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In the interest of simple journalistic integrity, I think you should have published the Danish cartoons, and let the chips fall where they may. That said, I also think it is a separate issue and has no bearing on the events at Abu Ghraib.
One reason for publishing these pictures can be seen in the letters you've received. Correction of public mis-perception!!! We still have people insisting it's not torture and the equivalent of fraternity hazings. Last time I checked, the victims of fraternity hazings chose to be there, are rarely cut, raped or sodomized and almost never killed, all of which transpired at Abu Ghraib. And it has also been widely documented that most, over 90%, of these people were not terrorists or insurgents, but petty criminals. People also forget that we are no longer content to do our own torturing, but are farming it out to other countries where we maintain secret holding facilities, that is until someone leaked that information, but I digress. Torture has become a part of our natonal policy and violates everything we claim to stand for and that many have fought and died for. Until we as a nation stand up and decry this policy we are all complicit and no, 9/11 does not give us Carte Blanche to do as we please around the world.
Oh yes, us poor picked on Americans who had terror brought to our front door on 9/11. Nevermind that we've killed ten times as many innocent Iraqis and Afghanis since then, nevermind that it was, and still is in many cases, our national policy to prop up Hussein, the Shah of Iran, and numerous other murderous dictators. Yeah, nevermind all that, they hate us for our freedoms, pass me a freedom fry, Yum.
