[rogueleader]

It's like judo. You turn your weaknesses into strength. The scandal is a weakness, and we turn it into a strength. Right now, every would-be terrorist is going to have horrible nightmares of sexual torture before they light off their next bomb.

That said, this sexual torture crap is too risky and dangerous to rely on as policy. That's why the people responsible need to have their asses nailed to the wall, no matter what. That's also why it's right to apologize and to put into place policies to make sure this never happens again. Getting gays out of the military is a good start. The next step is to reassign women out of combat roles, and not reassign new women into them.

[Eala]

every would-be terrorist is going to have horrible nightmares of sexual torture

Sexual torture? I don't know, but it seems possible that that nightmare ends with end of the torture. This is sexual humiliation -- and in that culture maybe more than elsewhere, that is forever. (At least until you respond to one of those spam e-mails... *\;-)

[atomic conspiracy]

"It's like judo. You turn your weaknesses into strength. The scandal is a weakness, and we turn it into a strength. Right now, every would-be terrorist is going to have horrible nightmares of sexual torture before they light off their next bomb."

Exactly. Conversely, it turns the enemy's greatest strength, the fifth column media, against him. Thanks to disloyal terror-apologist media and their uncontrollable lust to incite the killing of Americans, every Muslim on the planet has seen these pictures, had them crammed down their throats in fact. Lynndie and the other deviates did not humiliate a few, they humiliated a billion. In their culture, humiliation is submission. I don't like where that goes, but it may be worth something.

[LS]

I agree with pretty much everything you say. The fact is, sadly, there is a place for psychopaths and sadists in almost any army, and while they are useful at times, of course they have to be officially denounced and repudiated in public. This is the plot of numerous movies. The old "You-Need-Me-On-That-Wall" line from "A Few Good Men."

I'm not ready to make a complete judgment on women in the military---I'm still not sure that "back line" positions can't be filled---but increasingly it is looking like, from Jessica Lynch to Gen. Karpinski, there is no place where women can safely relieve men in the military. I remain open on this.