As usual, the Velocidude has it exactly right.

When the pictures came out the first thing I did was check the dates, and yeah, they should have been old news. But... I guess that they were some kind of news. But... we are still in combat mode. Any inflammatory or anti- anti-... what ever you want to call it... can only be something to try to embarrass the President during the campaign. And the truth is that when crap like that comes out and stirrs up the rag heads it costs more American lives.

Should the guilty get pounded? Oh, yeah. Should those responsible be held accountable, including the leadership that allowed such a display of poor judgement? Oh, yeah.

But was it a good idea to put that crap on the front pages of every newspaper in the world? Well, that's one of those things that probably should have been put on the back burner. Covered up? Hell, no. But hung around President Busch's neck? No... absolutely not.

They didn't put those awful pictures of that pregnant woman who was brutally murdered in Israel by the terrorists along with her children on the front page did they? Hell, no. If fact, most folks would not have known that it was such a brutal bloodbath unless they were watching closely.

So, why pump up the jpg's of the prisoners being roughed up? All the news that's fit to print? I suppose so. But the damage done to our war efforts has been considerable. Was it worth it just for some short term political advantage? I don't think so. Is this what we can expect from Mr. Busch's political enemies? I guess so. Loyal opposition, eh? Right. What it looks like to me is... hit 'em where it hurts, even if it means sacrificing American lives. The only losers worse than the perpetrators in the pictures are the venal monsters who are trying to garner political capital from their use. Sigh.

In fact, I'm inclined to think that this is one of these things that actually demonstrates how desperate the Kerry Campers are. Did it change my mind? Nope. How about you?

I didn't think so.