Avenging Abu Ghraib

Even as lawmakers on Capitol Hill tripped overthemselves trying to avenge the Abu Ghraib "atrocities", Islamists claiming an affiliation to Al Qaeda did just that:

An American Nicholas Berg, 26, was beheaded in Iraq.

"So we tell you that the dignity of the Muslim men and women in Abu Ghraib and others is not redeemed except by blood and souls. You will not receive anything from us but coffins after coffins, slaughtered in this way."

Islamists typically do not need a reason to kill--terror is a tactic to be used often and indiscriminately (mostly against unarmed combatants)--but the uproar by the American media and politicians over the Abu Ghraib prison pictures appears to have provided them with a juicier cause.

In an earlier post, I noted that many of the prisoners in those pictures were believed to be terror suspects. Today, Sen James Inhoffe lashed out at fellow lawmakers, saying he was outraged at the outrage over Abu Ghraib.

"If they're in cell block 1A or 1B, these prisoners -- they're murderers, they're terrorists, they're insurgents," said Inhofe, a conservative from Oklahoma. "Many of them probably have American blood on their hands. And here we're so concerned about the treatment of those individuals."

John Kerry and Hillary Clinton: Could intelligence from Abu Ghraib detainees have prevented the murder of Nicholas Berg?