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Also other released prisoners have said, "these guys were being bad". Given their behavior and the directives of her superiors, it's easy to see why she went along.

I think you are right.

It is clear we are totally over-reacting now in the media. Some prisoners were bad, and some idiot officer somewhere decided that this kind of humiliation was appropriate. It wasnt, it was abhorrent. But it was an exception not a rule, and now we have huge amounts of handwringing, with no sense of balance nor context. No sense of balance that this humiliation is far less serious than the brutal tortures that are regular in saddam's Iraq or even in other Arab countries today. (eg practices like throwing people to lions, forcing gasoline in them and then shooting them and watching them explode, the 'grenade in the mouth' trick, the acid pourings on flesh, the burning tortures, horrible beatings, etc.

Meanwhile 98% of what the US is doing is extremely careful. Often the enemy is using 'human shields' and there are many cases where US troops have decided not to fire at an enemy combatant in a crowd to avoid civilian casualties. The enemy knows this, so they deliberately fire mortars from residential areas, use mosques/schools, etc. and fire from crowds.

One story I read mentioned how a soldier had to watch as his buddy was killed and then burned in a vehicle. This was in an area where the soldiers had previously helped build the schools and helped bring water supplies up to par and other works. And some Iraqis nearby were cheering this grisly scene. Did the young soldier, manning a machine gun at the time, kill those Iraqis cheering the death of his friend? No, he held back.

Every day our soldiers are holding back from being even more harsh. Every day, our soldiers die from an enemy that is cruel and cowardly; just today another car bomb that killed Iraqi civilians that dared to go near the US 'green zone'. Every day on FR, we hear calls from the "MOAB" crowd to be more, not less, harsh and damn the civilians and collateral casualties.

we are not, should not, and cannot approach the level of barbarity of our enemy. Not even with this pictures.

It is clear we are totally over-reacting now in the media. Some prisoners were bad, and some idiot officer somewhere decided that this kind of humiliation was appropriate. It wasnt, it was abhorrent. But it was an exception not a rule, and now we have huge amounts of handwringing, with no sense of balance nor context. No sense of balance that this humiliation is far less serious than the brutal tortures that are regular in saddam's Iraq or even in other Arab countries today. (eg practices like throwing people to lions, forcing gasoline in them and then shooting them and watching them explode, the 'grenade in the mouth' trick, the acid pourings on flesh, the burning tortures, horrible beatings, etc.

Great way of putting all of this into prespective. I spent a year in Vietnam, we did not torture the North Vietnamese we captured, but I am sure some did. Everyday I hear of this atrocity or that torture that happened in WWII, Korea or Vietnam, but they are the exception and not the rule. The last time I was in Germany I had an elderly German for a friend. He had spent most of WWII as a POW in Mississippi. He was first captured by the Brits in Africa and then transferred to US custody. All treated him with respect, but there were others who were not treated well on both sides.

Again, we have to put this into prespective, prosecute the guility to the maximum allowed and then get on with the war.

" some idiot officer somewhere decided that this kind of humiliation was appropriate. It wasnt, it was abhorrent. But it was an exception not a rule"

That's right. These amatuer behavior mod/time killing sessions have no place in the US mil. The media will not point that out, because it's choice propaganda material to hit the administration with.