There has been some information that the photos might be part of the interrogation procedure, assuming the goal was humiliation. I don't really see this as plausible. How do you embarrass a person with a photo when he has a hood on his head? You could take a shot of me like that, naked with a bag on my head, and post it around the neighborhood. Who's going to know it's me, unless I make a habit of running around the neighborhood with my pants off?

Most likely, the photography was just the troops getting carried away, and not part of the official procedures. That many of the photos are mixed in with more conventional "Here's me with a camel" photos supports this. Psychologically, the blunting of the troops' sense of morality is self-evident in the fact that they took the pictures in the first place, with perverse pride in what they were doing. This is further supported by other photos showing sex between American soldiers (sex not mentioned).

The world is going to become a much more graphic place with digital images available from everywhere. I just saw a phone last night on TV that transmits simple picturephone-quality movies.