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I cannot help but roll my eyes at the fact that Graner would call what he has gone through "torture." I wonder if he sees the irony. Given that he was tried and convicted of actual and specific crimes, while many at Abu Ghraib are being held without charges makes it hard for me to feel much sympathy. Pictures of kids and Santa don't make him any less culpable for his actions. I suspect that some of the folks who are literally losing their minds after over a half a decade of being held without charges have children too. And maybe some even have their own pictures as Santa Claus.
Should Graner be the only one sitting in a jail cell for the atrocities at Abu Ghraib? No. But the "everyone on the road is going 80 mph officer, why did you single me out?" defense shouldn't work for Graner any more that it does for the guy who gets busted and ticketed for speeding. And “I was just following orders” should be no more a defense now than it was when we condemned it in WWII.
Maybe the fact that someone like Graner can get caught, tried, convicted and imprisoned while the folks who carry out the orders will make folks in his position (those who actually have to do the dirty work) think a little bit harder before engaging in actions they know (or certainly should know) violate the law and simple human decency.
