Plenty of sites have already talked about the Guardian‘s news story about US soldiers and mercenaries engaging in sexual abuse and mental torture with Iraqi prisoners. Many sites have also pointed out the irony of President Bush, on the one-year anniversary of his “Mission Accomplished” speech, speaking of how “there are no longer torture chambers or mass graves or rape rooms in Iraq” and then, moments later, being asked to comment on these images of US-led torture and rumors of rape.Many sites have already decried such cruelty and inhumanity. But I would suggest this is not the mercenaries’ fault. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the location, the Abu Ghraib prison, was the site of similar atrocities during Saddam Hussein’s reign. Simply put, the building is evil. The mercenaries were obviously overcome by the evil pervading the building and became possessed by its psychic energy. In fact, also on the videotape, although not shown on 60 Minutes II is footage of the mercs referring to a bartender named Loyd and discussing how they “have always been prison guards there”. Either that or, as has been typed out many times before, all fighting and no rotation home make soldiers do bad things.
