War Really Is Hell, George. We Tried To Tell You.

Try to see it from an Arab's point of view. Arab TV regularly shows violent, graphic images of war which Western TV viewers never see. This is not because they are anti-American - they show violent graphic images of traffic accidents, earthquakes, whatever. Many Third World media outlets are the same.

But in the Arab world, pornographic images in public are tolerated far less than violent ones. Now comes this: naked Iraqis piled in human pyramids, with abusive language scrawled across their buttocks, forced to simulate oral sex.

While the pro-war lobby constantly berates Al-Jazeera and others for "biased reporting", the fact remains that the corpses shown are almost always Iraqis, as casualty figures attest. OF COURSE these images promote anger and humilitation, and OF COURSE they help the cause of Islamic fundamentalists. The latest images will do even more damage.

Bush today tried to distance his administration from photos of Iraqi prisoners, saying, "Their treatment does not reflect the nature of the American people. That's not the way we do things in America.''

Well, George, that's what happens when you unleash the dogs of war. Like 9/11, you've had enough warnings to see this coming, particularly as the fighting keeps getting uglier and uglier. Anybody who has been to the war museum in Saigon, Vietnam, will attest to the widespread and horrific attrocities committed by US troops. Why would anyone think that Iraq 2004 should be any different?

Obviously, despite a plethora of Hollywood movies, the USA still has not learned the lesson of Vietnam. Get out now and let the Iraqis keep their oil wells.