The Parade of Horrors Continues

As if the nightmarish stories and sickening pictures we've heard and seen from Abu Ghraib thus far haven't been nauseating enough, it has now emerged that the long-rumored photographs depicting acts of sexual abuse and outright rape appear to be the real deal, and not just rumors.

From London's The Telegraph:

Abu Ghraib abuse photos 'show rape'

Photographs of alleged prisoner abuse which Barack Obama is attempting to censor include images of apparent rape and sexual abuse, it has emerged

"At least one picture shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee.

Further photographs are said to depict sexual assaults on prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube. Another apparently shows a female prisoner having her clothing forcibly removed to expose her breasts.

Detail of the content emerged from Major General Antonio Taguba, the former army officer who conducted an inquiry into the Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq."

I'd suggest that you read the whole article if you've got a strong stomach.

I can't say that any new revelations about prisoner abuse in Iraq are particularly surprising to me, although the thought of American forces raping Iraqi detainees in my name, with the aid of my tax dollars, is nauseating in the extreme. But given the recent controversy over whether or not to release the images - one in which President Obama did a complete 180 from his original stance, and decided to withhold the graphic photos - it's beyond dispiriting to be reminded of THIS particular element of the President's explanation:

“I want to emphasize that these photos that were requested in this case are not particularly sensational, especially when compared to the painful images that we remember from Abu Ghraib.”

OK, if there's any truth to this article at all, then President Obama is a bald-faced liar. There is no conceivable way that images of rape and sexual abuse could be even theoretically described as "not particularly sensational, especially when compared to the painful images that we remember from Abu Ghraib."

Another stomach churning morning of existential nausea, here in America.