Chris Van Hollen: “we are at a critical juncture. The horrible photographs of abused and humiliated Iraqi prisoners being beamed around the…”

“we are at a critical juncture. The horrible photographs of abused and humiliated Iraqi prisoners being beamed around the world have seriously wounded our already tattered credibility in Iraq, the Middle East, and around the world. The damage done to our effort to win the hearts of the Iraqi people may be irreversible, but we owe it to the 130,000 American troops putting their lives on the line every day in Iraq to show the world that America will not tolerate such abuse. We must take strong action to demonstrate that we understand the severity of the problem and blunt the damage to our image and reputation around the world. Failure to send a strong signal will further strengthen the hand of al Qaeda and the terrorist groups who will use these photographs to bolster recruits and promote their cause. It is easy to try and dismiss the abuse as the acts of a few bad apples acting alone. But the fact that a situation developed where such abuse could occur in a facility under the total control of the United States represents a failure of leadership at the highest levels of the Pentagon. It is inexcusable that the Secretary of Defense and the top civilian leadership of the Pentagon did not foresee the possibility of such abuses happening and take steps to prevent it.”