 Last week the well-known CBS news program 60MinutesII broadcast photographs of American soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners in the Abu Ghraib Prison in Baghdad. The prisoners in the photos, which date from last August, were being sexually humiliated, and, doubly shocking, one of the Americans doing the humiliating was a young woman. Most Americans have been reeling with horror and disgust since the broadcast. President Bush has dressed down (but not fired) Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld for neglecting to tell him of the existence of the photographs, and a wave of accusations and criticism by State Department officials is now breaking over a defiant Pentagon. The incidents of abuse have been under investigation since January, but State Department officials allege that the Pentagon has been consistently slow to respond to complaints about the way Iraqi prisoners are treated. Colin Powell's contempt for Donald Rumsfeld and his advisors, never much of a secret, is now out in the open.
Pat Oliphant's cartoon shows two thuggish US soldiers reading with obvious interest a book entitled Saddam'sIllustratedAnnotatedManualofAppliedTortureandHumiliation(Volume XXVII). The implication is that some US soldiers are picking up unsavory techniques from Saddam Hussein's days as dictator of Iraq. Sitting beside them is an Iraqi officer with "Baathist" for his name badge, the Baath Party being Saddam Hussein's political organization. The American forces in Iraq, Oliphant reminds Americans, have started to use former Baathist military officers to help put down the insurgency in Fallujah.
Meanwhile, Uncle Sam looks on from behind; he is appalled by what he finds his soldiers reading. Speaking for Oliphant is, as usual, the little bird, here with a dejected air and a grim message.
上周，美国著名的CBS（哥伦比亚广播公司）的新闻节目“60分钟II”播出了美国士兵在伊拉克阿布格来布监狱虐待战俘的照片。照片的时间始自去年8月，照片上的犯人遭到性的污辱，而更加令人吃惊的是，实施性污辱的美国士兵中还有一个是年轻女性。照片一经播出，大多数美国人都因惊骇与厌恶而晕了。由于国防部长拉姆斯菲尔德没有汇报存在照片一事，布什总统已经训斥了他（但未革职）。从美国国务院官员爆发出的谴责与批评的声浪正涌向目中无人的五角大楼。虐待战俘事件自1月份起就开始调查，但国务院官员称五角大楼对有关伊拉克战俘待遇的投诉所做出的反应一直迟缓。鲍威尔国务卿对拉姆斯菲尔德及同僚的蔑视从来就不是多大的秘密，如今就更加公开化了。
帕特·奥列芬特的这幅漫画画出了两名施暴的美国士兵正以显而易见的好奇心看一本书，书名是“萨达姆折磨人羞辱人图解注释手册（第27卷）”。这暗示一些美国士兵正在捡起令人厌恶的萨达姆独裁时代所用的手法。在他们旁边的是一个伊拉克官员，他胸前标牌的名字是“复兴社会党党员”，复兴社会党是萨达姆的政治组织。奥列芬特在此提醒美国人民，驻伊拉克的美军已经开始启用前复兴社会党成员的军官来帮着镇压在费卢杰的起义。
与此同时，山姆大叔正从背后张望，他被眼前士兵所看的书惊呆了。和往常一样，画中的小鸟在此以沮丧的语调和令人心惊的话语说出了奥列芬特想说的话———“如果说我们曾经拥有过道德高地，如今怎么失去了？”
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