I just read the AP story that came out this hour about the videotaped beheading of an American hostage in Iraq. His name was Nick Berg. There's also a chilling still from the tape posted on the main FoxNews website. Some initial thoughts:

If we make a straight comparison between this image and the images coming out of Abu Ghraib -- abstracting from all background factors like who invaded who, who's working for an actual state, who's claiming to bring peace and human rights, etc. -- if we just make a straight comparison, this image is far worse than the ones coming out of Abu Ghraib. It's not even close. Even stories of the murder of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of American guards doesn't compare. With those stories you got the sense that one or two guards were getting out of hand with an unruly prisoner. Some of them might even have been caused by the torture techniques being taken further than the intelligence officers asked for. Maybe there was more to those stories - we'll soon find out - but I find it hard to believe that those murders were as well-organized and premeditated as the beheading of Nick Berg. I doubt that our prison guards, callous as they are, would ever do something that gruesome.

The reason I bring this up is because we should never forget who we're up against. Some of these guys are so ruthless it's barely human.

At the same time, if you put the background factors back in the comparison changes quite a bit. I'll be writing about those more in the future. Also, don't forget that in most cases we aren't even going after the right guys. According to yesterday's Red Cross report, up to 90% of Iraqi prisoners may have been arrested by mistake. I suspect the figure is exagerrated (which might explain why it's not getting as much coverage in the press as I would expect), but it's still an outrage, whether it's 90% or 10%.