Abu Ghraib was an embarassment. It illustrates what happens in all wars with a percantage of the combatants.

Secret prisons are a must when dealing with terrorists. If their location were disclosed it would invite terror attacks upon these facilities. That is the same reason for using foreign nations to hold terrorists - it avoids the likelihood of a terror attack on US soil.

Guantanamo is par for the course. ALL prisons have varying degrees of sadists working in them. Personalities exposed to criminals often grow harsh and justify their treatment of inmates. This is nothing new anywhere around the world. Guantanamo is better than your average Mexican jail. Have you ever been placed in a hole in Mexico for being guilty of being American until your relatives extort your family for a few grand?

As for torture, it's a large part of the new anti-US propaganda. Naturally, it is better for the US to stay mum altogether but the anti US PR folks win either way. Giving enemies the knowledge they need to counter any interrogation is insane.

Bottomline, despite all these small PR victories for our enemies, the US is still the white knight in a world of institutionalized exploiters.