading is in order - which is part of what makes them stark raving lunatics.

That was my point. Simply that just because it works that way for us, it doesn't work the same for the whole world.

"Well, we need to teach them the American Way", they don't WANT to know the American way.

On top of that, nude pictures are not respectful.

We ask countries who hold our citizens as prisoners to be respectful of them, whether guilty or not; why shouldn't we also be respectful of their citizens, whether guilty or not?

Yes, some people planned and executed 9-11, but should we therefore treat all of their compatriots with disrespect? Personally, I pray that we are better human beings than that!

I agree with you, but the many should be offended by the actions of the few, and punish those few harshly. Not just putting them out of the military.

Take your own advice about perspective and look at this one. We are already under scrutiny from most of the world (especially the Arab street) for being in Iraq. Everyday longer we are there, we're seen more and more as oppressors instead of liberators. Now the scandal breaks with Arab prisoners being abused by some of our soldiers and it just intesifies these feelings toward our country.

As for your analogy, one bad cop certainly doesn't make an entire bad police force, but it sure as heck taints the whole police force's reputation. Just ask the LAPD.

Just a footnote here by the way, I fully support the war in Iraq, the war on terror, and the president (but not blindly).

'Boston Globe' Ombud on Sex Photo Mistake
Aya Kawano


By Joe Strupp

Published: May 13, 2004 Updated at 9:50 AM EST, May 14

NEW YORK A "miscommunication among staffers" and "a breakdown of checks and balances" led to The Boston Globe's publication Wednesday of a photo in which two people are holding a group of sexually graphic pictures, purportedly taken in Iraq (but actually not), that the paper has deemed inappropriate, the Globe's ombudsman said.

Christine Chinlund, who has held the ombudsman post for two years, made the photo the subject of a column on Friday, declaring that the paper should have done a better job of screening the photo before it ran.

In Friday's column Chinlund said flatly, "There's no excuse for what happened. ... The photo, headed for the publication pipeline, should have been flagged for discussion by top editors." But she added that criticism that use of the photo provided evidence of anti-Americanism or the paper's desire to "bring down Bush" were "off the mark."

Editor Martin Baron told Chinlund, "We are not firing anybody."

In an interview Thursday, Chinlund told E&P: "If the Globe had followed its procedures, which include a wide review of photos that are of a sensitive nature, this would not have happened. I will not attempt to defend the Globe because it was clearly an error that deserved an apology."

The photo, which ran on the second page of the paper's B section Wednesday, accompanied a story about Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner and activist Sadiki Kambon claiming to have pictures of U.S. soldiers raping Iraqi women. While the Globe quickly came under fire from some quarters, including the rival Boston Herald, for lending credibility to these pictures, the paper's original story did indicate that the photos could not be authenticated. Others have revealed that the photos actually came from a pornographic movie.

Although the paper did not run the actual photos of sexual acts, but only Turner and Kambon holding the explicit pictures, Chinlund said the photo should not have run at all.

"If you look at the photo that ran in the paper, there are things in there that are in fact inappropriate for a family newspaper," Chinlund declared. She said she was still reviewing the situation Thursday and had not determined which Globe supervisor might have been most at fault.

In an editor's note that ran Thursday, the Globe apologized for running the photo, saying it "did not meet Globe standards for publication" and "images contained in the photograph were overly graphic." The note gave less attention, however, to the fact that the paper could not verify if the photos involved U.S. soldiers in Iraq, stating only that "the purported abuse portrayed had not been authenticated."

Baron declined to comment Thursday on the situation, saying "the editor's note is all I have to say."

The Associated Press
Updated: 2:58 p.m. ET May  13, 2004

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Two Islamic militant groups, Hezbollah and Hamas, issued strongly worded condemnations Thursday of the videotaped beheading of an American civilian in Iraq.

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Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates became the first Arab governments to criticize the slaying of Nicholas Berg, and newspapers in the region, which initially gave little coverage to the gruesome video, began to excoriate the killers

I only pointed out that those are terrible crimes in the Muslim culture, and if somebody is a zealot and looking for an excuse, that was an opportunity for them to call an excuse.

Thank you, WVU, somebody understands what I'm saying. No, they aren't the typical Muslim, they are the fanatics!

Amish are Christians, but so are those over zealous folks who knock on my door during dinner.

I want to say they are Latter Day Saints, but I could be off on that part, which is why I didn't label them specifically. They are locals, because one who came to my house was a guy I knew from another department in the hospital when I worked there. I've also seen the pairs of guys walking around in white shirts with name tags. I'm guessing they are Mormons on their "mission" or whatever they call it. They have never knocked on my door, though.