Ghosts of Abu Grahib

I can't believe that our tax dollars and our good men and women are used to fuel such bureaucratic disorganization, filth, and conspiracy. We had troops going places and doing things they were not trained to do with no plan for anything. These innocent soldiers were made to believe propaganda which trickled down from the high positions of people sitting behind a desk in a shirt and tie. They believed. They did their job...and then they paid for doing so. How could our country do this to these people?
How could the United States uphold such standards and values and fight for democracy when the very essence of their mission and all actions taken at this prison go against democracy, fairness, and human rights. Oh, and of course, it wasn't wrong until it was exposed. Again, we were the deer in head lights. Of course this fired back at us, how could we unify Iraq and make a functioning government? How could those people learn to trust us when they see what our soldiers have been doing to the thousands of prisoners, 75-80% of whom were simply at the wrong place, at the wrong time?
Bush stated that "50 million people once lived under tyranny and today they live in freedom". Does he believe his own words, or are they something his speech writter though up and he agreed to read because it sounds good? Yes, population what we have done is successful, support us!
No, what we have done is wrong. And just like the CIA agents who follow direct orders from their superiors and get thrown in the slammer, so do the lower ranking soldiers; but why aren' those who gave the orders in jail? We never see who they are, they never face charges, and yet they are the root of the problem. We are killing the messenger and leaving the king to roam free. This is once again exemplefied by the Iraq war.
I'm not saying that the soldiers were right in committing acts of torture, even if they were orders. I guess we do get caught up in things, we naively believe, and accept the honor and power that comes of doing these things. What I find proposterous is the pictures of the female soldier with the smile and thumbs up next to dead bodies. I don't care about the explanation. I don't care that it's what that particular person does in photos. We need to gain awareness of our surroundings and judge the appropriateness of our actions. A time and a place for everything. A U.S. soldier, smiling, with a thumbs up, next to a beaten up, lifeless, Iraqi body, like she won a trophy for something, does not create the image we want of the US and it certainly doesn't aid in achieving our objectives in that war, which if I might add, is far from over.