President Bush recently called Abu Ghraib our worst mistake in Iraq. It is not. Abu Ghraib was merely a petty episode turned into a scandal by those who want us to lose this war. This is the first conflict in the history of warfare where it is considered a crime to slap around a bunch of murderous subversives. In all other wars blackguards of this type would count themselves among fortunate if they got off so easily. That this could ever grow into an affair which nearly derailed our whole war effort is indicative of the dept of the crisis our society is currently in. The question is not whether Abu Ghraib was a mistake, but whether we will wake up and start talking and fighting in the way that's necessary to bring this conflict to a victorious conclusion.

Vasko Kohlmayer   6 1 06