More Abu Ghraib, more dehumanisation

On the other hand, it unites the moderates with the hard-liners by perpetuating stereotypes about Muslims as violent, volatile and uncivilised. What about the majority of Muslims from the cradle of civilisation who have a rational response to the revelations of these atrocities? By ignoring those who do not conform to the flag-burning, fist-waving, chanting mob, Coalition leaders risk alienating those who once aspired to live like the liberators.

From both perspectives, Arabs are the losers, reduced to caged animals in naked poses, or lethal liquids that cannot be extinguished. Either way, Arabs are everything but human.

In both scenarios, the image of wild Arabs tamed into enslaved positions earns trophies - for the American soldiers who posed next to their prize prisoner, and for the Australian media who heroically exposed those images to the world.

Are we witnessing an unofficial contest akin to St George slaying the fire-breathing dragon? Who can elicit the most blood and the loudest shriek from the beast before it is conquered?

Rather than threatening that such images will “fan the flames”, which suggests that Arabs are volatile by nature, Pentagon spokes-people could question how the flames were ignited in the first place, and by whom. The anger did not start with the blasphemous cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. The Crusade against anti-American Muslims, abstracted as the global war on terror, stems back to 2001.

If Arabs are to be reduced to oil wells, why do so many in the West deliberately keep throwing matches to explode them?

Yes, the public has a right to know about how uniform soldiers have abused their power in this prison.

Yes, the victims and villains should be brought to justice. Yes, we should be reminded that the convicted culprits were influenced by the Bush rhetoric about the axis of evil. Yes, high ranking officials should be held accountable.

But if Dateline had the victims’ interests at heart, why not refer the photos to the American Civil Liberties Union, who had “taken the Department of Defence to court to force the release of these photos under the Freedom of Information Act”?

Why not hand them over to Iraqi human rights groups? This way, you are treating Iraqis as humans and as equals?