Patience like they have never seen

The Lebanon Daily Star published a front-page report of an interview with Iraq's Association of Free Prisoners, a group that sought freedom for political prisoners under Saddam, and is now trying to uncover the crimes committed by the late regime. Iraqis who lived through Saddam's prisons are not, frankly, too concerned about the current scandal in Abu Ghraib.

"As a humanitarian organization, we oppose this," he says. "But these are soldiers who have come to Iraq to fight, not to be prison guards. It was to be expected. Of course, if there are innocent people in there ... it is possible, I guess, that some of them are innocent."

His tone comes across pretty clearly, and I think his point is well made: the U.S. invasion does not lose its merit based on the transgressions of a few. Considering how many times what is now Iraq has been conquered in the last 6000 years, we've probably seen the least loss of life despite having the most destructive technology. I think there's something to be said for that.

Of course, I opposed the war from the outset, and I think now the U.S. should be primarily concerned with an exit strategy, and Rumsfeld should be sacked, not only for the prison scandal (which is indeed atrocious by our standards) but for the power play that somehow allowed him to outflank Colin Powell and the Powell Doctrine and get the whole United States buried in a q***mire. (Far be it from me to be the first Republican to use the "Q" word)

Q***mires aside, this type of thing puts our problems in perspective:

"They called all the prisoners out to the courtyard for what they called a 'celebration.' We all knew what they meant by 'celebration.' All the prisoners were chained to a pipe that ran the length of the courtyard wall. One prisoner, Amer al-Tikriti, was called out. They said if he didn't tell them everything they wanted to know, they would show him torture like he had never seen. He merely told them he would show them patience like they had never seen." "This is when they brought out his wife, who was five months pregnant..."

The tragedy unfolds, but it's the type of story I can't bring myself to repeat, whether in person or online, so read it yourself if you feel the need.