Responsibility and healing in Iraq.

America, October, 2004 by Sheila Provencher

BY NOW, PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD have seen the horrifying pictures of Iraqi prisoners being abused and ridiculed by U.S. soldiers. The question in the hearts of most Americans, as they look at these degrading pictures, is probably, "How could young American men and women do such horrible things?"

The gut response is that "it must be an aberration." President Bush said as much when he stated that only a "few people" were to blame. He felt "deep disgust" for the way the prisoners were treated and insisted, "That's not the way we do things in America." Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmett was even more forceful: "Number one, this is a small minority of the military, and number two, they need to understand that is not the Army," Kimmitt told Dan Rather on television's "60 Minutes."...