Guide for The Perplexed

The young men in the photo are among the most highly-trained, experienced, lethal and ethical warriors in the world: veteran members of the Israel Defence Forces Shayetet 13 Naval Commando unit. For decades, it has been a tradition in this unit to climb 10,000 foot Mount Hermon in the dead of winter, get naked in the sub-freezing snow, and have a souvenir photo shot. This year, a free-lance photographer ambushed the guys and sold the photo to a popular tabloid newspaper. A micro-scandal erupted, with snide references to Abu Ghraib, and the IDF announced it would expel these men from the service. Command quickly realized that was a remarkably stupid thing to do, and reversed itself within 24 hours. The headline reads: "ARMY GIVES IN TO STRIPPERS : One Day After the Decision to Discharge the Commandos, the IDF Reversed Itself." No human beings were injured during the production of this photograph.

AMERICANS AND IRAQIS

HAVING SOME FUN !

Here, in the relative comfort of a building near B Baghdad, a building in which very, very bad things prisoner abuse (see below) used to go go on under the Ba'ath regime, some Americans soldiers and Iraqis detainees and Iraqis found a way to relieve the tedium of prison life: daily routine: Party On ! Cultural exchange - i introducing the detainees to the American Way: of Frathouse Fun, the proud Manhattan traditions of institutions such as Plato's Retreat, The Continental Baths and Studio 54. The shot is very similar to to the one the Israelis did, but note that the American soldier, Private English, has taken the trouble to point out one of the interesting features of the composition. No human beings were injured during the production of this photograph.

PRISONER ABUSE

Here, a very large pile of dead human beings illustrates an example

of actual prisoner abuse. Nobody had any fun, and about 6 million

human beings were tortured, gassed, shot, and killed in many other less

pleasant ways during the production of this series of

photographs. Thank you for inviting us to share with you this distinction.

GOT IT NOW ?

WE HOPE WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO HELP SHARE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE TERMS 'PRISONER ABUSE', 'TORTURE', AND 'DEAD', WHICH HAVE PERPLEXED MANY

READERS IN RECENT MONTHS.