It Shouldn't Be Funny

Dahr Jamail, Baghdad correspondent for the New Standard:

With the recent court-martial trial of one of the soldiers complicit in the widespread torturing of Iraqis in Abu Ghraib prison having come and gone, Iraqis see the newest promise made by the U.S. -- to clean up their act regarding the treatment of detained Iraqis -- as being yet more empty words.

In the dark humor that has become so popular in Baghdad these days, one recently released detainee said, “The Americans brought electricity to my ass before they brought it to my house!”

The promises to bring justice to soldiers involved in these heinous acts, along with promises to make Abu Ghraib more transparent and accessible, have fallen on the distraught ears of family members who wait outside the gates of the prison to see their loved ones inside.

Well, if you can't laugh....